I like reading the quotes in the U.S. News & World Reports. You find people saying all sorts of interesting things. In the August 14-21, 2006 edition, we have the following Bush quote:

“Is that Sam Donaldson? Forget it. You’re a has-been. We don’t have to answer has-beens’ questions.”

The caption under it says, “President Bush, at a ceremony to close the old pressroom for renovation during which past media and White House press personalities like Donaldson, who shouted a question, appeared.”

My first thought was, “What was the question?”

The question appears to have been, “Should Mel Gibson be forgiven for claiming that the Jews start all the wars?” (Source: The Raw Story and YouTube)

My second thought was, “How could a President treat such a distinguished reporter that way? And he may not have to answer ‘has-beens” questions, but he need to answer Citizens’ questions, and Sam is a citizen.”

Well, thanks to the power of the Internet, I was able to see a live video recording of the event on YouTube The entire event was a funny event with the President calling himself a “Crackpot from Texas”. Based upon the video, everything was said in jest.  I do not even think that Sam was asking a serious question but rather just going along with the mood.  Yet, that is not what was communicated by the U.S. News & World Report blurb.

Michael Marriner and Brian McAllister from Roadtrip Nation came to my work today and talked about their roadtrip that they took after college. They also showed several short documentaries of their trip.
Here is the blurb about it from the RoadTrip Nation website:

“Roadtrip Nation was started when some recent college grads, who had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives, decided to take a roadtrip to figure it out. They bought an old run-down 31-foot RV, painted it neon green, and hit the road for 3 months and 17,000 miles to explore how other individuals found their roads in life. Along the way, they interviewed over 80 people, including: a Lobsterman in Maine, the scientist who decoded the Human Genome, the Director of Saturday Night Live, the stylist for Madonna, and Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. All of the leaders shared where they were in their twenties, and how they resisted pressures of conformity to find their roads in life.”

Here are some quotes that came from the documentary. Many come from college students that they interviewed.

“What’s the next step? I don’t know and it scares me.”

“Small decision now will affect my entire life”

“Sometimes I feel like the path that I am on was laid out for me some way”
“I don’t need to sit here and say I’m going to do this or I’m going to do that. I’m going to be who I am right now.”

“I’m still kind of lost about what my road will be, but I feel that will be part of my adventure”

“Everyone’s road was completely different, but the one thing that we say was no one’s path was linear.”

“Live your life with integrity.” –be true to yourself

“You are hardwired to do something in this world. All of the seeds for what you are to become are there. It is just a matter of accessing it and fulfilling it.”

“Let’s be honest with ourselves. If we do not have the answers, then let us not pretend that we do.”

Sam Ross, Founder of Fantastic Sams: “When you want to do what you want to do, you got to throw the book away. And as long as you do it honestly, then you will win every time”