Thursday I looked into a face most people seem to shy away from or snarl at.

I first encountered this face a decade ago in a small church the north side of Pittsburgh PA. A few hundred sat and stood in the aisles. Furtive agents hovered about. My skeptical friend stood with her kids and I with mine as we listened to the man speak. Then he came through the crowd as my friend held out her hand and looked directly into his face.

Later she confessed, “I wasn’t sure about him, but I looked him in the eyes and heard him. He means what he says.”

That tiny event led to the first national stop at Station Square downtown. He and his wife and another couple waved from the back of the train decked in bunting, as many cheered and waved back at them with cameras and flags.

Back then the world was a different place, perhaps naïve, more wildly optimistic and sadly opportunistic. Then came Nine Eleven, which seemed to shock us, to temper selfishness, and yet have us wave flags in defiance.

Time and pundits blurred and altered memories, stirred the embers of pre-911 ways. “We are fine, our assets are growing, we can party, we can do whatever we want . . . besides, I know what is best for me,” became our inner mantra.

Still 911, conscience, and conviction focused one man. He kept steering his country into a calm that freed fellow citizens to behave or misbehave. This man’s course stumbled through ideological ice blocks left, center, and right. Opponents had their way. Supporters freaked. Even this writer shied away from news that pictured his face . . . until last night.

I sat down to watch him. Wrinkles deeply creased his brow from the burdened events of two terms. Silver and gray strands tightly threaded a crown of once dark hair. Lips that often gave way to grins some opined as cocky were this night constrained yet gracious as they spoke a farewell address to the nation.

During this historic change, no matter what your political leaning, let God's love so constrain you to be gracious, to “be thankful.” And will you join others who offer heartfelt thanks to the President who considers his greatest title to be “citizen” of his country?