C I P R I A N I

“Toph touched his hand! Oh if only there were a picture. Then, decades from no, when Toph was running for president himself, there would be the shot of he and Clinton touching, like God’s finger lazily extended toward Adam’s, like the photograph of Clinton shaking the hand of Kennedy.

And who will Toph thank, during his own inauguration? Oh yes, we know who he will thank. He will thank me. He will be there, in his blue suite, so tall and filled out and finally not wearing his urine-smelling hat, and he will say:

‘I will never forget when my brother, who tried so hard and suffered so long, lifted me over the heads of the throng to meet my destiny.’ Destiny spoken in a whisper, accent on the first syllable.”

– Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

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How much of an impact did that moment have on Bill Clinton? I am curious if the fellow in front of him or just behind him had the same Oval Office dreams. And what of JFK? What thoughts were going through his head that fateful day.

Every time I see that picture, I am reminded of a human touch that Bill Clinton has that his opposition will never fully understand.

The picture is from Boys Nation, an American Legion youth and leadership camp that has representatives from all the fifty states. Each state in the union has Boys State, which is also sponsored by the American Legion. Its purpose is to teach young men the basic principles of American government and leadership and was actually started in a defensive response to the Hitler Youth camps.

While Nazi Germany was rousing up their young, preparing them for adulthood, the United States decided they should do something to thwart their influence as that influence was stretching far and wide.

I know all of this because I attended Boys State and subsequently Boys Nation back when I was young a long, long, time ago. I have to say it was one of the most instructive, fascinating and exciting experiences of my life. How formative it was is hard to tell.

I hold both experiences, Boys State and Boys Nation, together in my mind; remembering that at Boys State I met people that attended neighboring (and rival) high schools, and also very old friends that I hadn’t seen in many years. I also met people that I would go on to be friends with in college.

Boys Nation was a much bigger experience. Since they only chose two representatives from each state, it was a privilege and honor to be selected. And it was in and around Washington D.C.

To be clear, I wasn’t a particularly political kid. Diplomatic, yes. Political? No. To this day, I think the only reason I actually did get selected was because I wasn’t particularly political.

I did not run for any office that required massive campaigning at Boys State (like Governor which was a pretty coveted office), because I wasn’t attracted to that kind of thing – campaigning. I also found it silly that the “qualifications” most advisors put the most emphasis on was having a catchy slogan or nickname to get elected. This was actually far more illuminating about the political process than I realized at the time.

I chose to throw my hat in the ring for Speaker of the House. This was an office that was eligible for Boys Nation. That’s not really what was on my mind at the time as much as I was having second thoughts about not running for anything while I was there. Just because I wasn’t “political” per say, I did want to “do well”. I wanted to succeed. I had ambition. I just didn’t want to be brazen about it.

Running for, say, Governor, required you to do so pretty much the moment you stepped off the bus and didn’t know a soul. Which meant you were going to this thing with this on your mind – which is fine. But that seemed odd to me. Don’t you want to meet the people you’re going to lead and represent first? Of course, this is an inherent quality in most people that run for public office and my hang up – or at least the psychosis behind it, is probably why a lot of really qualified people never do.

I got to know quite a few kids as the week went on and when the Speaker of the House opportunity presented itself, I figured, what the hell? Speaker of the House was elected quickly, by a simple show of hands after a quick speech (that I totally winged), and also dealt more with managing the business of the day (and thusly, wrapping it up in a timely fashion so we could split…). That was perfect for me.

My attitude toward what government should do – manage the business of the day in a timely fashion – hasn’t really changed much. I seem to have opposing views with the current government as to what the business of the day should be (but that’s another essay and one that I’ve probably already written a couple times). Not that there isn’t a value behind dealing with the occasional, say, photo-op, rather than balancing a budget. Which brings me back to the point: meeting the President at Boys Nation.

When we arrived, we weren’t sure if we were going to meet the President. He is a busy man, of course. However, Presidents like JFK knew the value of a photo op.

As wise and, perhaps jaded, as we all pretended to have been at that time, I think we all were excited by the prospect of meeting the President. And it appeared that we were going to. This was pretty exciting. There was a build-up. We talked about it. We had met our State Senators, we met then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. We had been to the Naval Academy and now we were going to the White House to meet the President of the United States! It was scheduled and everything!

And when we arrived, we saw the President…from behind a large crowd. Walking into Marine One. And flying away…

He blew us off.

Yes, he had better things to do. This, of course, is understandable for a guy whose job it is to run the free world. Honestly, should he be hanging out with a bunch of young punks?

However, it was a scheduled meeting (I think, but for the sake of the essay…I mean we were on our way to the White House for this specific purpose) so, it seemed more like he changed his mind. Whether or not that was the case, who knows?

I do remember riding back on the bus, very upset, and turning to the Senator from Virginia – I remember he did a fantastic Kennedy impersonation – and saying that the President obviously forgot that a bunch of us finally get to vote next year.

But, really, what difference would a hundred or so young punks make?

George H.W. Bush, the President who blew us off, lost his bid for re-election to Bill Clinton, that guy in the picture who got his photo taken with JFK when he went to Boys Nation.

I remember watching TV one year when Clinton had Boys Nation over when he was in the White House. I’m sure I’m imagining it, but I swear as I watched CNN and those kids in the Oval Office with Bubba, it looked like a kegger.

I actually don’t have as much of a problem with H.W. I think he did a decent job and history will remember him far better than his son. But I can probably say that about myself and my dad, too.

But when I think about destiny – and I do think about mine quite a bit, I wonder…

If Bush, Sr. didn’t have better things to do that hot, July day so long ago, would I be blogging at 1:22 am from Los Angeles?

I don’t know many answers to a lot of the “what ifs” I ask myself, but I’m fairly certain of this one. Yes. Yes, I would still be blogging in Los Angeles. It wouldn’t have made a lick of difference. It wouldn’t have made a difference if we shook Bush’s hand or he invited us into the Oval Office, or if he had a kegger.

Actually, that might have made a difference, but I digress…

I knew what I wanted to do at the time. I’m remembering, once again, a conversation I had with the Senator from Virginia (I wonder where he is now…) – We were at the Naval academy and were told that we would all be welcomed to attend there. This may have been a bit of smoke, God knows I didn’t have the test scores for that place, but I immediately said:

“I wish the Naval Academy had a film program.”

That wish is a naiveté in full view, on so many cosmic levels, I can’t even begin to go into it this late in the essay.

My mind was made up and my course, for lack of a better word, was set. I can certainly point to some things before Boys Nation and certainly after that may have redirected me one way or another – a couple were blonde, others were brunette. And of all the people I met – Senators and other men of State, the one I was most excited about meeting? George Carlin. The Senator from North Carolina and myself saw him in the airport on the way out of town, rushed to get his autograph and, no surprise, found him to be the most genuine, clever and articulate of anyone we had previously met that week.

Carlin actually would probably get arrested today for what he did – I wonder if that kid from North Carolina still has the cartoon he drew…

So here I am, late in the evening in Los Angeles. Not President, married to a redhead, with a redheaded son and a girl on the way (hair pending), an MFA in film from USC instead of a degree from the US Naval academy, and looking for my next job.

I’m not sure if I was more certain about things back then when I was young, or just wasn’t aware of the so many things there are that you can’t be certain about. So maybe I shouldn’t say that had I met the President back then, things wouldn’t be different. You never know. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to change it because I’m grateful for it all. Especially the redheads.