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.