"President's Day"

When I was a boy we would celebrate Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday on their respective dates and honor each man separately. Today we have "President's Day" so we can celebrate our current and all former Chief Executives. This day of honor is the least we can do to give some appreciation to those men who sought the most difficult office on the face of the earth and embraced it's duties, even at the peril of their own safety, and at times the sacrifice of their own lives.

Each president has had crisis situations during their respective terms of service that have molded their image, and defined their legacy to all those that have followed them into this most difficult of all jobs. The phrase"these are the times that try men's souls" is not lost on any of those who have occupied the Oval Office. All we need to do to see the burden of the Presidency is to examine photographs of those men who held the office at the beginning of their term and at the end. Lyndon Johnson's hair went from grey and black to stark white in only five years. F.D.R. was a worn out and tired man in his pictures near his end; although he was a sick man I'm sure the office he held took a few years away from him in the end. Jack Kennedy had grey hair showing during his term even though it was only 1000 days. Carter was drawn and careworn, a man who had the look of a beaten fighter when he left office. Bill Clinton had a head of dark hair at the inauguration, yet his hair is now white as snow, a tribute to the stress of the White House.

As Americans we sometimes take those men who choose to serve for granted, we even vilify them when things don't seem to be going the way we, as individuals, would wish them to go. Most of the time these men take criticism in stride, as it comes "with the territory", and at times these men prove their humanity by showing their displeasure at our criticism. Yet how many of us would be willing to take on the great responsibility that these men have chosen to shoulder.

I am not what you could call a friend of our current president, yet I offer him this thought. Mr. President I wish you well in your endeavors on behalf of our nation. I hope your term in office is a success for the people of the United States, that they prevail in these trying times and that you look back on your service as a time when you answered the call of duty and performed it to the best of your ability.