The Man Pushing the Wheelchair

The man who serves as the president of our nation is sometimes referred to as the most powerful man in the world. Whether or not that is true, there is a lot of power attached to that office.

What we often forget is that the man who occupies that office is just that – a man (and maybe someday a woman). Among other things, that means that a president is subject to disease, frailties of aging, and other things that are a part of what has been called “the human condition.”

Some of that was on display not long ago as I saw various photographs and videos of our former president, George H. W. Bush at his late wife’s funeral service. The man who once occupied what might be the ultimate seat of power behind the desk in the Oval Office is now in a wheelchair. 

I happened to see some footage recorded when people were leaving the service and preparing to go to the cemetery. As I saw family members leaving, I recognized members of Mrs. Bush’s family. I recognized one of her sons who had been the governor of Florida and who had made an unsuccessful attempt to receive his party’s nomination to be a candidate for the presidency. I recognized another son who, to my knowledge, has not held any political office. Other family members were there as well. I recognized some, but not all, of them.

Of course, I recognized her husband. Anybody who has served as our president is easily recognizable, even when the aging process has taken its toll. There he was; our forty-first president being pushed along in his wheelchair to (I assume) wait for a limousine that would take him to the place where he could say his final goodbye to his wife of seventy-three years.

Have you guessed yet the identity of the person who was pushing the wheelchair? Can you think of a family member I have yet to mention?

The person pushing the wheelchair of the forty-first president was another family member. It was one of his sons; our forty-third president, George W. Bush.

Some might have seen the same thing I did and thought, “How sad. One man who was once so powerful is now reduced to being in a wheelchair and another who was just as powerful has been reduced to the menial task of pushing a wheelchair.” 

Those were not my thoughts. My thoughts went in an entirely different direction.

As I watched and as I have reflected on what I saw, I have been reminded that things such as power, fame, prestige, etc. are fleeting. Other men have occupied the same Oval Office that these men once occupied. To the news media and to the general public, the person who is the current occupant (whomever that may be at the time) is the only one who really matters.

However, to a ninety-three-year-old man who had lost his wife of seventy-three years, I’m sure that it meant a great deal that it was his son who was pushing that wheelchair. I’ve got an idea that it may have also meant something to the son that he was able to do this simple act of service for his father.

Both of those men have worn any number of titles and held many “important” positions. Each has been in the company of many important and powerful world leaders. 

However, what I saw in that moment was a lesson about real values. It was not two presidents who reminded me of that lesson. 

I was reminded by a son and a father.

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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn