In so doing, he delivered on behalf of his father the message that the imperfect, aged, but Christ-loving patriarch might have said himself, had Alzheimer’s not robbed him of the ability to do so.
This is the duty of a true son, and Michael did it well
Hey. What's up Doc?
Nice thread!
Interesting that Michael and Maureen were/are Christians and Patti and Ron Jr. are not... Same father, but different mothers. I wonder about Jane Wyman's faith?
BTTT
BOOKMARKED.
Beautifully stated. A celebration and tribute to a man well loved. Eternal, everlasting love and devotion.
BTTT
Thanks for the post and the ping, Syncro.
I agree that Michael Reagan gave a wonderful eulogy for his father. It was heartfelt and emotional.
Thanks again.
I was happy to find this post tonight and thought I'd share it with you. I saw Michael Reagan deliver this speech and it brought tears to my eyes (and to his)!
I also ask for your prayers as I go to the doc's office for a checkup (PRAY FOR A GOOD ONE!!!) and some more chemo. I always get anxious and worried before the checkup and I pray the chemo is doing it's stuff and that the good Lord will bless me with a good checkup. Thanks.
Father and son bump!
Bump
Another look at Reagan as father. I think you'll like it.
Patti and Ron can kiss my butt. I don't believe Ronald Wilson Reagan would have supported the plundering of aborted fetuses to save even his own life. Although he didn't start out that way, Reagan became totally committed to preserving the sanctity and dignity of human life.
Very nice thread.
Michael did a wonderful job.
Just ordered Reagan: A Life in Letters.
I can't wait to read it, I enjoyed Reagan in his own Voice so much that I shared it on my harddrive. It has been a pleasure monitoring what people are uploading from me and seeing those old radio broadcasts being uploaded so much.
He is home now. He is free. In his final letter to the American people, Dad wrote, "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life." This evening, he has arrived.
History will record his worth as a leader. We here have long since measured his worth as a man. Honest, compassionate, graceful, brave. He was the most plainly decent man you could ever hope to meet.
He used to say, "A gentleman always does the kind thing." And he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. A gentle man.
Big as he was, he never tried to make anyone feel small. Powerful as he became, he never took advantage of those who were weaker. Strength, he believed, was never more admirable than when it was applied with restraint. Shopkeeper, doorman, king or queen, it made no difference, Dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy. Acknowledging the innate dignity in us all.
The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. And he lived a good, long life. The kind of life good men lead. But I guess I’m just telling you things you already know.
Here’s something you may not know, a little Ronald Reagan trivia for you, his entire life, Dad had an inordinate fondness for earlobes. Even as a boy, back in Dixon, Ill., hanging out on a street corner with his friends, they knew that if they were standing next to Dutch, sooner or later, he was going to reach over and grab hold of their lobe, give it a workout there. Sitting on his lap watching TV as a kid, same story. He would have hold of my ear lobe. I’m surprised I have any lobes left after all of that.
And you didn’t have to be a kid to enjoy that sort of treatment. Serving in the Screen Actors Guild with his great friend William Holden, the actor, best man at his wedding, Bill got used to it. They would be there at the meetings, and Dad would have hold of his earlobe. There they’d be, some tense labor negotiation, two big Hollywood movie stars, hand in earlobe.
He was, as you know, a famously optimistic man. Sometimes such optimism leads you to see the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it really is. At a certain point in his presidency, Dad decided he was going to revive the thumbs-up gesture. So he went all over the country, of course, giving everybody the thumbs up.
Doria and I found ourselves in the presidential limousine one day returning from some big event. My mother was there and dad was, of course, thumbs-upping the crowd along the way, and suddenly, looming in the window on his side of the car, was this snarling face. This fellow was reviving an entirely different hand gesture. And hoisted an entirely different digit in our direction. Dad saw this and without missing a beat turned to us and said, "You see? I think it’s catching on."
Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.
Humble as he was, he never would have assumed a free pass to heaven. But in his heart of hearts, I suspect he felt he would be welcome there. And so he is home. He is free.
Those of us who knew him well will have no trouble imagining his paradise. Golden fields will spread beneath a blue dome of a western sky. Live oaks will shadow the rolling hillsides. And someplace, flowing from years long past, a river will wind toward the sea. Across those fields, he will ride a gray mare he calls Nancy D. They will sail over jumps he has built with his own hands. He will, at the river, carry him over the shining stones. He will rest in the shade of the trees.
Our cares are no longer his. We meet him now only in memory. But we will join him soon enough. All of us. When we are home. When we are free. [END TRANSCRIPT]
Technically, a nicely crafted speech, but one that's formulaic and lacks the heart of Michael Reagan's speech. The only point in it where Little Ron showed any passion was the passage where he slammed politicians who "wear their religion on their sleeve to gain political advantage." I also didn't like the business about the earlobes, because I took it as calculated to make his father seem weird.
This was a beautiful and powerful article, Synchro. Thank you for the post.