WHO WOULD I VOTE FOR

WHO WOULD I VOTE FOR
The presidential elections are right around the corner and talk of politics is on everyone’s minds. I’ve had friends ask me recently..Who would you vote for?
As far as I’m concerned I vote for the quality of the person. I don’t really care about the party affiliation, religion, gender, or race. What I’m interested in is…can I trust the person, and does he/she have the ability to do the job. Can the individual display loyalty, leadership, courage, and good decision making. I want to know how they react under pressure or fire. Will he/she face or run from danger or controversy. Would he or she be willing to put lives, even his own life on the line for our country.
I may be wrong but my thinking is that it’s easier to learn the political side of the job than to grow a backbone, or develop strong moral direction. I also want to know what life experiences the candidates have had to test their metal, what adversities have they overcome.
When it comes down to it and the president has to make a decision, that only the president can make, I want a guy with honor and integrity. At that moment, law degrees, popularity, and a great haircut don’t mean a thing. The president must be among the best that America has to offer.
I’m reminded of a story that exemplifies these very traits:
It was a pitch dark night, looking out into nothingness. It’s the kind of night that you might only know if you were out in a small boat, miles from any light of land. There in the dead quiet you could hear the sound of the waves lapping up against the hull of the wooden boat. It was evident that she was built for speed and not comfort or strength.
It must have been hard for the young skipper and crew to have remained focused, while being lulled by the long dark night. Suddenly hours of boredom turned to shear panic as another ship steamed towards the small boat. There was no time to get out of the way, and the collision ripped the plywood boat completely in half.
The skipper surveyed the damage and gathered the survivors, with little more than a few life jackets and a lantern and made the decision to try and swim for a small nearby island. Soon the effects of the collision and hours in the water took its toll on the will and bodies of the small group of men. Some wanted to just give up, but the strength and determination of the skipper gave them hope, as he literally pulled some of them along behind him. Hours later the exhausted group reached the safety of a small island, but only after being cut to shreds by the coral reef that guarded its shores.
As welcome as the feeling of land was, the skipper knew his men needed water, food and medical attention and he knew that no one would find them on the island in time. As daunting and treacherous as the ordeal was to reach the island, he decided the only way to save his men was to swim back out to the shipping channel with the small lantern, in hopes of signaling a rescue boat. I can’t imagine the strength it took to swim back alone, in the dark, against powerful currents, out in shark infested waters, so far from home.
The ordeal went on for some time, island after island, one futile attempt after another, draining the strength and will from each of the survivors, until by chance some friendly locals helped bring them to safety.
Who would get my vote for president. A man with the heart, strength, and values, like the skipper of that boat, except I was not able to vote for him, you see, he was tragically killed while I was still a young boy. . The story above happened in 1943, the place..south pacific..the boat PT109, the man..naval officer John F Kennedy, and latter our 35th president.
P.I.B.