Why "Think About It"?

Long, long ago way up north in the woods of the great state of Maine there lived an insurance man (a very successful insurance man, I might add) who determined he wanted to be governor. The year was 1974. If you don't remember the year, or were yet to be born, it was when McDonald's gave you back change from a dollar when you bought a cheeseburger, fries and a drink. If you don't remember the man his name was James B. Longley, Jr. He was fed up with the Republican and Democrat politicians in his state and decided to run for governor as an Independent.

I, on the other hand, was recently out of the military, had been laid off due to the bad economy, and was in training to become an insurance salesman (I had to support my new family somehow). Part of my training required attending a seminar which included a luncheon featuring Mr. Longley as the guest speaker. There was about a dozen trainees at the seminar. We had our lunch and then listened to Mr. Longley give a somewhat atypical political stump speech in that he kept repeating over and over; "I am not a professional politician"..."I am not a professional politician"..."I am not a professional politician". And if you looked at his resume he wasn't a "professional" politician. He was an insurance man who was also a lawyer running for political office for the first time as an Independent.

When Mr. Longley finished we were instructed to form a line to say hello to him and then pay for our lunch. I will never forget what happened next. The guy in front of me took a ten dollar bill out of his wallet to pay for the lunch and put it in his left hand. He walked up to Mr. Longley and as they were shaking hands Mr. Longley, without hesitation, took the ten dollar bill, said "thank you for your your support", and stiffed the ten dollars in his pocket. He then turned and greeted me. I then looked at the guy in front of me. He was just standing there staring at his left hand with his mouth wide open.

The luncheon was the end of the seminar and as I was walking to my car I noticed in the far corner of the parking lot Mr. Longley's big motor home that he used for his campaign tours around the state. Painted all along both sides of the motor home was his campaign slogan "Think About It". And, you guessed it. All I could "think about" was the guy's ten dollar bill going into Mr. (I'm not a professional politician) Longley's pocket in the blink of an eye. I thought about it so much that I did not vote for him on election day. Election day came and, you guessed it again, James B. Longley, Jr. became the first Independent governor of the State of Maine. But, I have to admit, Mr. Longley was not a professioanl politician in one respect. Most of the promises he made during his campaign, he kept. His most repeated promise was, if elected, he would serve only one term...and he did!

Thus, the origin of the name of this blog. I hope that whatever I say here will cause you to pause and................. "Think About It".