When he became campaign manager for President George Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lee Atwater had accomplished the two things he wanted to do by the time he was forty years of age. Then he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. Shortly before he died, he wrote these sobering words: ‘I acquired more wealth, power and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn’t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn’t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it’s a truth that the country…can learn on my dime. I lie here in my bedroom, my face swollen from steroids, my body useless…The doctors still won’t answer that nagging question: how long do I have? Some nights I can’t go to sleep, so fearful am I that I will never wake up again. I’ve come a long way since the day I told President Bush that his “kinder, gentler” theme was a nice thought, but it wouldn’t win us any votes. I used to tell the President that he might be kinder and gentler, but I wasn’t going to be. How wrong I was. There is nothing more important in life than relationships, and nothing sweeter than the human touch.’ If you’re wise, your priorities in life will be God first, your family second, and your career third. ‘Teach us to realise the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.