U.S. Representative Steve Womack, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and currently serves as Chair of the Budget Committee and sits on the Appropriations Committee in Washington, addressed a full auditorium at Eureka Springs High School last Thursday.
Womack emphasized the importance of education because he said students would be competing with billions of others for jobs in the future. Motivated teachers give students a chance to maximize their potential, and he urged the students to challenge teachers to continue expanding the horizon.
Womack also cautioned students about behavior. “You’ll be tempted to do stupid stuff,” he predicted, but added a person can choose not to and even encourage others to reconsider their choices. He pointed out there might be long-term consequences for a moment’s bad behavior, and cautioned them not to put a limit on potential by doing something stupid.
The third bit of advice from Womack was about health. “You won’t be seventeen forever,” he told them, and emphasized paying attention to caloric intake and getting enough exercise as poor health leads to productivity issues.
He encouraged students to give something back to the community, claiming Americans take for granted what they have, and “we owe our country something back. Be of service,” Womack implored.
He said if he had had time for a fifth topic, it would have been financial management. It was his job after retiring from the military to manage and invest other people’s money, and he has seen the benefits of wise saving and investing. He told students if they save money regularly when they begin working, and they will be pleasantly surprised in a year or two when interest begins to compound.
Womack then fielded a few questions, the first one was whether his military career helped him financially, and he said it had without a doubt. He had expected to be in the National Guard for five years and stayed for thirty. The service supported his family all that time, he has health care and now he gets pension checks. The leadership skills he learned helped him in the financial world and everyday since.
He was asked about his goals, and responded he wanted to help the House do its budget oversight and make the budget process more efficient. “I want to do what I can to make a difference, where can I be useful?” he responded.
Another student asked what he disliked about his job, and right away he answered, “Travel.” He said he is on plane rides every week and has seen firsthand many types of delay and inconvenience at airports. He added he does not like the “hyper-partisanship” he finds in Congress, plus it is very expensive to live there.
The final, and most timely, question was about school shootings. “School safety is important,” he said. All safety is important.” He recounted when he was in high school, his some friends came to school with a deer rifle on the rack in their trucks, and there were no problems.
“I don’t believe the issue is necessarily guns. Guns are a manifestation of an underlying issue which is the hate and contempt a lot of people have. Some of it is mental health, some of it is drugs.” He said the solution would be to figure out to teach people to pay it forward instead of trying to take something.
He agreed there should be a “really good national discussion about violence as a rule and what we can do to protect ourselves from it, but I’m not the kind of guy that will make a kneejerk reaction to a specific event.” He emphasized protecting the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. He even recited his Oath of Office in which he promised to protect the Constitution.
Womack, paraphrasing Winston Churchill, closed by stating, “Everyone of us will be figuratively tapped on the shoulder to do something very profound, something really crazy good that is suited to your talent, and what a terrible tragedy it would be if you, and that moment, find yourself either unqualified or unprepared to seize what would have been your finest hour.”