I Meet Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson


So I'm walking down Michigan Avenue in Chicago last week in the ultra swanky part of town ( I was fortunate enough to be staying at the Allerton and was coming back from Giordano's just a few blocks away )... and I see Hank Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, quickly entering Brooks Brothers.  I recognized his face but it took me a while to find the name in my brain's data bank.  My wife doesn't think it was him and asks me if I was sure.  I remember faces very well, but it does take me time to put the name to it.  She doesn't follow politics or economics, so she couldn't oblige or disagree either way.  I asked her to google the name and she then saw the face. 

A plethora of thoughts rushed through my mind, most notably the time I heard Paulson speaking in front of Congress regarding TARP, the many interviews regarding the bail outs, and all the rest of it.  I recalled jumping into the stock market after seeing Wall Street go red for a week during this time ( thinking I was seeing an opportunity without knowing first thing about stock trading ).  I also recalled the photo ops Henry Paulson had with Bush II and everyone else running the kountry at that time.  I further recalled how quickly the members of Congress changed their minds in sharp contradiction to what their constituents were demanding ( don't bail out the banksters ).

Several bad thoughts rushed my mind towards Henry.  And as I stood outside of Brooks Brothers, I initially wondered about what harsh thing I could say to him that would strike him to his core.  I was thinking how I was going to approach him, what I was going to say ( was I going to give him a tongue lashing of my opinions outside the scope of what he lived, me being someone who watched all of this unfold via the projected 'truth' fed me through the media's boob tubes? ).  I also pondered if I would say anything at all. 

I had to say something.

My wife suggested we go inside or we leave, not just loiter outside of this store.  So we went inside and after looking at a few price tags and finding nothing other than a small child's garment under $100, I resolved to act like I'm shopping for overpriced hob nob clothing while I waited for Hank to appear from the fitting rooms.  Lol, the tourist trapping of going into Brooks Brothers was another nice addition to my tourist trap venture in the windy city, along with the boat ride down the river and the Sears / Willis Tower viewing experience.

I found Hank a short time later, still shopping and picking out his things.  The longer I pondered things, the more I began to realize that, regardless of what I had 'perceived' to have occurred in 2008, regardless of people's decisions and the mountain of pressure this man and Neel Kashkari ( I remember reading how Neel moved to the mountains with his wife after the entire debacle ) must have been under, I really didn't know the details, I didn't know this man personally, nor did I know what was happening behind the scenes with this individual and neither was it my place to sound off like some protester right there in that store.

I did think about 'who' I am now and 'what' my purpose / mission is... and I was somehow reminded it was not to blow a hole in this man's conscience with a tongue lashing of sorts or some harsh words from my limited view and programmed perception of history.  I remembered that the Almighty is in absolute control of all situations and what was before me was not by chance or a coincidental crossing of our paths.  I realized it was yet another purposed crossing of ways orchestrated by none other than the Holy One in heaven!  ( I firmly believe nothing happens by coincidence... NOTHING )

So as he approached my wife and I, I asked if I could take a picture with him.

He hesitated for a moment to which I followed with "my wife thought it was a bit inappropriate for me to ask, so I do apologize if that's the case" or something like that.  He took a look around, perhaps to gauge if this was an ambush of sorts or not, and gracefully stood still next to me as I snapped a picture of us both.

I thanked him and he continued looking for additional pieces to his wardrobe while saying "I'm usually not recognized in Chicago."  I thanked him again and moved on with my wife.

As we were leaving while looking at the picture, I noticed he had smiled ( the picture can be seen on my FB page, shared with 'friends' ).  Seeing him smile struck me as something I didn't realize until that very moment: this man is just like me!  He's human.  This man had made mistakes just like I had.  This man has feelings and thoughts... and who was I to judge him??  I was not given the position to judge strangers on this plain.  I've been commissioned to love and serve people in whatever capacity I can... to teach and to look after them. 

God bless Henry Paulson with every spiritual blessing there is!!  May the Holy Father have Henry Paulson within His grace as well as all who read this long blog post!!  Peace be with you!

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