Presidents Day

Hooray for having two holidays two days apart. I felt it necessary to have a post for Presidents Day since I dedicated the title of my last one to Valentines Day. But....this post probably won't be about Presidents.

Or, maybe it will. I think that being President would be so incredibly tough. First of all, simply finding balance between work and play would be intensely challenging. You know how there are those jobs where you could always find something else to do? Like my job....if I wanted to, I could dedicate hours and hours to developing stellar lesson plans and creating carefully crafted birthday cards for each of my students (and that just the beginning of the extra things I could but don't do). How much more, then, would this be true with the President of the United States, the leader of the free world. Yikes.

But even more than that, I can't imagine how difficult it is for the President's every move to be endlessly scrutinized. People who agree and who disagree within the media spout off inflated opinions all day long. How twisted do reports and accounts become by the time they reach Americans' ears? I don't know....and, furthermore, how much media is fueled by mere perception of facts, not actual facts. After all, not all members of the media can know the President well enough to know his character and to know all the ins and outs or whys of his decisions. It's just not possible.

So it is that Presidents are more often than not defined by their voices of opposition or by the loudest media voice. It's difficult for reality to be completely known from such a distance. Truly. If I were the President or the First Lady, I think I would be frustrated by that. After living in a world where my reputation could be more "controlled", I can imagine losing some sleep over millions of eyes viewing me via a third party, the media.

No matter who is President, I have a level of sympathy for him regarding this aspect of his life. Yet, at the same, time, the President is the most powerful and influential man in the world. He has chosen this life and has many privileges that accompany the difficulties. He must be willing to be scrutinized because he must be held accountable. Thus, it must be the way it is. I just wish at times that the media would be a crew of superhumans....always knowing what is exactly right and true, never disagreeing, and always delivering a precise picture of the President. I wish that for the President and for Americans. I'll keep dreaming.