Filed under: Comment
Following on from yesterdays declaration that this is the week of emotional posts, here’s one about camaraderie.
I’m not a big fan of George Bush and I’m certainly not a fan of his idiot son, but I recently saw something that made me dislike him a little less.
This:
No, it’s not that the ex-President of the USA is holding a little kid.
Nor is it that he is a bald bastard like me.
It’s because the kid on his knee is the son of one of his secret service agents and has leukemia so in an act of solidarity, he shaved his hair off so Patrick – the little boy – wouldn’t feel so conspicuous.
I know it might not be much, but I think that’s awesome.
What else is awesome is that the rest of his secret service agents did the same thing, though I must admit I was shocked when I saw how many of them he had:
Maybe it’s because Andy suffered a similar nightmare with his daughter Bonnie … maybe it’s because I’m just a sucker for these sorts of acts of togetherness … but I think this is a beautiful thing to do.
Not just for the little boy, but for the parents too.
That sense of being watched out for.
That sense of belonging.
That sense of friendship.
I appreciate being a bodyguard for an ex-president means your life is under greater threat than doing an ad for a carpet superstore in Slough … and I know being a bodyguard for an ex-president means you have to rely on your colleagues more than preparing for a pitch … but that sense of camaraderie is something I am hugely jealous of.
Don’t get me wrong, I have good friends and colleagues at work, but nothing like I’d imagine they have.
I have experienced things like it at various points in my career – especially at cynic – and the confidence and encouragement it infected me with was incredible which is why I find it so weird that adland – an industry that succeeds more on the people involved than the processes adopted – tends to favour compartmentalization rather than collaboration.
But then adland doesn’t do anything that could cost your life. Just your soul.
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Pushed around in a wheelchair. People paid to so whatever you want. Being an ex president is a bit like being you isn’t it Rob. Just with less holidays.
Comment by Billy Whizz August 6, 2013 @ 6:21 amWho did you feel that with at cynic? Wasn’t me thats for sure.
Comment by Billy Whizz August 6, 2013 @ 6:22 amOh you’re definitely right about that Billy.
Comment by Rob August 6, 2013 @ 9:01 amI wonder if the number of secret service support is in proportion to your level of unpopularity? If it is, George W must have 1000 bodyguards on staff.
Comment by Pete August 6, 2013 @ 6:29 amPete gets political.
Comment by DH August 6, 2013 @ 6:47 am“An industry that succeeds more on the people involved than the processes adopted – tends to favour compartmentalization rather than collaboration.”
Well said.
Comment by Pete August 6, 2013 @ 6:31 amif sorrell was photographed holding a puppy, youd start to think he was a nice guy. seriously campbell, you are a gullible, gullible bastard.
Comment by andy@cynic August 6, 2013 @ 6:36 am+ 1
Comment by DH August 6, 2013 @ 6:47 amoh fuck, youre in campbell sentimental mode. were all fucking doomed.
Comment by andy@cynic August 6, 2013 @ 6:37 amI wonder when the triumph over adversity post happens. Any day now I bet.
Comment by DH August 6, 2013 @ 6:49 amby the way campbell, remember how we all felt like one family at cynic? committed to helping one and all be the best we can be? i was faking it. i was just in it for what i could get. as it turned out, all i got was a big bill, a divorce and a fucking headache.
Comment by andy@cynic August 6, 2013 @ 6:39 amI believe that is called ‘karma’. Ha.
Comment by Rob August 6, 2013 @ 9:02 ami want to tell you to fuck off but you were almost a sweetie to me in this post so ill just ignore you. as fucking usual.
Comment by andy@cynic August 6, 2013 @ 9:26 amIt’s only because Bonnie is so wonderful. Hell, if she can make you a good man, she truly is an angel.
Comment by Rob August 6, 2013 @ 10:18 amYour last line in the best line you’ve ever written Rob.
Comment by DH August 6, 2013 @ 6:48 amreferring to this post, or the last post ever?
Comment by niko August 6, 2013 @ 7:43 am+1
Comment by CarolWeinfeld August 6, 2013 @ 9:25 amNot entirely true, though. Back in the late 70s I was offered a job working on Gallagher, which required travel to Belfast. I turned it down, but three months later the poor sod who took the job was pulled out of a taxi on the way to Belfast airport after a client meeting and shot by the IRA.
Comment by Ian Gee August 8, 2013 @ 3:57 pmGood post Rob. Too many organisations confuse process for teamwork. The foundation of real teamwork is based on trust and respect. Those things take time to develop but when they do, the effect it has individually and as a group is experiential to the sum of its parts.
Comment by George August 6, 2013 @ 7:04 amExcellent comment George.
Comment by Lee Hill August 6, 2013 @ 7:36 amGood point George. Damn you.
Comment by Rob August 6, 2013 @ 9:03 amReblogged this on Amanda's Words / starfire8me.
Comment by mandasiefert39 August 6, 2013 @ 7:18 amBelieve me – adland doesn’t corner the market on sucked souls.Hilton hotels relieved me of mine for years. The key is what happens despite their best efforts. It could be the reason “teams” are born – the brotherhood of circumstance is a powerful thing. Great post. 🙂
Comment by Notes To Ponder August 6, 2013 @ 9:10 amCathy O Brien, the great David Icke and quite a few others have claimed in publications that George Bush is a paedophile.
He has never sued.
Cathy O’Brien’s husband Mark Phillips was the CIA officer who rescued her from the MKULTRA program that creates the Beta Sex slaves
Maybe Bush is using a bald leukemia kid to portray himself as a decent human being. He’s an evil man in any case.
Comment by Charles Edward Frith (@charlesfrith) August 6, 2013 @ 9:38 amDon’t get me wrong Charles, he isn’t someone that I like – I just hate him a little less because of this. Maybe his actions are designed to throw people off ‘the scent’, maybe they are genuine … but as I don’t know, I have to base it on what I see but the real purpose of this post is to talk about the importance and value of camaraderie, not the ex-President.
Comment by Rob August 6, 2013 @ 10:17 am[…] I’ve just been nice about George W but then, as I wrote before, it appears the Bush family become far more human with […]
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