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Hello, welcome to the careers for kids podcast where kids learn careers.

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This is Maxwell Valencia.

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And this is Henry Morrison.

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Today, we have Jim Himes, a Congressman of the 4th Congressional District of Connecticut.

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Hello, Congressman Himes.

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Thank you for letting us interview.

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Also first of all, I'd like to mention I've been to your office when I was six years old

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when my family turned Washington DC.

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It was such a nice office.

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Oh, that's great.

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Well, I'm delighted to hear that.

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And thank you so much for having me on your podcast today.

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Really excited to be chatting with you guys.

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Thank you too for letting us interview.

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And a first question is, tell us what you currently do right now.

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Like what's your job and like?

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Sure, sure.

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So my job is best explained not by the word congressman, but represent by by the word

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representative, right?

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That's sort of the other thing that I get called from time to time.

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And that kind of tells you what I do.

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I like my four hundred and thirty four colleagues.

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I represent people in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

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And what that means is, you know, I really need to spend a lot of time with my constituents

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to understand how they feel about the issues, because of course we deal with all kinds of

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issues, everything from the war in Ukraine, the Social Security, the debt ceiling, all

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these things are in the news almost every day.

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And so my job is to to vote in favor of those things that I think the seven hundred and

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fifty thousand or so people that I represent a lot would want me to vote in favor of.

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OK, yeah, I heard about the debt ceiling and many different things like I even made like

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a skit of the debt ceiling.

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It was like a funny skit I made.

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So it's like I like it's really cool.

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I like it to represent these things.

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I like.

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Yeah.

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I think the debt ceiling is I know you guys later on wanted to ask about things that are

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frustrating.

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You know, some of the things that we do don't really help advance the cause of America very

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well, you know, whether it's health care or education or what have you.

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The debt ceiling, sadly, is an example of that.

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But fortunately, we got you know, we got through it two weeks ago.

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And so, you know, my hope is now we can turn our attention to, you know, things that make

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more of a difference for people at the, you know, as we say, at the kitchen table, like,

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you know, the cost of education, the cost of housing, all that kind of stuff.

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Yes.

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Good luck.

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Hopefully, hopefully you do well with it.

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So tell me more about your career and how did you get to this position?

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How did you?

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Yeah.

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So, you know, I didn't start in politics and I usually recommend to young people that they,

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you know, not not necessarily get, you know, jump right out of school into into politics.

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And the reason I feel that way is that, you know, if you think about our government, our

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government is about things like regulating the banking sector or, you know, making decisions

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for military funding, all that kind of stuff.

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And I really think it helps to have some experience out there in the world, whether it's in banking,

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in my case, because I wrote out of graduate school, I went to work for a bank for 12 years,

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or it could be anything.

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It could be, you know, spending time in the military or or being a, you know, a lawyer

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or whatever.

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But to answer your question, you know, I started out in business for about 12 years and I very

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much enjoyed that career.

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I again, I worked at a bank and then I spent five years in the nonprofit world working

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with an organization that tries to build affordable housing in communities that don't have enough

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affordable housing.

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And then in 2007, I decided that I would sort of run with a dream that I'd had for a little

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while, which was to get involved in public policy, you know, in helping to craft the

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rules that that make our society run hopefully well.

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So I kind of got into politics pretty I was probably gosh, I don't know, 40, 43 or years

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old or something when I first got into politics.

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It sounds like you've been doing this for a long time.

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You said like that's that's that's longer than I've been around.

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Well, it feels like a long time some sometimes but no, I've actually I guess at this point

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in my career, I've done politics for longer than anything else.

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But as I said, I did spend a long time in the private sector and in the nonprofit sector,

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which I like I said, I recommend that people do.

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What are some of your experiences from like that, just from all of your, all of your careers

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over time?

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What are your experiences?

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Yeah, so I mean, everybody's gonna have different experiences depending on what they want to

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do, but I guess I have two experiences that I would highlight because I think they're

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valuable to younger people.

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Number one, sometimes people get really stressed out, you know, when they're a little older

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than you guys are like right now, it doesn't matter too much whether you have no idea whatsoever

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what you want to do in the future because you guys are pretty young.

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But of course, you know, as kids get into high school and into college, they start to

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feel a lot of pressure to, you know, decide what they want to be.

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And one piece of advice I give young people because I felt it myself is, you know, that

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period when you're, you know, thinking about college or in college or just out of college,

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it's a time of experimentation, right?

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You can try things.

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And in fact, even though in our very kind of achievement oriented society, everybody's

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like, Oh, am I going to succeed?

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When you're younger, succeeding really means trying things and figuring stuff out.

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And if you try something and you don't like it, great, move on to the next thing.

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So that's a piece of advice that I try to give people.

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It's pretty hard to make a mistake.

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I mean, you obviously don't want to do anything bad, you know, but it's pretty hard to make

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a mistake in your career trajectory, you know, when you're a young person.

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So I often say, look, when you're young, the magic is in learning as much as you can, trying

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things, gathering skills, you know, and those skills can be everything from writing well

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to learning to speak another language.

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That's something that's going to be a lot more important down the road for Americans

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to have, you know, to have more than one language, because of course, our world is becoming more

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integrated with itself.

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So you know, I as I think back on myself, I if you told me when I was 18 that I was

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going to be in Congress when I was in my mid fifties, I might not have been totally shocked,

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but I would have said, Wow, how did that happen?

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You know, which is a way of saying I didn't necessarily have a plan to get here.

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I just sort of had these general hopes and interests that ultimately resulted in me being

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in this job.

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I get it.

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Like, and also about your job, what part of the job did you enjoy the most and dislike

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the most?

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Well, there's a lot of things I enjoy about my job.

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I think the two things I would put at the top of the list is I really do like hearing

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from my constituents, you know, and in fact, if you ever wanted to be in government in

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an elected office, whether it's senator, congressman or governor or local school board or, you

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know, local mayor for selectmen, as we call them here in Connecticut, that's a pretty

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critical thing.

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You know, really enjoying hearing people's stories, hearing what they feel and what they

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fear and want.

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That's a pretty key part of any elected officials job.

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And I really enjoy that.

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And I'll tell you something that may strike you as strange, too, but I actually most enjoy

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that when I'm talking to somebody who disagrees with me, right?

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I find that I don't, you know, it's fun to talk to people that you agree with, but you

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don't necessarily learn a lot.

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But when I'm talking to somebody who disagrees with me and they make a really good argument,

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I just love that because it sort of opens your mind and it makes you think in new ways.

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So in some ways, I would say, number one, you know, talking to and listening to my constituents,

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you know, number two, I would say I just love policy.

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Now policy is kind of a big word that means lots of different things.

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It can mean everything from, you know, how much should we be supporting the Ukrainians

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in their war against Russia to, you know, what can we do to make it easier for young

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people, less expensive for young people to go to college?

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To how can we build better highways?

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You know, we live in an area of the world, as you guys know, where we spend way too much

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time in traffic.

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So I really, really enjoy thinking about the policy that addresses the challenges in those

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areas in terms of what I like least.

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I kind of alluded to this before, you know, things like the debt ceiling, where we create

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a lot of uncertainty and anger and foolishness in ways that don't really help the country.

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And that's an attribute of politics.

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You know, we live in an age where politics is much angrier than it was 20 or 30 or 40

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years ago.

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And so there's just a lot of people using very angry language.

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And when I hear that, I sort of think, man, that's a dangerous thing for our democracy,

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where we should disagree with each other.

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Absolutely, we should disagree with each other.

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But we should do it in civil fashion in a way that we learn from each other.

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Remember what I just said about how I love talking to people who disagree with me, you

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know, when we disagree, we should regard it as an opportunity, not as an indication that,

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you know, somebody is screwed up or wrong or evil or whatever.

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That stuff, I must say, that really angry politics drives me kind of crazy.

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Oh, yeah, I get how that drives you crazy.

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Like I like sometimes like, I'm like, I'm, people get like angry at me sometimes, and

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I don't like it.

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Yeah, you just see it on the news.

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Like, I'm not involved in politics.

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And I don't Maxwell here is.

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But like, it just like, when you see something about this on the news, and all the other

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fighting and other language, and just everything that's going on, it's just kind of sad that

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this is what politics has come to.

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That makes any sense.

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Yeah, it makes absolute sense.

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I mean, you know, it has, it has a lot of effects, right?

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It turns people off.

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People say, why would I want to get involved in that when it's so angry and people are

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shouting at each other?

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And that's bad in a democracy, people shouldn't be turned off from participating, they should

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be turned on to participate.

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And on the extremes, and you know, I was one of the harder things in the last couple of

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years, you know, I was in the Capitol when it was attacked on January 6 2021.

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And on the extreme enough angry rhetoric, enough crazy shouting at each other can lead

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to violence.

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And that's obviously something that we don't ever want to see in our society.

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Oh, yeah, we didn't.

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I wouldn't like to see violence in our society.

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So was this like a dream job you thought about when you were a kid?

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Like, did you like, think about it?

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Like, I mean, did you ever like consider this job when you were a kid?

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Well, I'm not sure I really when I was your age or even older in college, I'm not sure

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that I thought, oh, I'm going to run for elected office.

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I sort of thought, oh, man, that would be a hassle.

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I'll have to like shake millions of hands.

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And, you know, I'd much rather be like, you know, in government in a position where, you

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know, I don't know, maybe you work for the Department of Commerce or the Department of

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Justice, but you don't have to go out there and get elected.

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So it was pretty late in life that I thought, hey, it might be kind of cool to win elected

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office for a whole bunch of reasons that we can get into if you want.

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But including, by the way, what I was telling you earlier about the opportunity to talk

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to people and listen to their stories, you know, that's really a critical part of any

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elected office.

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So I think if you'd asked me when I was your age, someday, do you imagine yourself working

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in the government?

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I would have said, yeah, but probably not on the elected route.

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You know, I don't want to kiss babies and shake hands and all that stuff.

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So, you know, that idea kind of came to me much later in life.

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Yeah.

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And like, who were your idols when you were young?

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Like, who inspired you to like do things?

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And like, it doesn't necessarily have to be a business.

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Basically, who inspired you to help change the world?

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Like you were saying, it's more like something that affects people.

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What inspired you to do that?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Well, so asking about heroes and idols, I would tell you, I'm a lot older than you guys

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are.

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So I was three and four years old when American astronauts first landed on the moon.

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And I vaguely remember it because I was really young.

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But I remember being really young and just being so amazed that astronauts had actually

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landed on the moon.

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You know, today that seems like a normal thing.

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But back then, that was just, you know, that was just incredible.

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And so my one of my early heroes was the first man to walk on the moon, whose name was Armstrong.

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Yeah, and so partly motivated and enchanted with him.

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I thought, oh, man, I want to be a scientist or a pilot or I'd love to be an astronaut.

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I think that was my first my first interest.

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Now, mind you, I was six or seven years old.

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So I have gone through a lot of different ideas and heroes.

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But my earliest memory of a hero was Armstrong and those astronauts who landed on the moon

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in 1969.

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Yeah.

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Like that would be if I were like you, like in the time where like people landed on the

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moon, I'd be like so inspired, like so shocked.

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Like that was that was that was the huge thing of that decade.

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Yeah.

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No, it sure was.

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And you know, we were talking a little bit about political conflict that came in the

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middle.

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You guys have no ability to remember this because you're way too young.

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That came in the middle of another episode in which the country was really divided over

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the war in Vietnam.

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You know, if you read about it in the history books, you see that there were, you know,

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really angry riots and really, really a lot of division in the country over that war.

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So here in the middle of that very divisive war, you have this incredible event where

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the whole world watches a man for the first time walk on the moon.

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And it was a really in a divided time.

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It was a really optimistic thing.

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We'd say, wow, if you can get to the moon, you can do anything.

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You know, so the context in which that occurred was pretty interesting, too.

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Yes.

246
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Yeah.

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Like, why did you pick this job?

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I mean, I know it was to help and like help change, like help provide change and stuff

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and like add difference to the country.

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And I don't I mean, just have an effect, just have an effect on the world.

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But other than that, why did you pick this job?

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Well, I picked it.

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And maybe this is another little piece of advice for you.

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I think one of the critical things that a happy person should do is really ask themselves

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what do I love to do?

256
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Right.

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Not what do I have to do?

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Because, of course, our life is filled with things that we have to do.

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We have to do our homework.

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Oh, you know, we have to apply to college.

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We have to do our chores.

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And sometimes I feel like we don't really in a quiet moment look inside ourselves and

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say, what do I love to do?

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Because what you love to do should inform to some extent what you have to do.

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Right.

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And so what do I mean by that?

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I think that over time, you know, I was in business and there were things I loved about

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business and then I was in the nonprofit world.

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There were things I loved about that.

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But over time, I realized that I really loved thinking about policy, these things that we've

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been talking about, you know, everything from, you know, how do we ensure a good retirement

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for our senior citizens to how big should our military be and where should we use it

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to our highways?

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I love thinking about that stuff.

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And so in the back of my mind, I always thought, you know, someday I want to work in this area.

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I'd love to get paid to think about, you know, policy stuff.

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And then over time, I also grew and this was a little bit of a shift, as I told you before,

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to actually really enjoy hearing people's stories and people's, you know, hopes and

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concerns and anxieties.

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And when you put those two things together, a love of policy and interest in talking to

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people, it's not too big a jump to say, oh, well, did you ever think about elected office?

282
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And you know, we should clarify one thing, right?

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I mean, as you guys both know, my job, there's only 435 of them in the United States, right?

284
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So it's not like, you know, there's thousands and thousands and thousands of opportunities.

285
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But the truth is, there's thousands and thousands of opportunities to run for different kinds

286
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:32,080
of offices, right?

287
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It doesn't just need to be Congress.

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A lot of the impact that impacts our communities is made by our mayors, is made by our boards

289
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:43,040
of education, which control our school systems.

290
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And so we shouldn't limit ourselves to just talking about Congress, because of course,

291
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you know, Senate plus House is 535 people.

292
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But there's almost always opportunities for people to get involved in politics and elected

293
00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:00,040
office at the local or at the state level as well.

294
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:05,920
Okay, so like, what was like the most like biggest highlight of your entire career?

295
00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:11,080
Like what would you like, like you'd be really happy about or like something like that?

296
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:16,520
Like what would you be really like, what was a high in your career and what was a low in

297
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,280
your career and what were like highlights of your career?

298
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,840
Like, was it like your biggest?

299
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:26,760
So let me let me tell you sort of from the standpoint of the job and then personally,

300
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:32,040
from the standpoint of the job over the years, we've fixed some big problems.

301
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,520
I got elected in 09.

302
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:39,000
You guys were probably just getting bored around that time or not even yet bored.

303
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:45,360
I got I first went to Congress in 09 and the economy was in terrible, terrible shape because

304
00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:49,540
the banking sector had just completely exploded.

305
00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:51,920
And people were getting thrown out of work.

306
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And we did a whole lot of work to this.

307
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This is a little this is something that is going to be like thrilling to many people.

308
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:03,000
But anyone who was alive in 09 will remember how terrible the economy was.

309
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Millions of people out of work, lots of people lost their houses for very complicated reasons.

310
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But one of those reasons was that our banking system, our financial system was really unstable.

311
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And because I'd been a banker, I got to spend a year working on new laws and new rules that

312
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we sort of repotted our financial system, created new regulations.

313
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:33,960
And ever since then, since 2010, our financial system, our banks have been very stable, very

314
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stable, even though we went through a pandemic with covid.

315
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So I'm very proud of that.

316
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:40,760
And that sounds sort of boring.

317
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:42,120
And it is kind of boring.

318
00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,320
But when it goes wrong, it really goes wrong.

319
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The other thing, by the way, I would highlight this was super controversial back in 2009

320
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,320
and 2010 when we did it.

321
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,640
But we passed something called the Affordable Care Act.

322
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And it was very controversial.

323
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,440
People were really angry on both sides.

324
00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:01,440
But today, as we look at the what people used to call Obamacare, we discover that it's provided

325
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,640
health insurance for probably 20 million Americans or so.

326
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,220
And again, health insurance, that probably doesn't mean a lot to younger people.

327
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But to families that are out there that worry about getting medical bills that they can't

328
00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:15,820
pay, it's really transformative.

329
00:19:15,820 --> 00:19:21,440
So being in a position to help make those changes that kind of make for a more stable,

330
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,000
better country, that's that's clearly the highlight.

331
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,160
Now, by the way, I should say, you know, a couple of times I've gotten to fly with the

332
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,840
president on Air Force One.

333
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:31,840
That's pretty cool.

334
00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,480
But that's just me.

335
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:35,480
Right.

336
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:40,160
So even though that's pretty cool for me, or I get to do fun stuff like, you know, visit

337
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:41,880
aircraft carriers.

338
00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:43,120
And I love that stuff.

339
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But that obviously doesn't have an impact on my constituents all that much.

340
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:48,680
But those are the fun.

341
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:53,140
You know, those I would highlight those two things as really the pleasures of the job.

342
00:19:53,140 --> 00:19:57,360
You know, and we've talked a little bit about so I won't I won't beat this dead horse.

343
00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:03,520
But the hard honestly, the low points in the job come when the politics get very personal,

344
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:08,040
you know, rather than my saying, you know, hey, Henry, I disagree with you, but I respect

345
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:09,040
where you're coming from.

346
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,840
I say, oh, Henry, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

347
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:12,840
Oh, yeah.

348
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:14,280
There's a real difference there.

349
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:15,280
Right.

350
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:21,760
And sadly, today, our politics often turn into people being very personally, you know,

351
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,520
attacking each other personally, rather than respecting each other and interacting in a

352
00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:26,520
civil fashion.

353
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,880
When it gets really ugly that way, I it sort of breaks my heart.

354
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,880
Oh, yeah.

355
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:40,320
So what are like, what are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation?

356
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,080
Gen Z.

357
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,720
Yeah, that that you would want us to solve for you.

358
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:46,720
Yeah.

359
00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:52,760
Well, you know, I, I, I'm a real optimist, you know, and I think your generation is going

360
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:59,960
to probably finish the work of addressing one of the huge challenges that we have in

361
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:03,640
the world, which is climate change, you know.

362
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,960
When I was young, there was a big argument over whether it was even real.

363
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,960
And that argument is largely over, but we have a big argument over what to do about

364
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:13,960
it.

365
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:14,960
Right.

366
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,440
And, you know, it's it's not that we have a bad argument because people are bad or evil.

367
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:24,040
We have a bad argument because we're still in a world where our cars use gasoline and

368
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:28,520
gasoline, of course, contributes burning gasoline contributes to climate change.

369
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,400
We still live in a world where we burn a lot of coal and oil for the electricity that keeps

370
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:38,960
us warm in the winter and we're we're working to trip to transition to a more responsible

371
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,560
and sustainable energy system.

372
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:48,200
And you guys are going to need to finish that because it'll be the technological innovations

373
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,600
and the and the changes that you make that finish that off because it's not going to

374
00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:54,600
happen overnight.

375
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,840
So I think that may be the big challenge for your generation to figure out how finally

376
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:04,440
to get a sustainable with respect to making sure that we don't destabilize the climate

377
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,240
or other aspects of the planet.

378
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:13,920
Yeah, I mean, yeah, because with how the with how fast tech is advancing now with like,

379
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:20,520
like, so like, yeah, but like, just like other things like tech is getting more advanced

380
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,840
and everything is getting crazier and crazier.

381
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:30,120
But I think that could definitely be used because a lot of it's already being used for

382
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:34,280
good, but it's not making as much of an impact as I would like it to.

383
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:39,240
So yes, it could definitely help us with climate change, the technological advancements in

384
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,120
our generation.

385
00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:44,640
And I think that could definitely help us out there.

386
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,120
I could really help us.

387
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,120
Okay.

388
00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:48,600
Yeah, no doubt.

389
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:53,760
Let's say someone wants to follow your career as like a representative in your footsteps.

390
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:58,280
What would you tell him or her?

391
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,240
Well, the advice I would give somebody who wants to be in Congress or any other elected

392
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:11,560
office, maybe the advice I would give somebody your age is two pieces of advice.

393
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:16,880
Number one, follow the issues like when I was your age, believe it or not, and this

394
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,320
was a little nerdy, but when I was your age, I read the newspaper a lot because I was just

395
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,520
kind of interested in the issues that we've been talking about.

396
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:30,520
And someday, if you ever want to be a congressman or a mayor or a state representative, if you've

397
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:36,640
spent years reading about the issues, and by the issues, I mean everything from how

398
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:44,400
we adequately handle traffic to how we pay for our schools to whether we should be helping

399
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,320
Ukraine more or less.

400
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:50,320
If you've been reading about that stuff and thinking about it for years, you'll be in

401
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:55,840
a really good position to be, like I said, a congressman or a mayor or a board of education

402
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:56,840
member.

403
00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,040
So, advice number one would be...

404
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:05,640
Okay, so my advice to young people who are thinking about going into public policy, I

405
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:06,800
would say two things.

406
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,760
Number one, do what I did.

407
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,480
This is kind of nerdy, but when I was really young, I read the newspaper, I was interested

408
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:18,720
in the issues, and so I learned a lot even when I was very young about all of the issues

409
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:20,600
that we're talking about.

410
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:26,280
How you run schools, how cities succeed or fail, how economies succeed or fail, what

411
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,160
we've been successful at from a foreign policy standpoint.

412
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,560
If you're interested in that stuff, learn as much as you can, because it'll be really

413
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:37,160
handy for you when you ultimately get involved in something in a more professional way.

414
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,160
So that would be idea number one.

415
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:44,880
Idea number two is, if you're interested in public policy or elected office or any form

416
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,440
of government, it's never too early to get involved, right?

417
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,040
You could, today, you could get your parents to take you to a board of education meeting

418
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,040
in whatever town you live in, and you may not understand everything, but you'll understand

419
00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:01,800
some of it, or you can tune in and watch the debates in the United States Senate or the

420
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,840
United States House of Representatives.

421
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,880
And as you get older, there will be lots of ways to get involved.

422
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,000
I keep talking about boards of education because sometimes boards of education have student

423
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,380
members on those boards, and so those would be my two pieces of advice for somebody who's

424
00:25:16,380 --> 00:25:21,840
thinking about being in public service, which is really, it's never too early to study the

425
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,200
issues, read about them on the paper, watch them on the news, and number two, get involved.

426
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,040
Get involved in one way or the other, and use that involvement to figure out what you

427
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,040
like to do.

428
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,000
Yep, and even if you don't know much about it, or like, as you said, you don't understand

429
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,640
it over time, if you're really interested in that, you will grow to understand it.

430
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,200
Yeah, you will.

431
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:42,200
Precisely.

432
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,480
The only way to learn about something is to kind of dive into the pool and learn it, you

433
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:46,480
know?

434
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:47,480
Yep.

435
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,480
So what is your life advice for kids listening to this podcast?

436
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,800
What is your life advice?

437
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:58,680
I'm so interested in what do you think your life advice is, since you've lived for a long

438
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,400
time, you must have lots of advice.

439
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,240
Well, so let me just summarize some of the thoughts that I've given you, and then I'll

440
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:06,440
add one more to it.

441
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,840
So I said get involved.

442
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,280
Our democracy really relies on people being involved in whatever way they want to get

443
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:14,280
involved.

444
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:18,440
You can be getting involved by serving on the volunteer ambulance squad in your town,

445
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:19,680
and you'll learn some stuff.

446
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,120
You could get involved by being a member of the Board of Education, or running for mayor,

447
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:24,480
or whatever it is.

448
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,120
So number one, get involved.

449
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:28,200
Number two, don't stop learning.

450
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:32,100
You know, one of the cool things about being young today is that you can learn just by

451
00:26:32,100 --> 00:26:34,560
the device that we're talking about right now, right?

452
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,360
When I wanted to learn something when I was your age, I had to, you know, walk a half

453
00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:42,400
mile to the library and look up books and ask if they had this magazine.

454
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,200
Now you've got the ability to learn literally at 11 o'clock at night when you don't have

455
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,400
anything else to do.

456
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:56,880
And then, like I said before, don't worry too much as you get older if you haven't figured

457
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,700
out exactly what you want to do.

458
00:26:58,700 --> 00:27:03,960
It took me, I was, you know, I love this job, but it took me until I was in my 40s to realize

459
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:08,320
that I might actually want to do the job and to decide to run for it.

460
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,360
And then lastly, the piece of advice that I haven't talked about yet, but I'll mention,

461
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:18,320
one of the things I've discovered in my life is that, you know, it helps to have good educational

462
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:19,320
credentials, right?

463
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:24,120
You want to do well in school because that'll tell employers that you're a hard worker and

464
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:25,120
stuff.

465
00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:31,280
But one of the things that we don't appreciate enough is how valuable our friends are.

466
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,160
And I don't just mean friends, but I mean our connections, right?

467
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:39,240
So as I look back over my career, which is now almost 35 years old, at really critical

468
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,880
moments, I was able to use my connections and friendships to meet other people, to learn

469
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,080
about other jobs, to get recommendations.

470
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,300
And so sometimes when we're studying really hard, we forget that one of the really critical

471
00:27:52,300 --> 00:27:59,280
elements of success out there is maintaining friendships and connections, what we adults

472
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,540
call sort of social networks and social capital.

473
00:28:03,540 --> 00:28:08,000
Those things can be just as important as, you know, how well you do in school or where

474
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,440
your degree is from.

475
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:14,320
So it's never too early to start building more relationships and, you know, building

476
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,600
friendships that will last over many, many years.

477
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,600
Thank you so much, Congressman, for allowing us to interview you.

478
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:27,320
I'm very sure more kids will be inspired to take a path of public service because of this

479
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:28,320
interview.

480
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:29,320
Okay, thank you.

481
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,560
And I also think you just got a really good message across here.

482
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,600
Yes, you gave even me a message.

483
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:40,120
And well, everyone, thanks for listening to the careers for kids podcast.

484
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,120
Hope you enjoyed the episode and we will see you in the next episode.

485
00:28:44,120 --> 00:29:07,840
Bye.