Day 7 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-12-10

Reflection Day 7

Sam W. Brown Jr., a man best described as one who has done it all, spoke with us today about his life, his experiences in school, politics, and the private sector, and quite a few stories as well. Brown himself calls his career “less of a career and more of a series of lurches”, which I can comfortably sympathize with as I find myself often “lurching” in many different directions as time goes on (in fact, my being on this particular trip could be described as a lurch towards politics!). One of his seemingly most rewarding lurches was towards his involvement in real estate investment and development, although he did not delve much into that part of his life due to the topic of this class being concentrated elsewhere. I am attempting to meet with Mr. Brown to discuss this and other aspects of his philanthropic life at another time, but he is a very busy man despite his current stage of “retirement”.

Politically, it was very refreshing to see and hear from a man whose involvement in public policy stemmed from sheer interest and dedication to the greater good of mankind, rather than an attempt to achieve the mythical power, fame, and fortune that most seem to think is at the end of the political road. I am not, by any means, assuming any or all of the speakers we have heard from in this course are guilty of this offence, however I do know quite a few people that seem to think this is true. In any event, it seems that Mr. Brown, having a passion for public life rather than a financially dependent career, was free from the conventional binds and limitations many experience in public life. For example, his experience as the State Treasurer of Colorado would have been career damning for a person who really needed that or another public job to survive, but Mr. Brown stuck to his guns and could afford to do so. On many aspects of his life in terms of work abroad, I found myself guilty of ignorance when he was speaking about places I have never heard of and events I never knew took place, so most of my time listening was spent jotting down historical facts than political analysis and thought.