Happy 100th Birthday Ronald Reagan
No, I didn't forget. The blog ate my homework. I had a bunch of cool pictures and deeper thoughts put together, but they got zapped....so I'll share a simpler perspective of my hero.
Dear President Reagan,
Happy Birthday!
I met you back in the 2nd grade, you were running for President against Jimmy Carter and some guy named Anderson, and I thought you seemed so nice. I don't remember much about the 1970's other than my mom complaining about the price of peanut butter and...oh yeah, men being blindfolded on TV....they were being held hostage I guess.
You reminded me of my grandpa and my great uncles...fine men dressed well. Standing tall and always smiling.
As the man who held office during my adolecense, you will always be a part of my nostalgia. What a lucky kid! I didn't have to ask my parents about "Watergate" and why the President was saying "I am not a crook." I didn't have to wonder what Monica Lewinsky was doing in the Oval Office and why the President was shaking his finger at us saying something really weird like "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
We watched movies like "War Games" and "Red Dawn"....we would always beat the Russians, because we were smarter than them and their country was bad because people weren't free. We lived in the greatest country in the world...what did you call it? "That shining city upon a hill."
You were just this wonderful man in the White House who had Michael Jackson over to visit and danced with Princess Diana. We knew that you loved America and would keep us safe. You never "callled us out" or yelled at us or told us to "sit in the back of the bus" or made us feel bad because we weren't doing enough to save the earth. I think maybe you understood we were kids and that children liked to play and it's the adults who should worry about all of that big stuff.
This Reagan kid has her own kids now. I try give them the childhood you helped give to us. One full of security and a lot of "God bless America". I teach them to love the land that's made for you and me, and to never do things like litter.
But, I also try to help them know that only one man handles the really, really big stuff. Ha! No, not you. (I'm not that crazy.) It's that guy you're with right now. I think He loves America a lot too. Oops, I better watch out. There's this really weird thing called political correctness that came around after you went away. People try to monitor your thoughts now...and you thought communism was gone. Not yet.
I miss you very, very much and know there will never be another like you. America is an idea, and you personified it.
Thank you for teaching us how it feels to be an American. Remarkable, Exceptional, Unstoppable, and United
When we feel that way again, we'll have you back with us too.
God bless you up in heaven Gipper.
Love, Sheila
Cross posted at www.theactivistnextdoor.com