The responsibility of public service
I had planned to write on another subject this week. The nurse and I spent a very nice 4th of July with our children in Houston where three of them currently live celebrating our Anniversary. But Saturday that all changed when reality hit us all as a young man attempted to assassinate President Trump. As the Nurse and I watched on with our youngest daughter who happened to be in town for the weekend, we were quickly taken aback by this event.
I’ll save the conversations over the politics of the situation, the 2nd amendment conversation, and the lack of security for others who wish to debate those items. In the blink of an eye the entire face of the election for the white house could have been changed. And for one family in particular, that change occurred as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore was shot and killed covering his family from this madman’s bullet. We pray for the Comperatore family and the two others who were also shot in this heinous event and ask God to watch over them and their families.
Public service is both an honor, and a commitment to making things better. Many times, people complain about those in office. They complain, but they don’t want to be the one to take that leap and work to try and make a difference. We have choice words for the many who seem to go into public office and come out the other end living much higher on the hog than when they first assumed office. And while I am afraid that this is much more common than it should be, it’s also not always the case.
This week I am attending the North and East County Judges and County Commissioners Association conference here in College Station. It’s convenient this year as it’s right here in College Station so we can save taxpayers money by commuting back and forth rather than staying in the always overly high-priced hotels that host these conferences. But the one thing I see more than at any other political conventions I attend, are public servants who are doing these jobs at the local level: not for the glory or the money, but for service.
Service to their communities, their friends, their neighbors, and their families. Service that creates a place where people will want to raise their kids, welcome those kids home for a visit or to stay, and someday hope to see their grandkids raised in the same communities. And while there are some who do make a decent living from accepting these offices, for many (far more than you think) these jobs come with quite a bit of sacrifice. For some that sacrifice is leaving a high-paying job, spending more time away from their family, or even taking on a thankless rebuilding project left by a former elected official not interested in good governance.
Whether you care for Donald Trump or not, he is a man who could simply walk away and live a tremendous life away from any public office much less the presidency. And neither him nor his family deserved to have someone taking shots at his life. On the whole, this is a man who doesn’t even really need this job, he, like so many before him, are running for office because he thinks he can make a difference and not because he needs the money or the notoriety.
Milam County is lucky to have many fine individuals in elected office; however, there are opportunities for those interested. We have some fine people out there who would do much good being in public office and working to help people, but far too many refuse citing careers paths, time constraints, or just privacy issues as reasons (and those are all good reasons). In 2021 I was working as a Completions Manager for an oil company and after looking at the pay scale for the office of County Judge, my old boss asked me what the incentive was for taking this office. I told him it was simple, to make things better.
In Luke 12:48 (esv), Jesus said, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required…” Elected Public Servants should be the best of us working for the betterment of our society and not just left to those who are simply willing to make themselves available.
God Bless America.