Presidential

Have you ever wanted to visit the President of the United States? Just 30 minutes alone with the President? I have. But I really never could think of a good reason to do it. Then I wondered, how hard would it be anyway? I'm quite sure it would be impossible.

Recently I've some to the conclusion that it might take an act of the President to even get a short visit with a Governor. Now, a meeting with my Governor is something I have a reason for. So, I've been emailing the Governor's office trying to see if it was possible. As you might expect it is not. But there are very nice people who will send you the standard, politically correct, email explaining why you can't get in.

Being a Dillard by birth means I don't give up easy. While I have not met with the Governor I did get to meet with someone high up in her office. It was interesting and this person listened to me with respect and interest. The 'respect' part didn't surprise me but the 'interest' part did. I knew that what I had on my agenda was not something that anyone in this office likes to have to talk about. Also, I know my position is the polar opposite of this Governor's office. So, I only expected; polite and "good bye".

Sometimes I enjoy being wrong. We had a very long talk that was quite productive and VERY honest. I was pleasantly surprised. The person I talked to said she couldn't promise that I'd ever get to speak with the Governor in person and she couldn't promise that the Governor would act on my request (the thing I wanted to meet about), but she did promise that she would share our conversation with the Governor. She added that she appreciated having an intelligent non confrontational conversation with someone on the topic we discussed. I said I appreciated her openness to listening to me and that she offered to share it with the Governor.

So, if there is a moral to this entry it is that we should never give up. As we say in the business "it ain't over until it's over". So my prayer is that "it ain't over".