politician's calendar but he brought it to a halt to see if the person who fainted was alright. Public service involves not the advancement of one individual but his or her role as one of many.
During the Gore - Bradley primary contest, a New Hampshire middle school girl had been chosen to sing the national anthem for Bradley's appearance at a spaghetti dinner at her school. Her classmates and parents and a lot of the community were there. But she got a bit into the tune and, overcome with nervousness, forgot her place and froze.
Bradley stood up and began singing where she left off, gesturing for everyone else to do the same:
At a spaghetti dinner in Keene, a fifth-grader named Leeanne Hamel stood and sang the national anthem. Her voice was sweet and clear, but she had trouble with the high notes, and her confidence broke. Bradley's voice came in to help, and then others, until finally the whole place was singing, led by Leeanne. When it was over, everyone cheered. The only smile bigger than Bradley's belonged to the young girl. That might not get him anywhere near the White House, but it counts for more than any political speech I've heard this year.
(
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/04/19/bradley.html)
And one more.
At the winter funeral of his wife, Nathaniel Hawthorne was so shaken by her loss that he neglected to wear an overcoat for the ceremony. His friend President Franklin Pierce, walked out of the gathering of mourners and put his own coat on his friend.
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