Student: I understand being a Governor can be a stressful position.
Governor Christie: [laughter]
Student: Is there a certain quote that can help guide you through your daily life as Governor?
Governor Christie: A certain quote?
Student: Yeah, a favorite quote or –
Governor Christie: Oh man [laughter], I don’t know why you think that being Governor is stressful. I don’t understand. You know, I’ve gotten lots of interesting quotes over time that people have given me. You know, I always go back to the long Teddy Roosevelt quote about, you know, being in the arena. That while there’s stresses and problems and you might get beaten and knocked down that what really matters is being in there and having the fight and trying to lead. That inspires me. I had a funny one that somebody gave me about a year ago from Winston Churchill. He said when you’re going through hell, keep going. That’s pretty good, too. But, you know, in the end what inspires me to continue to do the work that I do is how privileged I am to have the chance. Think about it, what grade are you in?
Student: Eighth grade.
Governor Christie: You’re in eighth grade, ok. It may be hard to believe but at one day I was in eighth grade. And I was in eighth grade at Heritage Junior High School in Livingston, New Jersey and I can tell you that sitting in eighth grade I was not thinking about the fact that someday I’d be Governor of New Jersey. But I am. And I think all the time about how lucky I am to have the chance to do this, not once, but twice. The people of in this state where I was born and raised gave me the chance to do this twice. And so that alone, I think, keeps me going and you know, I think if you talk to anybody, you talk to your own parents, you talk to other adults that you know, every job is stressful. Every job is stressful. Mine just is stressful on the front page of the newspaper, which makes it a little bit different. But in the end, every adult who’s working out there and has a family to raise and responsibilities feels the stress that comes from their job. Wanting to do as well as they can for the people they work for and with. Wanting to make sure they provide for their families. Wanting to make sure they have time to do things with their families away from work. All that stuff creates stress and if you ever get a really bad boss that creates real stress, too. So, like, all that stuff contributes to it. I don’t think mine is any worse that anybody else’s. I just think mine everybody knows about and maybe you know, for other folks you don’t necessarily know about their stress. But, the Teddy Roosevelt in the arena quote, you should go look that one up if you don’t know it already. I think that’s pretty inspirational in terms of wanting to at least spend some of your life in public service to help folks beyond your own family.
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