Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures during the lecture, and I technically don’t have anything that can prove I was there. Originally, I planned to go with Elia, since we had a class together right before, but because of some unforeseen problems, I had to stay behind. I actually had to tell her to go so she wouldn’t miss anything, since it was already a bit too late for me. Due to this, I was a few minutes late, but the event didn’t start for a few minutes even after I got there.
Normally, lectures and political talks don’t interest me very much, and while that trend didn’t discontinue during this event, there were a few fun parts. The speaker, Jean Becker, was the chief of staff for Bush and even wrote a book about him titled The Man I Knew, which is honestly a better title than I could come up with. Throughout the lecture many people who had worked with and for Bush came up to speak about him. Many of their stories were funny and endearing, detailing the exploits of a man that seemed to value the fun, little moments in life. Between bringing along George Clooney in his prime to support the rebuilding of a hospital to arguing with his employees(see: friends) that they should take time to have fun and enjoy themselves at events, and would help them do just that, Bush just seemed to have sitcom level hijinks almost every day.
Every speaker, at every chance they could get, really discussed how Bush knew how important it was to have upstanding morals and values and work as hard as you could, if not just to accomplish what you want in life, then to help the people around you. A kind of secondary point that no one really came out and said, was that Bush knew that you’re never too important or old or professional to have a fun time with friends. No matter who you are, you’re still human, and all humans deserve to have fun sometimes. I really like both of those points, and I was glad to see the positive influence the former president had on many people. Hopefully his influence and attitude continues through others and does good in the world.
