ABG Improves the 2017 "Most Admired" List

Sam Burnham, Curator
​@C_SamBurnham

Gallup's most admired polls have been talked about a lot in recent days. There has been a lot of to-do over former President Obama being named Most Admired Man while Hillary Clinton was named Most Admired Woman. This has really had me thinking about admiration and how why we admire people. 

First, I have to address one thing. The vote tallying process. This actually gave me a little more faith in America. The thought that Presidents Obama and Trump are the most admired men in America was a little disappointing. Then seeing that Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey are the three most admired women, I'm noticing a pattern here. But then look at the numbers. President Obama picked up 17% of the vote and President Trump 14%. So the two "most admired" men didn't get 1/3 of the vote combined. Pope Francis came in third with 3%. And folks gripe about the Electoral College. Among the women, Clinton topped the list at 9%, Michelle Obama received 7%, and Winfrey 4%.  

Why this predictable list? Why is it that polarized politics drive politicians toward the top of the list? And is it really accurate to describe such paltry support as being "most admired?"

Forget it. We can do better and should. 

Here's a (ruthlessly abridged) list of folks we admire in 2017:

Brandon Chonko: Farmer, Carpenter, Hog Smoker
Waverly, Georgia

Brandon Chonko - Photo courtesy Grassroots Farms

You've probably heard this name here before. You've definitely seen the "G.M.P." ad on the right. I got to know Brandon on Twitter. I've been impressed with him from day one. It's one thing to sit here at the keyboard and type about Agrarian ideals. It's another thing to leave the city and carry your educated self to South Georgia and live them. 

Brandon has taken up poultry and hog farming, not for the riches and glamour of it, but because he believes in it. There have been times when he has wondered if it is worth it. There have been issues with getting fair prices for his quality products. Some of his customers might not be quite as honest as they should have been. I know that he has had second, third, and 142nd thoughts about finding something with better pay or benefits. The lure of better compensation back in town has closed many a family farm. But he is following a passion, a calling. That is something that should be admired.

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Celeste Headlee: Journalist, Author, Mom
Atlanta, Georgia

Celeste Headlee - Photo courtesy Harper-Collins

Right now journalism itself is in the news a lot. The bickering over "fake news" and truth has Americans polarized as much as the politics being covered. I first met Celeste when I was invited to join her Breakroom panel on her radio show On Second Thought. I want to mention her here because of what she has done off the air as much as on.

​Her recently released book We Need to Talk has taken her across the country speaking and appearing on shows such as Today. It is one of those "overnight success" stories that really takes about 20 years of torture for the person who finally succeeds. The book is an effort to get us to talk to each other, to listen to each other, and to stop yelling at each other in disagreement. She and I disagree on many issues - sometimes vehemently. But we can discuss the issues without disrespect or disdain. That is what she is trying to say with the book, as well as the show, especially the Breakroom.

What the casual listener might miss is that she has been very successful as a single mom. It can be hard to put food on the table and a roof over heads. It is even harder when you're doing that alone. Throw in the recent revelations of her working conditions while at The Takeaway with John Hockenberry and we see just how much she has overcome to get to where she is.

Definitely worthy of admiration.

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Jon Jackson: Farmer, Combat Veteran, Agratherapist
Milledgeville, Georgia

Jon Jackson, Photo courtesy TEDx

Jon Jackson ain't from Milledgeville. But he got there as quick as he could. That road was neither easy nor short. 

Jackson served a combined 6 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment. He came out of those experiences with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. If that wasn't enough, his perfectly human reaction to those experiences led to his life falling apart. He was pushed to the brink of suicide.

But Jon didn't take his own life. He took a different path which he describes in his TED Talk given earlier this year. He went on to found Stag Vets, a non-profit that provides therapy and support to veterans and others suffering from PTSD. His base of operations is Comfort Farms, named for his friend, Captain Kyle Comfort, who was killed in action in 2010.

Jackson is an advocated of his "Georgia Model" of agriculture - small local farmers producing food, sustaining themselves and their communities. This was actually the model first proposed for Georgia by James Oglethorpe in the 1730's. The model allows vets to reconnect with the world in a healthy manner. This not only provides a supply for the local food movement, it is saving lives, saving families, and building community, 

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Sheila Jane: Educator, Teacher Advocate, Entrepreneur
Sonoma, California

Sheila Jane - Ph0to courtesy sheilajaneteaching.com

Public education gets a bad rap these days. Some of it is earned by the red tape and bureaucracy that government agencies generate but that only gets between kids and a quality education. There are thousands upon thousands of good teachers in this nation that are fighting the good fight, leading the charge to educate our kids.  

Sheila Jane has been in that fight. This dynamic educator started out her career hopeful only to receive more pink slips than many teachers ever have jobs to begin with. She had to voluntarily walk away from another school because staying would have compromised her personal standards of excellence. Through challenges, both personal and professional, she has endured. Her positive attitude and passion for her avocation has led her to create her to being an advocate for teachers nationwide. 

​Through her website, SheilaJaneTeaching and its accompanying social media outlets, she has provided true professional development and encouragement for those in one of America's most underappreciated professions - teachers. Having been through her share of negative, she knows what teachers are facing and helps them see that it isn't just them. 

With teachers like Sheila, we have hope for the future of education in this country. 

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John Pillsbury - Engineer, Community Leader, Mentor
(Husband, Dad, Grandad, Water Skiing Instructor)
​Rome, Georgia

John Pillsbury and his Wife, Becky

This is the most personal choice on this list. John isn't just someone I've gotten to know. I've known him all my life. I grew up with his youngest son, my best friend since my earliest years. In those golden years of my youth I was either at my house, at his house or somewhere in transit between the two. 

I started this post by bemoaning the typical choice of elected officials. And there are those in Northwest Georgia who would suggest that John run for office. I personally don't like that idea. First, he's way too honest of a man to get involved in such garbage. Second, and most importantly, I think it would hinder him in all the work that he does. 

I'd make a list of the civic and community organizations that he is involved in but I'd miss at least a few. He's been involved in the economic development of Rome's historic downtown. He has helped raise money and support for numerous charities. He has assisted a program that mentors at-risk high school students and helps them find a future in a career. If you see something good happening to people in Rome, Georgia, he probably had a hand in it somehow. 

He accomplished all this by having a retirement of significance. After retiring from the Georgia Power Company he set out to find things to do. His love of people and his community has driven him to turn philanthropy into a second career. And he has done all of this while maintaining family ties in Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Vermont. And somehow along the way he even taught us all to water ski.

If there is no other reason to list him here it is that he has won every award imaginable except this list, a Nobel Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The biggest clue that he deserves the awards is that they don't matter to him - the service does. His reward is a better community.

And that is the definition of admirable.

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And so we close 2017 with our list of our "Most Admired." We hope that this list finds you well and looking for these sorts of admiration in your own life. 

​Happy New Year from ABG.