Early this morning on the toll way, I passed a billboard welcoming to town a President of the United States. More signs and banners appeared everywhere — greeting more Presidents. Dallas is in a flurry and flush of excitement. Today is the Day of the Five Presidents.

Current President Barack Obama arrived yesterday. Past Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are joining Past President Dad George H. W. Bush. Together, they will make their way to the dedication of Past President Son George W. Bush’s Presidential Center and Library.

The Library is on the campus of Southern Methodist University. SMU is a gorgeous tree-lined retreat in the midst of the city’s bustle and buzz. Students race to classes — notes, papers, tweets and texts floating free behind them in the soft April spring breezes.

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour

The opening lines of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are quite appropriate today. Flowers are budding, birds are singing. The skies are clear, and the high will be 72 degrees. It is a perfect spring day. It is idyllic — picturesque, ideal, and peaceful.

The tenure of a President is seldom that — idyllic.

On the trail this morning, only a mile or less from the library and its guests, I asked myself what word distinguished the Presidency of Son George W. Bush. The word that jumped to my mind was “terror.” I thought of the terror of terrorism and the terrorist.

What is terrorism? I asked myself the question as I walked. To me, terrorism is the intentional infliction of death or injury to people and/or damage to property to bring attention to a perceived wrong. I realized that the wrong could be quite legitimate and in need of response. It was not the wrong that was the issue with terrorism. I also realized that the issue with terrorism was not whether the people impacted were connected to or in some way responsible for the wrong. They may or may not be. The concern with terrorism is how the terrorist chooses to bring attention to the wrong. The way the terrorist chooses is to kill, injure and damage. The terrorist chooses violence to highlight a concern. Hurt first, talk later. That’s irrational. A person will never agree with someone who’s hurting them. Terrorism makes no sense. Stop hurting and start talking. No one every changed someone’s mind with a club. You will get your way, but you will have lost your audience.

The President of the New Library, President George W. Bush, did something very brave. He stood up to the terrorists and said “No.” Period, end of sentence, the answer was: No to Terrorism. That’s courageous. He can be criticized for how and in what fashion the response to terrorism was carried out by his administration. In time, the new library will likely chronicle the President’s responses to those criticisms. For now, the stance he took was to me a good one. You have to say “No” to terrorism. We all have to say “No” to terrorism. When faced with the insensible, “No” is the only answer that makes sense.

It’s not easy being President. The buck stops there. All the Presidents today know that, all have suffered criticism for their actions, and all have kept going. It is not a job I would think anyone would want. And, once you get the job, I’m sure the best plans last about a day, if that long.

Presidents serve. They serve the people, the Congress, the Courts and the world. They may enter the oval office thinking, to some small extent, about themselves. I believe they each leave selfless, thinking only of others, having carried the weight of the worries of our planet on their shoulders, and wishing they could have done better. They do deserve our respect.

I have always respected the office of the President. On my quiet walk in the welcoming spring this morning, I realized that I respected each of the men who would soon sit only minutes away. I realized today that the office and the person are both to be respected. Both have shown themselves worthy since the foundation of our country and our first President. They are cut from the same fabric, have shown the same mettle, and have served with honor.

As a people, we should stand quietly and applaud them each and all together.

Thank you, Mr. Presidents. You are always welcome in our town.

Grandpa Jim