This week I had the opportunity to visit the Alabama State Capitol, and boy, is it a beautiful building.

The walls are filled with some of the most beautiful artwork and canvases that celebrate life in Alabama. The building itself smells like history, and even has a feel of past leaders who have accomplished great things.

And leaders are still working hard in the Capitol, even today, just like the senators and representatives before them.

These men and women have a very hard job, and after spending over an hour listening to Gov. Don Siegelman's ideas on constitutional reform, I realized that we don't always give our leaders the positivity that would help them simply make it thought he day.

The amount of issues that these leaders must face in a day is more than most of us could comprehend in a week. There's something to say for that.

President Bush said this week in his State of the Union address that he must exercise for at least an hour a day to keep a healthy and alert mind to run the country.

Whatever works.

I just know I couldn't do his job.

Our leaders in Montgomery and in Washington D.C. have very hard jobs, and they also must endure criticism by the people of the state as well as criticism by us media-folk who are fortunate enough to set the agenda for our communities.

News is news, but when it comes to opinion, we all have our own.

However, I must say that although I may not always agree with our governor's ideas on how this state should be run, I do admire him and respect him for his dedication to making Alabama the best state in the nation.

Gov. Siegelman also is a very nice, and personable man.

What can I say, he's a fellow Mobilian, and we do try to stick together.

Upon seeing him again this past Thursday, I noticed that he smiled as he shook the hand of each and every editor and publisher that came to the luncheon to hear him speak. (However, I'm sure there were a few of us that he would have rather given a swift kick in the behind rather than shaking our

hands in return for our opinions that we so boldly put forth in our columns and editorials.)

All of us editors and publishers have our own opinions, and though we may not always agree with our state and federal leaders, there is a respect that they deserve for doing the job they do.

I'd like to think that one day I will have an impact on the State of Alabama, but I think my emphasis would definitely fall more along the lines of serving on the State Board of Education rather than handling the economics, budgets and corporations that come along with being a state representative, senator, governor, etc.

At any rate, this column is a special tribute to those who serve and work so hard for Alabama, and specifically, for Greenville and Butler County.

Without them, we wouldn't have the things we do have now in Alabama.

Maybe we should all remember that the next time we criticize our leaders.