Bob Dole : Get Well Soon

Word was received yesterday that Bob Dole was at Walter Reed hospital. Varying accounts reported him as having " a routine procedure" to being "infirm and not well."

There might well be a generation of people that do not even know the Bob Dole story. Bob Dole born in 1923, a son of the prairie, raised during the depression, witness to the dust bowl, war hero, seriously injured, Congressman, Senator, Vice Presidential Candidate, three time Presidential candidate, the party's nominee in 1996, and later in retirement Viagra spokesman.

That certainly sounds like a full life. It is a full life. A life to be honored and yet the description above only gives one a few brief highlights of this amazing life. A coincidence of fate had me currently reading the book What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Some people are born with a drive, a spark, Bob Dole growing up in Russell, Kansas was one of those people. Good. Dole was just good.

We all hope that he recovers from this sickness. We all know however that soon, in a few years. Dole, along with his longtime rival George H W Bush will no longer be with us in except in spirit and memories of incredible lives lived to the fullest.

The World War II generation is fast leaving us, in another ten years our ability to hear firsthand memories from these men and women will be all but gone. The loss of Bush and Dole will be a symbol of that. It will be a sad day and you would be hard pressed to find two better men to be a symbol of that greatest generation.

A statement well used, overused, " The Greatest Generation." However for any generation of people that includes Bob Dole and the former President no other word can apply.