WHY HAD I BEEN SPARED AND WHAT DID GOD HAVE FOR ME?
George
H. W. Bush, who died on 30th November, 2018, lived a very long,
active and productive life. He is the longest-lived American President when he
died… 94 years and 171 days! He was the 41 st American President (1989-1993).
Before that, he was the American Vice President for two consecutive terms (8
years).
The
years of George H. W. Bush in the White House were eventful… The Gulf War was
his biggest test… And, there was military action in Panama... The mighty Soviet
Union was dismantled and the dreaded Berlin Wall had just crumbled. But,
through it all, he remained true to his convictions and values He was a quintessential
‘family man’… He loved his wife, Barbara, (a very strong woman and an icon for
millions of American women including Michele Obama), like a young teenager did
and remained faithful to her for 73 long years, till she died in April, 2018….
He loved his six children, who looked up
to him as their hero. The untimely death of his daughter, Robin, who succumbed
to leukemia at the tender age of 3, left him and his wife deeply moved. His eldest
son, George W. Bush, became the 43rd President of America (2001-
2009).
My
Post, today, does not intend to highlight on what George H. W. Bush was able to
achieve as American President or Vice President. Instead, it intends to highlight
on just two episodes from the sidelines of his life, which, in my view, are
very relevant in today’s world…
The
first one. George H. W. Bush represented the Republican Party. When he sought Presidency
for the second term, he had lost, in a fiercely-fought election (1992), to Bill
Clinton, his opponent from the Democratic Party. What is so endearing and
inspiring is, that Bush and Clinton, later, became great friends and carried
out several charity works together. I strongly feel, that the nature of admiration
and respect they both had for each other, was something the world, today, has
to learn from… The electoral politics, today, has stooped to its most
disgusting level… The personal attacks and the unethical ways the political
class resorts to – yes, they are repelling… leave alone making us aspire for a
public life. It’s so dirty out there… very, very dirty!
So,
the way the two former American Presidents – Bush Sr. and Clinton – went about
conducting themselves in their personal and public life, despite their
political differences, makes me aspire for such an outlook towards people in my
own life, who bear totally different viewpoints… To treat them not as my
‘enemies’… It makes me see the good in my opponents, and be less reactive about
what is not good, what I may disagree…
Yes,
I need that lesson, today, badly. I think, we all need it, very, very badly. We
need to respect our opponents more, be more tolerant and genuine towards them.
It, truly, reveals who we are, our character!
The
second one. Today’s young generation needs to know this inspiring episode from
George H. W. Bush’s life… America had been forced to enter the Second
World War after the shocking attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan. George, a fresh
graduate, had just turned 18, then. He joined the US Navy to train himself as a
warplane pilot… A few years on, while on a bombing mission, his plane was hit
by enemy’s flak, and, even as the plane was aflame, young George succeeded in
dropping bombs on the targets… But, the plane crashed into the ocean a few
miles away. While many of his associates were captured by the enemy, who
reportedly feasted on captives’ livers, young George survived… He was
providentially rescued by an American submarine! This episode shook his life so
much, that he was, often, heard asking the question: “Why had I been spared and
what did God have for me?”
“Why
had I been spared and what did God have for me?”
This
is a powerful question with a deep spiritual meaning… It not only haunted Bush
Sr. for rest of his life, it, also, continues to haunt the rest of us!
Today,
I was listening to some of the eulogies during the funeral service of George
Bush Sr. Two of them left me moved to my bones… One by his son, George Bush Jr…
The other by Jon Meacham, the celebrated writer, editor, speaker and Presidential
biographer.
Listen
to them for the answer to the haunting question: “Why had I been spared and
what did God have for me?”
GERALD
D’CUNHA
Pic.: The New York Times
Videos:
YouTube/FOX NEWS/ABC NEWS
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