Finding out about the real person

The election campaign drones on and the chances are that at the end of the campaign we will be none the wiser about who Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott really are. We will be fed images that their respective media advisors want us to see and they will be countered with dirt from the other side.

One of the most vilified world politicians of recent times was George W. Bush. What was he really like? A few years ago I read the following article.

Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and former aide to President Nixon during the Watergate years, tells the story of the Bush's involvement in the Angel Tree program last Christmas. About 100,000 volunteers in America delivered gifts to more than 525,000- children of prison inmates.

Among those 100,000 volunteers were President and Mrs Bush. 40 or so members of the media accompanied the President and spent 10 minutes taking photos and notes before leaving. Charles Colson describes what happened next:

"I remember from my days with President Nixon what photo opportunities are: Get the picture and leave. So I thought the Bushes would shortly depart, but they didn’t. They stayed long after the cameras were gone to greet every child, to have their picture taken with them, their mothers, and their grandmothers, to talk with them, and to ask questions. Though the press didn’t report it, I noticed that both the president and Mrs. Bush talked to the Hispanic children in Spanish.

Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president that I had met Al more than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold of Al’s life, and he’s been working for us ever since. Then I told the president that Al’s son was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the president stopped, exclaimed, "We’re both Yale parents," and threw his arms around Al Lawrence—an African-American ex-offender being embraced by the president of the United States in a church basement. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross."

So, what was/is George W Bush really like? Probably quite different to man we have read and heard about in the media.

Every now and then I read the story again as it challenges me about how I formulate opinions of people. It's hard with with famous people as it is highly unlikely that I will ever have the opportunity of getting to know them one on one. But with the people I work with or attend church with I do have a choice. I can choose to believe the gossip that others 'kindly' pass on to me. Or, I can take the time to find out what the person is really like by taking the time to get to know them.

Gossip is a cancer but most of us still allow our opinions to be coloured by it and often then pass it on. I must do more to ensure that I am not a 'carrier' who passes on the virus that is gossip.