Many of you know I love to dig deep studying the first seven presidents of the United States. In my grooviest dreams, I think I fit right in, maybe a president between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
I just finished Jay Cost’s excellent book on James Madison. I like him, in part because he wasn’t afraid to flip-flop all over the place when the changing times called for it. At times, he was for a strong federal government. Later times, not so much. Madison was against political parties and then founded the first one.
Madison gets me thinking about judging my own ability to change the course of my thinking and action based on new stuff that enters my world. The quality of my aging depends on listening real good to the bright people who surround me and not being so darn stubborn about the way things used to be. I’ve been told more than once to get the cotton balls out of my ears and stick them in my mouth (close friends give me many painful examples to ponder).
I want to get better at being open to change. I want to be a James Madison.
You can do better, Don