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There are public figures that don’t do a thing that is not calculated to burnish their public image. Any kindness or charity shown is not shown unless there are ample cameras to record the spontaneous event. Then there are those whose genuine kindness and charity goes unrecognized because they are genuinely good and kind people who feel no need to publicize themselves, who believe kindness is its own reward.  George H. W. Bush was such a man.

While he was alive, the media routinely savaged him.  Now that he is dead, he can join the ranks of good republicans, and even CNN can write something good about him.  That it has the advantage of being true matters little to the media, but give them credit where it is due:

Even after his death, George H.W. Bush continues to warm our hearts.

The 41st President sponsored a 7-year-old boy in the Philippines for ten years using a pseudonym, the nonprofit who connected them revealed.

Through Compassion International, a nonprofit organization that uses local churches to help children in poor communities around the world, Bush sponsored a boy named Timothy. For a decade, the former President sent funds that went toward Timothy’s education, extracurricular activities and some of his meals. The organization has shared some of Bush’s letters with CNN.

The Bush family was not available to comment on the letters, but Jim McGrath, a spokesperson for the Office of George H. W. Bush, confirmed the letters’ authenticity.

Once the sponsorship began, Bush began writing to the boy right away. He said in his first letter, sent on January 24, 2002, that he loved Timothy from the get-go.

I want to be your new pen pal.

I am an old man, 77 years old, but I love kids; and though we have not met I love you already.

I live in Texas – I will write you from time to time – Good Luck. G. Walker

credit: abc13houston

President Bush, attending a Christmas concert, took the chance on the spot to sponsor the boy.

According to Stafford, his security team was alarmed because they had no idea what exactly was going to be on the pamphlet, or if the information on it had been screened for authenticity. But that didn’t stop Bush.

‘His top security called me and said ‘this doesn’t surprise me coming from him, but if he’s going to sponsor this kid, we need to make sure the boy doesn’t know who his sponsor is.’ So, he signed all his letters to Timothy as ‘George Walker,’ Stafford said.

Bush’s security team was mainly concerned for Timothy’s safety, Stafford explained. They didn’t want him to become a target if people found out the boy was in communication with a former US President.

Due to security concerns, Stafford became in charge of screening each letter — and Bush didn’t make his job easy, he said, as he began providing more information than he was supposed to.

‘P.S. Be sure to say your prayers. I do every day,’ President Bush wrote.

‘His letters were the most sweet, spirited letters I have read from any sponsor, but he kept giving hints as to who he could be,’ Stafford said. ‘He was really pushing the envelope.

Which one might expect of a veteran combat pilot.

His first security breach: sharing a picture of his dog.

‘Here is a picture of our dog’” he wrote.‘Her name is Sadie. She has met a lot of famous people.’

‘She is a very good dog. She was born in England. She catches mice and chipmunks, and she runs like the wind. G. Walker.’

He also mentioned that he was famous enough to get invited to the White House for Christmas.

‘Dear Timothy,

I love that picture of you holding that ‘World Time’ gadget. I also have learned that you play the guitar – terrific!

Timothy, have you ever heard of the White House? That’s where the president of the USA lives.

I got to go to the White House at Christmas time. Here is a little booklet that I got at the White House in Washington.

Sending presents wasn’t allowed, but President Bush arranged to do it anyway.  When people he know were in the Philippines, they personally took gifts to Timothy’s church so he could receive them.

‘Dear Mr. & Mrs. Walker,

How are you? I hope you’re in good condition.

I would like to thank you for not forgetting me. You’re so nice and good.

God is so good to us. He gives us the body & will to get to where we want to go.

Thank you so much for the book, I like it very much.

George H. W. Bush was one of the most consequential people of the last century.  He was wealthy and had more than enough to keep him occupied, but he added Timothy to his life.

Luckily, Timothy never caught on to the hints in Bush’s letters, and didn’t find out who his sponsor was until he had graduated from the program.

‘After a while, my executive assistant, Angie Lathrop, took over the sponsorship, and after Timothy graduated at 17, she flew to the Philippines to meet him,’ Stafford said. ‘That’s when she told him who his sponsor really was.’

Timothy was stunned, Stafford said. He really couldn’t believe the man he had been writing letters to was once the President of a nation.

Stafford said that Timothy told Lathrop he had no idea, and that the revelation was life-changing.

That was the last time the nonprofit heard from Timothy, despite efforts to locate him, Stafford said.

Democrats spend a great deal of time talking about how deeply they care for the poor and the less fortunate, but they care only for such people as as politically useful groups, abstractions.  Their belief in big government causes them to give very little to charity.  That’s government’s job, which is why they need never–ending tax increases.  It’s easy to spend other people’s money.

Conservatives always give more of their own resources to help people in need, and by huge margins over Democrats.  They take to heart the lesson of the Good Samaritan.  When they see need, they don’t say “that’s government’s job,” they provide for it, just as George H. W. Bush did for Timothy, a little boy whose life was changed by the kindness of one American.