Lesson McCain gave me which I will pass on to my son
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Dear son,
It’s a cool, damp, morning in Sydney. Last weekend your mother, brother, and I enjoyed putting some of the final preparations together for your nursery, as you’re due to join us in just over a month. Amid our joy, the past fortnight has also seen political disorder at the highest level in both of the countries in which you will have citizenship. Across the Pacific, two of the US President’s former confidantes were found guilty in a federal court. Here, the fifth Prime Minister in as many years was sworn in after intense intra-party discord.
In sharp contrast to this setting, I write to you about a hero – of mine and millions of others – whom we sadly lost to brain cancer last weekend: US senator John McCain. I write because I fear his passing marks the end of an era during which the perspective of his integrity reverberated in Washington, DC and around the world. Sadly, I expect we will only truly understand his value now that he has left us.
John McCain in 2017.
Photo: AP
One morning in September 1999, weeks into my final year at the US Naval Academy, I was told that McCain would be joining my table for breakfast, a particular honour considering there are 400 tables for the 4000 midshipmen that dine together in King Hall.
One of our most celebrated alumni – naval officer, war hero, accomplished senator, son and grandson of four-star admirals – McCain could have commanded the table with lofty speeches and intrigue. Instead, he asked each of us about how school and military training were going, showing genuine interest. He commented on the coffee (“It’s bad, but it’s bad in the Senate too.”), offered life advice and passed on a little gallows humour to our plebs, the first-year students that spend a year with boot camp-like restrictions.
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