Mea culpa. No disrespect to the grand sir.

It all makes me reflect how sad it is that "Civil Servant" isn't the highest honor we give to our  leaders. Not to say I wasn't caught with my metaphorical pants down on this because..... yep. I sure was. I'm an 'inspirational quotes' junkie, and while I do know who say, Walt Whitman, Sojourner Truth, James Baldwin, Hannibal, Jean-Paul Sartre are..... sometimes I just look at a quote, think "ooh, neat" and pass it along. Sometimes without understanding fully the context.

But as for "Civil Servant, and how it's come to be thought of as referring to low level functionaries.... it's sad, I think. It shows that service its self isn't considered a high honor. The corollary being that it's insufficient to describe our leaders, and that we need something indicating power, when the honor should be in the service.

Anyhow, I do apologize (especially to my Canadian family!), and I'll look for something interesting to read up on who this man was.