Barack Obama
Showing Original Post only (View all)The stories he holds in his heart [View all]
Today as President and Michelle Obama paid homage to the victims who were killed in Newtown a year ago today, I'm thinking of the stories he holds in his heart. Here's Joshua DuBois' recounting of the President's time with families prior to the memorial service last year.
Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. Hed say, Tell me about your son
. Tell me about your daughter, and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed awaymany of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it allthe president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&Ms, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break.
And then the entire scene would repeatfor hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss
We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer...
And the funny thing isPresident Obama has never spoken about these meetings. Yes, he addressed the shooting in Newtown and gun violence in general in a subsequent speech, but he did not speak of those private gatherings. In fact, he was nearly silent on Air Force One as we rode back to Washington, and has said very little about his time with these families since. It must have been one of the defining moments of his presidency, quiet hours in solemn classrooms, extending as much healing as was in his power to extend. But he kept it to himselfnever seeking to teach a lesson based on those mournful conversations, or opening them up to public view.
The rest here~
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-stories-he-holds-in-his-heart.html