February 17

And so, as they climb the ladder of achievement, I’d simply say, “What happens in your home is more important than what happens in the White House.”

George H.W. Bush, 41^st President, 1989-1993

-From an Interview given June 2, 1995, Williamsburg, Virginia.-Bush was born in 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts to Senator Prescott Bush and his wife, Dorothy(Walker)Bush. He attended school in Andover, Massachusetts and was captain of the Varsity Baseball and Soccer teams. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, trained as a pilot at was commissioned at age 19, becoming the youngest aviator in the Navy at that time. He flew 58 combat missions and received The Distinguished Flying Cross. After returning home, he married Barbara Pierce and attended Yale University, graduating in two and one half years with a degree in Economics. A left handed first baseman, he captained the Yale Baseball team and participated in the first two College World Series. He was also initiated into the Skull and Bones secret society at Yale. After graduating he started an oil business in Texas and started his political career as a Congressman. He served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan before being elected President in 1988. This quote is actually attributed to his wife, Barbara, from her speech to the graduates of Wellesley Women's College in June, 1990."...As important as your obligations as a doctor, lawyer or business leader will be, you are a human being first. And these human connections with spouse, with children and with friends are the most important investments you will ever make.... At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a parent. One thing will never change. Fathers and Mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children, you must hug your children and you must love your children…. Your success as a family, our success as a society depends not what happens at the White House, but what happens inside YOUR house.” George finishes the thought with, "And it's true. It's so 100 percent true. And that means we -- each of these achievers -- must find some way, not only stay in touch with family, but to help others who might not be blessed with family. To strengthen the American family...and it's not the glamour of the Presidency, or the wonder of going to receive the Nobel Prize. All those are important, of course. But maybe it's just that I'm 71 years old now. It's family, and it's faith, and it's friends. I would tell them that. Don't forget that. In your brilliance, don't turn your back on your friends. Don't think you're entitled to something, because you're smarter than the next guy." from an interview with the Academy of Achievement,http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/bus0int-1.