Welcome Home, Mr. President

WELCOME HOME, MR. PRESIDENT

When you believe in a good cause, you act on behalf of that cause. To me, President Bush is a worthy cause to stand up for. He has received the most unfair treatment of any of the recent presidents on television, radio and the printed word. Politicians of both parties have expressed vitriol of the worst kind. I disagree with this character assignation of President Bush. To me, President Bush is an honest, fair, good man and a great American patriot who did his very best for our country. He has the same DNA that his mother and father gave him, whom I also admire very much. I have never shaken the hand of President Bush, nor have I ever been in the same room with him, but I would consider it an honor to do both.

His administration made mistakes (he admits this.) His administration did many good things including keeping us safe for over seven years. I take no pleasure in saying that I do not believe the new administration will keep us safe. If I understand the constitution, this is the president’s number one job. I believe history will prove the Iraq war was the right thing to do. “No child left behind” and many other accomplishments will be a part of his legacy. If you have honestly listened and read about his eight years as our president, you will agree. If you only listen and read the pundits in the liberal media, you will disagree.

I very much disagree with people who say President Bush is dumb. You do not earn a degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School if you are dumb. You do not train as a fighter pilot if you are dumb. One of my brothers was in the Army Air Force in World War II. I was a seaman 1/c in World War II and served on a ship AVP 40 (sea plane tender.) We had six sea planes to service, so I know a little bit about pilots. Back then, and I would think now also, over one/half of the men who wanted to be pilots washed out. Dumb people do not become fighter pilots.

Why would anyone say or write vicious, hateful, ugly, cruel things about someone they disagree with politically. Why not do a little common sense review? I do not know the answer to this question. I doubt that anyone can give a clear defining answer that all of us would accept. I will try to answer this question. First, may I say how much I disagree with anyone saying or writing hate toward another person, government or organization. Truly, I believe it tells you more about the perpetrator than the one who receives this hate.

The question is why can’t we disagree with someone in a respectful and civil way. I can only try to answer this question with my 82 years of experience. I grew up in a small town in East Texas, served in World War II, went to college, was a teacher and coach for 30 years and for the last 30 years a small business man. Here are some of the jobs I have worked in my youth: hoed and picked cotton, dug potatoes, cleared land, bailed hay, built fences, worked cattle, worked at a gas station (gas was 15 cents per gallon), worked on oil field pipelines, worked for Western Union. I repaired telegraph lines in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado at 16 and 17 years of age, and packed fish in ice barrels in Houston while attending college. With this kind of work ethic, you have to learn to work with and respect other people. I grew up with a mother and father who taught me manners and respect for others. Also, with three older brothers and three older sisters (all bigger than me), you learn a lot of manners and respect. I went to church all my early years and still attend church. My school system had teachers who demanded that you do your lessons and show respect for them. Yes, I was paddled a few times at home and at school. I think it made me a better person. Today I feel no ill effects from being paddled. It did not traumatize me or cause brain damage. All of the above taught me manners and respect for others.

Now how does this apply to people who have hate and vitriol toward others? I know not everyone has had the same life experiences that I had, but I believe everyone has many of these experiences in their journey through life. As you journey through life, you will have the ups and downs that most people have. Then you have choices in the way you handle these ups and downs –with anger or with respect and understanding. What follows will be a person who responds with control and understanding or a person out of control with hate and vitriol. I believe that everyone (except the mentally ill) has the choice to control their own destiny. You can just blow this off or you can be a person with strength and character. With true strength of character, these words can move from paper to action in our all-important personal behavior.
It seems many people have a very negative attitude about almost everything they write and say. I think it hurts this great country. So many people relish and enjoy the negative. This analogy pretty well sums it up. In every sermon, a preacher preached hell and damnation to his congregation. Everything was negative, so the church members decided to get a new preacher. They brought in a new pastor and his sermons were also “hell and damnation” and very negative. A visitor asked the people in the congregation why they chose the new preacher because he was doing the same thing the former preacher did. The answer was that the former pastor was preaching damnation and all of the people were going to hell, and he seemed glad of it. When I see some of our news media, they are just about negative on almost everything. They always see the bad side of most events. This is true of MSNBC television and Radio America when they give the news. This negativity hurts this great nation. Many of the newscasters (you decide who they are) have the ugliest, sour look in their facial expression. Sometime I wonder if they hate this country. What they say and how they look might cause someone to think this could be true. Let’s hope not.

When you research and study what is happening in this world at this time, the good and the bad, we all wonder what to think and what to do. My suggestion would be to see all the good about this world and the people therein. (Hope for the best and cope with the rest.) We need to face head-on with faith that we can handle whatever life places in our path. For me personally, I believe that Almighty God created us to live in His image with love and respect for each other.
Today we face some of the same issues we faced in 1941, with some differences. May I use the language of my day? The Japanese Fascists and the German Nazis were out to destroy this great nation. (I have no animosity toward them today.) The fact is today there are people who want to destroy the greatest people and the greatest nation on earth. There are times when we must have the courage and will to stand up, not stand down, and the time is NOW.
When I read the writings of someone, I like to know their background. Here is mine: High school teacher and coach thirty years, business man thirty years. My three brothers and I served in WW II. My oldest brother was single and in his late 20’s when he was drafted into the Army and served one year training as a combat engineer prior to WW II . He returned home and was in the reserves. When Pearl Harbor happened, he was sent to England and went in on D-Day. Fought across Europe and was wounded while building a bridge across the Rhine River in Germany. His total time in the military was four years. Brother #2 mostly served in the occupation Army. Brother #3 was a junior at SMU when he went into the Air Force for three years. He ferried B-24’s, B-17’s, and B-29’s to the war fronts. I am the youngest and served in the Navy less than two years. The war was over so I was discharged and returned home. I was on Okinawa when the war ended. Our military records can be found in the Mt. Vernon (Franklin County), Texas courthouse or our military branch. My brothers were Phil, John and Zack Campbell.

My oldest brother was a war hero as well as a personal hero to me. We grew up together, worked together and hunted together for many years. That means when you are together that much, you get to know that person pretty well. With these many years together, I never heard him say bad things about anyone or complain about anything he had to deal with. He certainly had reason many times to complain. He served four years in WW II but he never talked about the war. He died with cancer in his early 60’s with German shell fragments still in his body. This is the kind of person I think anyone can respect and admire.