Upholding the Principles
The early morning is
chilly and damp as I leave the farmhouse.
It's just past dawn, a little earlier than I wanted to get up but I'm
due back in DC soon to get ready to celebrate the birthday of this great
nation. But before I do I want to pay my
respects to one who signed that document that gave us the right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I manage to sneak out
with no entourage and only 2 agents. We
stop to buy flowers at one of the many little road side stands that dot the
landscape. The agents actually let me
hop out and get them myself. Because as
anybody knows, they are more personal that way.
The drive to the cemetery
isn't too long. The sun begins to peek
out through the clouds as we arrive. It
occurs to me that I haven't been here in a very long time. But I look at it this way---any time I spend
here is a gift. I mean, how many people
can even say they know where their great-grandfather's great-grandfather is
buried? I can.
As I walk across the
freshly cut grass the clippings stick to my sneakers. Yes I, Josiah Barlet, leader of my country,
am visiting the cemetery in jeans, sneakers and of course, a Notre Dame
sweatshirt.
The agents hang back a
respectful distance as I approach the monument. It is a large rectangular box
in shape. Fashioned out of many blocks
of stone with a solid stone slab on top.
It is nothing elaborate. The
entire thing is well worn by two centuries of weather. There are watermarks and cracks marring the
stones. I run my hand over the engraved lettering on the top.
This Monument is Erected
Over the Sacred Relics of
His Ecsellency
Josiah Bartlett Esq.
Late Governor of
Newhampshire
Who Died
May 19, 1795
In The 65th Year Of His
Age
And
His Virtuous
And Amiable Confort
Mrs. Mary Bartlett
Who Died
July 14th 1789
In The 59th Year Of Her
Age
A shudder passes through
me as I realize that when he died, he was only a few years older than I am
now. But he accomplished so much. He was a doctor, he was elected to the
legislature of the province of New Hampshire, he was a member of the Second
Continental Congress, he cast the first vote for the resolution to declare
independence, he was the second to sign the Declaration of Independence, he was
the first Governor of New Hampshire.
Nothing like having a
large legacy to live up to.
But I think I'm doing
pretty well. I'm a doctor. I'm married to a medical doctor. I was a Congressman and a Governor from New Hampshire. And now I'm President of the United States.
Not exactly your everyday list of accomplishments.
So why do I, at this
moment, feel so small? Maybe that's not
the right word. But I know what I mean,
so that's good enough.
I feel, with good reason,
that this whole MS issue is going to hang around my neck like a noose. Choking me until it's the only thing I'm
remembered for, the President with a degenerative disease. I'm so much more than that. A little over halfway through my term I've
already accomplished many things:
Increased foreign trade
3.8 million new jobs
30 million new acres of
land for conservation
And what I'll be known
for can be summed up in two letters--MS.
I'd almost rather be
known as the President who ran his bike into a tree.
Multiple Sclerosis is all
people can talk about now. Everywhere I
turn there are more stories about it.
Aren't people sick of reading about it by now? I sure am.
I want to get on with my life, with the campaign. I want people to stop gasping every time I
rub my eyes, every time I stumble a little.
Don't they realize I've been a klutz all my life? It has nothing to do with my MS.
I gaze back at the
monument for a moment. I have to get
going soon. I'll just pull out a few of
these weeds growing up the side; make it a little neater, more worthy of a
signer of the Declaration of Independence.
I suddenly know why I
feel small. I, along with Congressman,
Senators, and hundreds of others am trying to keep this country together. Some days it feels like we're doing it with
shoelaces and chewing gum. McGyver, I'm
not. Anyway, that's hundreds of people working, more or less together. But the
man who lies beneath my feet helped build this great land with just over 50 others. He helped to form the very principles I spend
everyday trying to uphold. He and the
others shaped this nation I so proudly call home, without them, where we I be,
where would any of us be? They were a
band of the chosen few. Chosen without
the fanfare and pageantry that accompanies today's election process. They joined together for a common goal, to
make sure that for generations to come this land would be place to prosper and
to be free.
All I can do is try to
live up to the dreams of our forefathers.
The dreams of my great grandfather's great grandfather.
I can tell it's time to
leave; the agents are circling in for a landing.
I leave the flowers as a
small token of thanks for the ideas that came out of Philadelphia 225 years ago. The ideas that I will fight to uphold until I
draw my last breath. Whether that breath
is next week or decades from now.
Whether or not I am re-elected.
Whether I am remembered for what I accomplished or for what affliction I
had, upholding the principles that shaped this nation is my goal. It always has been and it always will
be. It's just who I am.
THE END
