Sometimes when I take my grateful walk, being grateful is easy. Sometimes the grateful walks become clouded with the thoughts about the news or some recent happenings. Today as I sat at the end of the driveway on the first leg of my walk, I realized that my mixed thoughts centered around what perks we have (easy to be grateful for), and responsibilities (easy to gripe about) that each of us has at every stage of our lives.
It will not come as a shock that my initial entry into this morass started with my President. The last weeks watching Air Force One flying about the country produced much thought about perks and responsibilities. Certainly the Presidency is filled with monumental perks, but it is filled with even greater responsibilities. The crises of the last few weeks may be far flung, but each one touches all of us, every last citizen.
Our Founders never intended for the President to be a professional fundraiser or a totally partisan figure. But the Presidency has drifted into such a position. Having access to secure phones and aides while spending most time fund-raising for the party is not being fully engaged in the responsibilities of the office. So many problems on the President’s desk are not getting smaller. They are increasing in size, difficulty, and importance to our people, those people for whom he works and those whose well-being rests in many of the decisions he makes.
What would happen to any one of us with important responsibilities wherever we are if we neglected them? If we left our desks piled high with problems, our classrooms with students, our homes and our families, our pulpits with congregations waiting, our stores full of customers, or the places we go to volunteer? Things wouldn’t get done. problems wouldn’t get solved, families wouldn’t get fed, and folks wouldn’t be helped.
In most cases the number affected by our negligence is limited. With the President, the world is affected.