Monday, January 19, 2009

The Night Before

For two men (and their families), I'm guessing tonight is surreal. For one, George W. Bush, he will go to sleep tonight as President of the United States of America, but by afternoon, he will no longer hold this title. For the other, Barack Obama, he will go to sleep tonight as a private citizen and, by the time he goes to sleep tomorrow night, HE will be the President.

Regardless of one's political perspective or personal opinion of these two men, I think we each can understand the range of emotions each will go through over the next 12 hours or so.

Who hasn't begun a new job or started at a new school? Remember the butterflies in your stomach the night before? There's usually a combination of anxiety and anticipation. Now multiply such feelings by a factor of 10,000 and you might be in the ballpark of feeling what Mr. Obama is feeling.

By the same token, who hasn't ended a job or graduated from a school? Remember the butterflies in your stomach the night before? There's usually a combination of anxiety and anticipation. Now multiply such feelings by a factor of 10,000 and you might be in the ballpark of feeling what Mr. Bush is feeling.

Of course, most anyone reading this -- and certainly NOT the person writing it -- will ever serve as US President. Consequently, we can only imagine an approximation of the emotions being experienced by Obama and Bush. That said, whether a person is about to become president of a nation, a person beginning a new job as an accountant or young person getting set to enter high school, the basic emotional array is much the same.

I just wonder if either gentleman will get much sleep tonight.

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