The Man Who Gave It Back

December 23, 1783. Annapolis, Maryland. A cold room, a few politicians, and one of the most important moments in American history — the day George Washington handed back the power he could have kept. And why you should see Young Washington while it's still in theaters.

In this episode, we cover...
- Freedom of Speech: "The Man Who Gave It Back" 
- Full Story: "The Man Who Gave It Back" 
- From the Newsfeed: "The World Came, and It Changed Its Mind"
- Faith & Hope: "Enough" 
- Father Time: "Alaska"
- Funny Factory: "Things a Man Will Never Give Back" 
- Fitness Minute:  "Strength Is Knowing When to Stop" 

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The Jason Hewlett Show — Where we use lots of F Words: Faith, Family, Fatherhood, Freedom, Fitness, Funny & Farce, as well as the Fulfillment of your Promises.

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 #GeorgeWashington #Annapolis1783 #YoungWashington #AngelStudios #America25

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, there's a painting behind me today that wasn't here last week. If you're listening to this podcast after the fact, you might want to watch it because I'm going to be showing a lot of cool things. My wife Tammy surprised me with it. A portrait of George Washington. And I've been sitting with it for a few days now, doing this show under the eyes of a man who's been dead for 226 years. And I keep coming back to one thing about him. Not the wars he won, not the office he held, but the thing he did not do. He could have been king. The army was loyal to him and not to Congress. There were men who wanted to crown him, and in the most powerful moment of his life, with the thing, the whole thing sitting right there for the taking, he handed it back and went home. So this is our last July broadcast. The country just turned 250. And I don't want to talk about the fireworks. I want to talk about the man in the frame and the one decision that made all of the rest possible. So let's get into it. Yeah, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us. First up on freedom of speech, we'll talk about the man who gave it back. Why the greatest thing Washington ever did was the thing he refused to do, and what that means for the power you're holding on to in your own house. In the full story segment, The Man Who Gave It Back. We'll talk about the cold room in Annapolis, December 1783, and the moment that decided what kind of country this would be, plus why young Washington, the movie, deserves your ticket this month. From the news feed, we'll talk about the world came and it changed its mind. The World Cup is over. The world went home and something shifted in how they see us. And the man who wouldn't quit, even when quitting was reasonable. I'm talking about the goat. In Faith and Hope, we're going to talk about enough. The quiet strength of a man who didn't need more and the freedom hiding in that word. In the Father Time segment, I'm going to talk about how my family just got back from Alaska visiting our daughter Ella, where she lives now. What a great trip. I'm going to be showing a lot of photos and videos. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it all works for the program here. But it's going to be great. Funny factory. We're going to talk about things a man will never get back, will never give back. The thermostat, the remote, the oxcord, and the hill. I will die on. In fitness minute, strength is knowing when to stop. And why rest is the discipline nobody posts about, brought to you by Cardio Miracle, yeah. Stay with me. This one's for everybody who's ever had to let go of something they had the right to keep. Then get on a boy. And then somewhere around 30,000 feet, the witnesses disappear. Nobody in the hotel knows what time you get up. Nobody knows you were going to run this morning. Nobody knows you promised your wife you'd call before dinner. Yeah, we say the word power like it's the goal. Get the title, get the corner office, get the last word, get the room to go quiet when you walk in. We spend our whole lives trying to accumulate it, and we measure other men by how much of it they manage to grab and hold. And then there's George Washington. You want to see this portrait? This is amazing. Can you see how big that is? Uh uh uh with the lights, it's kind of goofy, but do you see that? That's amazing, right? My wife found that at a thrift store. I love how it looks. It's incredible. I've never seen anything like it outside of maybe a museum. George Washington. Here's a man who had it all in his hand. Not figuratively, but literally. In 1783, the Revolutionary War was won, and the Continental Army, the men with the guns, the men who'd bled for eight years, those men were loyal to Washington. Not to Congress, but to him. Some of them wanted him to take over. There was a moment where the whole young country could have tipped into a military government with Washington at the top. He could have been king, and a lot of people expected him to be. Instead, he did the thing nobody in history has ever done. He gave it back. He rode to Annapolis in December of 1783, walked into a room full of the very politicians he could have swept aside, and he handed over his commission. He resigned. He said, in effect, the job is done and I'm going home. Then he got on his horse and rode to Mount Vernon to be a farmer. Yeah, you love that portrait. I do too, Captain Cowman. Good to see you, brother. I hope you're well. Yeah, thank you very much for being here, brother. You know, King George III, the king that George Washington had just beaten, heard that Washington intended to give up power and go back to his farm and reportedly said that if he actually did that, he would be the greatest character of the age. He did it. He did that very thing. And here's what I can't get past. The greatest thing Washington ever did was not something he did. It was something he refused to do. His legacy isn't a battle one, it's a crown he turned down. Now, walk that into your own life because this show is never really about history. It's about your house. You are holding power somewhere right now. Maybe over your kids, you know, the power to decide, to override, to be right. Because I said so. Maybe over your marriage, the power to win the argument, to hold the grudge, to keep score. Good luck with that one. Maybe over the people who work for you. Or maybe just over the remote and thermostat and the last word at dinner. Somewhere in your life, the strong move, the Washington move, is not to grab more of it. It's to give some of it back. To let your kid make the decision and live with it. To let your wife be right and let the argument die. To hand your team the thing you've been white knuckling because you're the only one who can do it properly. To stop needing to be the general of your own living room. That takes more strength than holding on. Anybody can hold on. Holding on is the default. It's the animal in us, letting go on purpose when you don't have to. When everyone expects you to clutch, that's the rarest kind of strength there is. That's the kind that builds something bigger than you. And you know, George Washington understood something most powerful men never learn. The point was never to have the power. The point was to build a thing that could outlast him, and it could only outlast him if he let go of it. If he'd kept the crown, there's no America. There's just another strong man, another dynasty, another empire that dies with the man who built it. He gave it back so it could belong to everybody, including us, including the kid on your shoulder at the fireworks show, including you watching this right now. Free to disagree with me out loud. And you may, that's great. But a freedom that exists because one man decided to rather go home than be king. Randy says, You're welcome. Happy to be on Jay's George Washington was one of the greatest, if not the GOAT of presidents. Yes, I'm I'm curious if more people think that about him, because in in my many years of being a fan of presidents and studying their lives, for some reason I had not studied George Washington. I'm embarrassed to admit it. And then I I I've been a huge fan of Teddy Roosevelt, of uh of Lincoln, especially. I have like five things of Lincoln in here. And and so to start to learn more about Washington has changed my perspective in so many ways. Here's the reflection for today. And this is pillar six on this show, which is reflection as a leadership skill. Because the best leaders are the ones who stop and ask the hard question before they act. The question is, what are you holding on to that real strength would tell you to hand back? Where in your life are you holding power simply because you can? And what would it cost you to hand some of it back? I mean, when was the last time you let someone be right? Let a decision go or let your kid own an outcome you could have controlled? What are you white knuckling at work or at home because you believe you're the only one who can do it properly? And that is true. Or just comfortable. If you gave up the thing you're gripping hardest, what could finally grow that your grip has been holding down? And what crown are you being offered right now? That real strength would tell you to turn down. Good questions, good thoughts. If you want to join in on the conversation, please do. I see Randy says, Build a thing that would outlast him, a legacy for everyone. Yeah, exactly. There you go. And his farewell address is one of the most powerful speeches I've ever read. I need to check it out. I haven't checked that out. That's a great one. Thank you, Randy, and I will. Yeah. What are you who is the greatest president, in your opinion? Uh what did they do that you loved about them? The full story. Right after this. All right, I want to put you in that room. Okay. It's December 23rd, 1783. Annapolis, Maryland. It is cold. The Revolutionary War is over. The Treaty of Paris was signed a few months earlier. The last British troops have left New York. And George Washington, the most powerful man in America, has ridden into town for one purpose to quit. He wrote to Congress a few days before and asked how they'd like him to do it, in writing or in person, and they told him, come in person. So on the 23rd at noon, he walks into the Maryland State House into a room with a handful of congressmen, and he stands in front of them holding a single piece of paper. His commission, the document that made him commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Understand what's sitting in that room for a moment. This man had commanded an army for eight years. The soldiers loved him. If he had wanted to walk out of that room and take the country, there was almost nothing and no one who could have stopped him. Every empire in history had been built by exactly this man in exactly this moment, the victorious general who wins the war and then keeps the power. And Washington says, Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of public life. And he hands them the paper. That's it. He gave back the sword. He wasn't pushed out. Nobody voted him down. I mean, people did try to conspire against him a little bit, but he wasn't term-limited or defeated or disgraced. He was at the absolute peak of his power, and he set it down on the table on purpose and walked out the door. His horse was waiting. He rode through the night and the next day and got to Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve. He wanted to be home for Christmas. Yeah, that's what a husband and a dad wants. The most powerful man in the New World. What he wanted was to be a husband and a farmer and a dad by Christmas morning. And they called him the American Cincinnatus, after the Roman farmer who was handed total power to save Rome, won the war in 15 days, and then gave the power right back and returned to his plough. Everybody in 1783 knew that story. And here it was again happening in real life in Maryland in the cold. Discovered a hidden gem. Great morning. Thank you, Empress Create Creations. Appreciate you being here. Love it. You know, uh what what's so interesting is that here's the part that gets me. Washington didn't do it once, he did this twice. Because the country came calling again. He then served two terms as the first president. And then, when he could have been president for life, when there were no term limits and he would have won easily again, he wrote a farewell address and went home again. He set the pattern. Two terms, and you go home. He gave the power back a second time, twice. This man had everything in his hand. Twice he opened his hand. George Washington, a tremendous example of true humility. Thank you, Randy. Yes, sir. Truly. That's the ultimate in humility, and it's the ultimate in in being comfortable and confident in your place and your purpose. Now, I saw a film this month I want you to go see. And let me see if I can bring up a an image of it. It was called Young Washington. Angel Studios released Young Washington a couple of months ago. And it's the story of him before he was the man in my portrait, before the general, before the president. He was a young colonial kid who honored and served Great Britain, and he wanted to be a general in the British Army, denied the British Commission. He wanted thrown into the French and Indian War, forced to become somebody in the middle of a wilderness that was trying to kill him. Yeah, I had no idea. I didn't even think that he wanted to be like a part of this British army. And it never dawned on me. But this is the origin story of the character that would later hand back a crown. And here's why I'm telling you to go. You gotta go see Young Washington. This movie was incredible. It was entertaining, it was inspiring, it was over the top. It was created by Angel Studios. Now, if you haven't heard of Angel Studios, it's a company making wholesome, family-friendly movies you can take your kids to. What? Yeah, those exist still. They're doing it in a market that mostly won't. The film crushed its opening projections for the weekend, the open week, and and there's already a sequel called 1776 in the works. But the way you keep a company like this, Angel Studios, moving is what? You buy the ticket, you show up. And you know what? Also, for what it's worth, the founders are friends of mine, the Harmon brothers, who first brought us uh what was called Vid Angel. Do you remember Vid Angel? Uh Vid Angel used to allow viewers to censor the parts of movies you don't want your kids to see while you're sitting next to them. And eventually Vid Angel had so many legal issues with allowing censorship for viewers, they were sued, they had settlements, mediations, all kinds of things. And hey, they're still at it. How? Angel Studios. Yeah, these guys don't give up. I I'm very proud of these guys. These guys live in my state of Utah. I'm so impressed with them. You want to know what else they founded? They also founded dry bar comedy. And I even had a special on dry bar comedy, and they brought me in to do my one and only special I've ever filmed. It's dry bar comedy is the most successful clean comedy lineup on earth. And I filmed my special in 2017. Lastly, they created The Chosen, The Life of Jesus. Yeah, if you haven't seen that, it's the world's highest-grossing fan-funded project in movie history. Angel Studios. All I'm saying is these are the good guys. They decided to make their own movies for families, and they need your support. So take your family to see young Washington. Go while it's still in theater. Support the people making the kind of movie you keep saying you wish they'd make. Because that's the whole lesson of this segment. George Washington gave back the crown so the country could belong to all of us. The least we can do 250 years later is show up for the things worth keeping. Well done to Angel Studios. Go check out Young Washington. Don't miss it while it's in theaters. From the newsfeed. Right after this. It was clear from the very beginning that Spain was going to win this game. They controlled everything about it. I was bummed because I was cheering on your Argentina. My son lives in Argentina. We were excited for that because when you're in the country that doesn't win, it's a major bummer, even if they get to the incredible final. But here's what happened. It wasn't an easy win, but they won it in overtime. This is the biggest sporting event on Earth hosted across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. And the bulk of it, including the final, was right here in America. And here's the story underneath the scores. For a month, the world came to visit. Millions of fans from every country on the planet showed up on American soil. A lot of them for the first time. And what they found surprised them here. During the tournament, Reuters reported on how a warm World Cup welcome was endearing the U.S. to fans. The BBC ran a piece titled This Could Only Exist in America about what foreign fans were actually finding here. Fans posted over and over that the country they'd been told to expect was not the country they experienced. The size of it, the national parks, the food, the friendliness, the sheer scale of this place. In story two, we forgot what we look like to a first-time visitor. Here's what struck me a lot of these fans came in with a picture of America built entirely from headlines and social media. Divided, angry, cynical, mass school shootings, and then they landed here and they drove across it and they met the people, and the picture cracked. Well, there was uh eventually, there was even a column that basically asked World Cup fans love the USA. Why are Americans so surprised? That's the question, isn't it? We've talked ourselves into a story about our own country that a month of visitors could see straight through. Think back to the Gallup number we talked about a few weeks ago on this show. Only one in three Americans said they were extremely proud to be American. The lowest on record. And then the world shows up, walks around for a month, and goes home saying, Wait, this place is incredible. I wish I lived in the USA. Well, maybe the people living in the house had stopped seeing it. And it took company coming over to remind us what we've got. Now, for story three, I want to talk about the man who wouldn't quit. And I have to say something about Argentina. Looks like Randy says, I was in Argentina when they won it all in 1990. The country went nuts. Yeah. So my son's on his mission in Argentina, like Randy was on his back then. And, you know, uh, I'm sure that in 1990, that was an exciting time for sure because my son is so so bummed due to the way that everybody's so sad that they didn't win it. I can feel for him because I was in Brazil on my mission in '98 when Brazil lost to France. It was like the country went into mourning for a year. So I wish my son well. But I'm glad Randy got to be there when in the 90s, that's rad. You know, Argentina. I I have to say something about Argentina because I couldn't stop watching the World Cup because of them. I didn't see Spain once. Uh now Argentina didn't win the whole thing. Spain beat them in the final. But Lionel Messi, or Lionel, as they pronounce it, Lionel Messi, in what may be his last World Cup, 39 years old, he recorded a goal or an assist in all seven of Argentina's matches prior to the final eighth game. But he was seven for seven leading up to it. I mean, it was extraordinary and so exciting to watch. And the way they got to that final was one comeback after another against Egypt in the quarterfinal. They were down and looking finished. And Enzo Fernandez headed one in during stoppage time to win it three to two. I mean, they came back from zero to two. I was writing an email to my son saying I'm sorry that Argentina lost against Egypt. And they scored three goals in like 15 minutes. Messi scored in a record six straight World Cup knockout match to get them there. Game after game in the last 15 minutes, when it would have been completely reasonable to fold. This team refused. Messi refused. They came back and came back and came back all the way to the final and then they ended up losing. Here's why that's a better story than if they'd won. Because winning is the easy lesson, isn't it? Never give up. And you'll win. Yeah, Randy says it would have been major mourning if they lost. And then it says, uh Empress Creation says, I was rooting for Spain, but Argentina did great indeed. Yeah, yeah, good. Everybody was rooting for their team, right? But the story of saying, hey, it's okay that they lost, and this is why it's a good story. Never give up, and you'll win is the usual lesson, right? That's a bumper sticker. And it's not really true, right? I mean, not always. Sometimes you give everything you have. You refuse to quit. You claw all the way to the final and you still come up one goal short. They only lost one to zero. The lesson isn't that not quitting guarantees the trophy. The lesson is that the refusal to quit is who you are, regardless of the trophy. You know, Messi didn't leave that field diminished because Spain scored. He left it as the man who dragged a team to the edge of the mountain on sheer will. The character showed up, whether or not the win did. That's the thing I want you to hold on to. You don't keep your promises because they're guaranteed to pay off. You keep them because keeping them is who you decided to be. Congrats to Messi, Argentina, congrats to Spain, congrats to the USA for hosting a great World Cup. It was a safe endeavor. It was the biggest thing we've ever had on this soil, I believe, and it's a very special thing that it turned out awesome. The world saw who we are. Question is whether we still know that. Faith and hope. Right after this. Washington could have had more, more power, more time, a crown, a throne, a dynasty. And he looked at it and decided he had enough. He went home to a farm. There's a line in scripture in the Bible, in Hebrews 13, that I keep near me. Be content with such things as ye have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Be content with such things as ye have. Yeah. That is one of the hardest sentences in the Bible for man to actually live. Because we are wired to reach, to get the next thing, to grip what we have and grab for more. The whole world runs on not enough. Not enough money, not enough recognition, not enough control, not enough, not enough, not enough. And a man can spend his entire life being a great provider and still be a poor father. Because he never once believed he had enough to stop reaching and just be present. I've spoken about be present on so many episodes. It's the ultimate promise for your family. Paul writes in Philippians 4 that he has learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Learn. He had to learn it. It wasn't natural to him either. It's a thing you learn. Contentment is not the same as laziness, and it's not the same as giving up. Washington wasn't lazy and he didn't give up. Finish the work and then he was content to lay it down. So here's what I've come to believe. Contentment is not having everything. It's the strength to stop grasping. It's the freedom of a man who can look at what's in his hand and say, This is enough. I don't need the crown. I have a farm, a wife, Christmas Eve, a God who said he'd never leave me, that's enough. And there's a warning tucked in here, too, the same one that runs under this whole country at 250. Great is not the same as good. You can build a great empire and grasp yourself right past the good life that was sitting in front of you the whole time. The most powerful man in America, George Washington, wanted to be home for Christmas. He figured out what was actually enough. So the question for you and me today is simple. What would it take for you to believe you have enough? Not so you stop working, but so you stop grasping. So you can set something down on purpose the way Washington did and go home to the people who were the point all along. That's the freedom hiding inside that one word. Small word. Enough. Keep the promise and be present. Father time right after this. Well, our family just got back from going to Alaska to visit my daughter, Ella. She's such a darling girl. This is the this is the photo that I show all the time of our little family, and there she is sitting in the front. She's now 20 years old. She's lived up in Alaska since May 1st. We've missed her quite a bit, obviously. If you're a dad and you're left, you had your child leave the house, it's a different experience for sure. And so we threw down quite a bit to go to Alaska. Threw down, meaning all it was pricey. Flying to Juneau, Alaska, which is the capital up there, and it's the smallest capital, I think. I mean, it's it's so small. Uh there's there's very few people there, but it's so awesome and beautiful. Uh, very, very priced to go there in July. In fact, that's the prime time for visitors. But here we are at the uh airport. Uh, my family, my sons, and my wife and I, we went on our flight from Salt Lake City through Seattle to beautiful Alaska. I thought I'd share a video. I hope you can hear it, of us walking to see Ella at the Karaloja store where she is interning and working. She's the top salesperson in the entire company, and uh the people love her, the managers, especially. You'll hear actually what he says while he's trying to hug me, but I'm trying to hug her. He and I have never met, but this is the first time I've seen her since May 1st. So here's the here's us walking to see her for the first time. We have one. Well, we'll see them at least ten times in the show.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

We can put everything.

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Yeah, it's kind of hard to not be proud when you see somebody as the uh manager of that store. He's a he's a very good leader. Uh, he and his wife run this place in June, Alaska, and they're the top trainers at Keraloha. They're amazing people, and yet they say that Ella's as good as anyone they've ever had. And there's a picture of her in the first embrace to her mother since May 1st. It was so special. You know, when you go on a trip like this, your whole your whole thought is okay, we got to take advantage of the time. I better uh put everything together myself, right? Randy says, keep the promise, be present. Wise words, thank you, brother. Yes. I I think that it's important as well. But you know, like when when you go on a trip and you're thinking, okay, we have we have like four full days. So what are we going to do to take advantage of this time? You know, my wife and I are researching all the things we should go do in Juneau. Well remember how we talked about enough or letting go of the thing that you think you need to control? Well, that's what we did for this trip. We were looking up what we ought to go do, and then we asked her, we said, Ella, you've been there now for two months, and what do you think we ought to do? You should plan every day for us. So she did. She put together the things that we could not even find in many cases online because she lives there and she's explored the entire place and wanted to share it with us. And I thought it would be cool to just show you some of the places we went. And like I say, if you're listening to this, I apologize that you're not going to be able to see these photos and videos, but it it may be worth just going to YouTube and watching this segment at least. Because we went some neat places. I want to tell you about a place called uh Blueberry, the blueberry hike in June, Alaska. Just all these trees were so stunning. They were beautiful. Some were falling down, some were, it's just wild Alaska, you know. The green mossiness is just so unique compared to where we live in Utah, and it was so cool to see it. As we came up to the summit, it's it's actually the easiest summit to reach in all of Juneau. And uh yeah, here's us walking up the hill. My daughter loves music, so she's have she has some music on her speaker with us, but this is a place on the top of the mountain. I've never seen a summit like this, and I've been on top that right there is Mendenhall Glacier, and it's just unbelievable. I I probably should have filmed it landscape instead of portrait, but yeah, Empress Creations, that place is interesting. I've never been in Alaska. Time to write it down on my travel list. Yeah, I would recommend. In my estimation, I've been everywhere around the world. Uh, only a few places I haven't had a chance to hit yet, and it's very few. Um, Alaska for me is my favorite place on earth outside of my own home. And uh, we had such a great time because we're up there on the top of the mountain. I don't know if you noticed on the platforms, you can actually sit in those little things around it that are made as like hammocks for people to sit down in. It's it's crazy. It's such a cool place. Never seen anything like it. And uh, so that was the that was a fun little video. Um, let's see if I can find a good picture of us on the summit as the platform. Yeah, there they are. The whole family on the summit. Pretty cool. You got to visit Alaska if you haven't been there. It's just out of this world, the most incredible place. And Ella took a photo of her mission flag. She's going to Peru in October on her mission for our church. She'll be learning Spanish, she'll be living in Lima, and we're so excited for her. She'll actually be in the smallest mission in the world, other than what's called Temple Square in Salt Lake City. She'll be in the smallest mission called Lima Tombo, Peru. So we're excited for her to uh come back to Salt Lake, hang out for two months, and then she's headed out to Peru. But just having her light that she shines, she's so sweet. Here she is sitting in that kind of hammocky kind of setting on the top. You know, everywhere we went, she pointed things out and said, Hey, you know, yeah, Randy, Alaska's on my bucket list. Yeah, man. However, you can make that happen, that is for sure. It's amazing. Uh, everywhere we went, she she had something cool to share with us. And equally, you know, we found just all kinds of bald eagles. I think there were 20 bald eagles in this one spot. They were just sitting there waiting for the fish. That was stunning views everywhere you turn. She took us to this place called the shrine, which might be one of the prettiest views I've ever seen in my life. There's a whale statue we enjoyed seeing that was gorgeous. Uh, maybe this is just a nice promo video for Juno, but let me tell you, it was it was amazing. We also had some funny things happen where we stayed. We saw a bear about 50 feet away getting into a garbage, and I Romney got to try on a wolf hat, something we'd probably never buy, but they let him try it on. 5,000 bucks for that hat, apparently, of a wolf. We also then went deep sea fishing, which was the culmination of the trip. This was actually uh, yeah, this was actually just a day ago, so it's crazy to think we just got back and that's where we were fishing, and we caught everybody caught one, which was really exciting. And uh, they were pretty small pink salmon, but it was perfect. We got them packed up and we brought them all home. We uh just checked it on a on a box and it was perfect. And and so here's the last picture of the family that we have uh from our trip with Elleray. She guided us through all the cool things that we did to all the places we went. She was the perfect host. She told us where to eat, and we had some incredible food. Um this was us as we drove out to the deep sea fishing. It was about a 35-minute ride, and I got to just hold on to my little girl for a minute. She's yeah, she's 20 now, but she's still my baby girl. And what a fun time we had together. Um, then we had to say goodbye, and that was that was sad to say goodbye to our girl, but uh we had a nice flight home, and we're so grateful that we got to have such an experience as that. It was it was otherworldly. Alaska is so great, the United States is so great. I hope that you love it. I hope also that if you ever do go on a trip like that to visit your child, you'll let them decide what things you ought to do because that changed the entire trip. You know, letting her letting her invite us into her home, and we were now guests, and and so I'm just so grateful that we had the opportunity to do that. I love my girl, she'll be home in a couple weeks. We can't wait. But uh it was a it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. Thanks for letting me share some of that with you. That was our Father Time segment. I hope you enjoyed it. Some fun videos, fun photos. We're gonna do the funny factory right after this. Okay, so the whole show today is about George Washington giving up power, handing it back, walking away from the crown, right? And I wanted to be honest with you as a man because there are some kinds of power a man will never ever give back. I mean, Washington could hand over an army. He maybe could not have handed over the thermostat if they had him back then. Here are the top seven things a man will defend to his last breath. Number one, the thermostat. Yeah, my wife wants it at 74. I want it at 68. This is not a negotiation, it's a border dispute. I've gotten up in the middle of the night like a spy to move it two degrees and then get back in bed before anyone knows a crime was committed. Washington gave back a nation. I will die on this hill at 68 degrees. Number two, the remote. Yeah, a man does not hand over the remote. Mm-mm. A man holds the remote even when he's not watching the TV. It sits in his hand like a scepter. He'll flip past 200 channels and land back on the first one, say there's nothing on while physically preventing anyone else from checking. The remote is the crown. And unlike Washington, I'm keeping it. Hello, Mike. Mike's making stuff. Thank you for being here, brother. Number three, we're talking about all the things we can't let go of. Number three is a man, the grill. Yeah, a woman can plan the entire meal, buy the food, season the food, marinate the meat, and the second those coals are hot, a man realizes and materializes in the tongs and announces, I've got it from here. He has done nothing. He will take all the credit. He believes the grill was granted to him personally in the Constitution. It was not. Washington would know. Washington's not here. So he'll take credit. Number four, the ox chord. If a man is driving, a man controls the music. This is ancient law. You make a request, the request will be considered and denied. He will play the same six songs he's played since 1994. An air drum on the steering wheel at the part he likes, and if you touch that cord, you have declared war. Number five, his chair. Yeah, every house has one. There is a chair, and it's dad's chair, and everyone knows it's dad's chair. And if you're sitting in it when he walks in, he will just stand there staring, radiating disappointment, like a ghost who cannot rest until the throne is returned. You will get up, you always get up. But number six, the good parking spot. You've seen this. A man will circle a parking lot for 11 minutes to get 20 feet closer to a door. He's about to walk through anyway. He'll pass 40 open spots. It's not about walking. This is about the win. He will not give back the good spot. He'd rather be late. Number seven, being right about directions. You know, a man knows a shortcut. The shortcut's not shorter. The shortcut is generally, uh, I mean, it he'll take it in silence, adding 20 minutes refusing to acknowledge the phone that is literally telling him the answer because turning on the GPS is surrendering the crown. And we do not surrender the crown. I literally did this yesterday when I saw a lineup of traffic. I went through a shopping district by our home and made the perfect detour, which most likely added five to ten minutes to our commute. Had I just stayed in the lane or the line that lined up, but I can't. Can't wait. I'm a man. Drive through the parking lot. So George Washington gave back the most powerful position on earth. Good for him, truly. I mean, a great man, but let's not pretend, fellas. If they told Washington you had to give up a good parking spot at Mount Vernon, it'd all be British right now. Give back the power. Keep the thermostat war going. Fitness minute. Right after this. As we wrap up today's show, brought to you by Cardio Miracle. I appreciate the many comments we've got here today. Mike is making stuff, says, Amen. I will buy and yield an entire 4,000 square foot house that you park outside because you leave my garage alone. The garage is a sacred man's space. Empress Creation says that's hilarious. That's great. I appreciate you guys. That's fun doing the funny stuff. Let's talk about fitness for a minute as we wrap up this show. We always try to keep it to 45, so we're gonna just be a little over today. But here's the fitness lesson holding or hiding inside a story about George Washington, and it's the one nobody wants to hear. You know, the strongest thing you can do for your body is sometimes to stop. And we think strength is all about push, more reps, more miles, more intensity, grind, hustle, never quit. And some days that's true. But the man who is strongest at 70 figured out the other half. Recovery is not the absence of training. Recovery is the training. The muscle doesn't grow while you're lifting, it's being torn apart. It grows while you're resting. The heart gets stronger in the space between the beats. And George Washington finished the war and went home. He didn't keep marching in army with no war left to fight. He knew when the work was done and he laid it down, and your body needs that same wisdom. No one to push, no one to hand it back, and rest. Because the man who never rests isn't disciplined, he's just afraid to stop. The sleep you protect, the rest day you take without guilt, the walk instead of the workout when your body's asking for it. That's not weakness, that's the reflection applied to your own body. Saxby, hey Jason, how are you doing? Thank you for joining us here. And uh the you know, the best leaders are often the slowest to. React. But the strongest bodies are the ones that know when to stop. In fact, this past week in Alaska, there was literally nowhere to work out. So we walked, hiked, biked, and enjoyed the sun instead of going into the gym and throwing around weights, which I do every day when I'm in my normal life. The gym didn't exist anyway. But it was a much needed break. And once home from vacation, what do you do? Do you stop or continue to not work out? No. You go back to the gym and your body remembers what it loves about the gym and thanks you for continuing it. As it missed it. But the rest was amazing for you. The rest is important. And here's where our sponsor, Cardio Miracle, comes in. We talk about him every single show. Cardiom Miracle is about recovery. And this is exactly where it lives. Cardio Miracle is uh formulated and founded by my dad, John Hewlett. He is a nitric oxide pioneer. And he's one of the great uh evangelists about the important science of nitric oxide, what it does in your body. But cardio miracle is the world's best nitric oxide and vitamin D3 supplement. You just mix it in your water once or twice a day. I take it twice a day, sometimes more. What it does is support your circulation. It ignites nitric oxide, which dilates your blood vessels, and that blood flow is exactly what your body uses to recover, to bring oxygen where it needs to go to rest well and rebuild. I drink it before I work out, amazing workout. I drink it after a workout, amazing recovery. I drink it before bed, I sleep better. I recover more. 58 natural ingredients, no caffeine. It stays working in your system for 24 to 36 hours. In fact, it releases vitamin D3 naturally after 12 hours in your system. D3 from your fat cells. It's it's incredible science. It's helped over a million people. And you know what? We've got a uh we've got a 60-day money-back guarantee. And if if you're curious about getting some, I would love for you to try it. I am the president of the company as well. That's why I love to talk about it, is because it's helped me so much in my life. If you scan this code, hopefully you can go grab it or go to cardiomiracle.com. We've got a link to it in the show notes as well. But you've got a 60-day money-back guarantee if you don't like it, if you don't notice a change, if you don't like that flavor, whatever, we have less than 1% sending it back ever. So go check out the link in the show notes. I hope you check out Cardiomiracle. Because strength isn't only knowing when to go hard, it's knowing when to stop, recover, and let the good work do its thing. Just like a general who knew when to go home. So let's bring it home. As we wrap up today, thank you for being here with me. I do have to say thanks and a shout out to Randy McNeely. He says I can vouch for it. I take Cardi Miracle twice a day and makes a major difference in my energy levels. That's amazing, brother. Thank you very much for your testimonial. It helps everybody I've ever sent it to, or anybody that's ever purchased it. People are reaching out to me every day saying, You wouldn't believe how much this has helped my mom or my friend who just had surgery or somebody who's just not been well. So here's where we land on our last July broadcast. We started with a painting behind me, a gift from my wife of a man who could have been king, the great George Washington, and we went into a cold room in Annapolis in December of 1783 and watched him hand back the most powerful position on earth and ride home to be a farmer by Christmas Eve. We watched the world come to America for a month and go home seeing us differently than the headlines told them to. We watched a man named Messi refuse to quit all the way to a final he didn't win, and be no less of a man for it, and we sat with one small word. Enough. Under all of it is the thing this whole show is built on a promise. Washington's whole life was a promise he kept by letting go. He promised there'd be a country bigger than any one man. And the only way to keep that promise was to open his hand, to give the power back, to go home. You've got power somewhere in your life right now, over your kids, your marriage, your team, your table. The Washington question, the one man in my portrait is asking me every time I sit down at this desk is this Are you strong enough to give some of it back? Strong enough to let your kids decide. Let the argument die. Let the thing you've been gripping grow past your own two hands. That's the promise. Not to grab more, to hold what's yours loosely enough that you can become something bigger than you. It changes the trip. It was much more fun in Alaska because we allowed this with our daughter and we're grateful for it. Go see young Washington. Take your family, hug your people, and this week, find the one thing real strength is telling you to hand back and hand it back. I'm Jason Hewlett. This has been the Jason Hewlett Show. Lots of F words around here. Faith, freedom, family, fitness. I'll see you next Thursday. Until then, keep the promise.