Like many of you, when I first heard of Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state, I was a bit uneasy.  I'm a capitalist, to be sure, but I've always tempered my enthusiasm for the principle with a strong sense of distrust of those who rise to its highest levels of leadership for the simple reason that common sense will tell you that you have to be a bit of a shark to survive the process.  So when Donald announced that his SecState will be the CEO of one of the largest corporations on the planet, my antennae began to quiver.

Now, just in time to add some harmony to our holidays, comes this recounting, originally published in the Dallas Morning News, from Texas small business owner Emily Roden, published on Christmas Eve by The Daily Caller, of her service as a juror for a criminal trial in North Texas several years ago.  A fellow juror was a tall, distinguished, silver-haired gentleman with an aura of command about him.  For that, his fellow jurors wanted him to serve as foreman, but he demurred, indicating he'd be satisfied simply to serve as one of the jury.  It was about then that the other jurors discovered that the fellow, who looked as though he could have played a wealthy oilman on Dallas, was, in fact, just that: a wealthy oilman from Dallas.  He was Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil.

What Ms. Roden – who, by the way, did not vote for Trump – goes on to recount about Mr. Tillerson and his impact on seeing that justice was done by that undecided jury makes for a very nice, warm, fuzzy read for Christmas Day.  I won't steal anyone's thunder by revealing the Christmas treat here, but I think if you click in there and read Roden's account, you will not only feel better about Donald Trump's selection, but maybe even feel better about the world around you for a bit.  May this make your Christmas better – it did mine.

Merry Christmas, all y'all!