Last Thursday night, I had the honor of speaking at Arkansas State University – Mountain Home as part of the Jim and Jill Gaston Lecture Series.
The mission of the series is to:
Challenge individuals to think reason and learn. It encourages thinking that does not fall along party or liberal/conservative points of view. Rather it promotes individualized thinking. Thinking and reason based on a person’s beliefs and not trends in society. The Gaston’s dream is that the series will produce a discussion of ideas while encouraging those with opinions to maintain, or even gain, a mutual respect for each other.
Before the speech, I sat next the series’ benefactor, Jim Gaston, at a dinner held in my honor. Jim’s the owner of Gaston’s White River Resort in Lakeview, Arkansas and was named the Arkansas Business Executive of the Year in 2010 by Arkansas Business.com . As well as owning a world-class resort, I think it’s also safe to say he’s a renaissance man. He’s interested in many topics and is an amazing photographer. He’s a soft-spoken man, but his intelligence is like the pools on the White River: Deep, calm and cool. I enjoyed every second of our conversation and time together.
After the speech, Jim (he asked me not to call him Mr. Gaston) said, “You accomplished everything I had hoped when I set up the series.”
I don’t think I could have asked for any finer compliment.
What an honor! Congratulations! You deserve it.