Posted on 06/11/2004 9:00:42 PM PDT by nuconvert
Text of Ron Reagan Jr.'s Remarks at Father's Burial Service
The Associated Press
Jun 11, 2004
Text of remarks by Ron Reagan Jr. at Friday's burial service for former President Reagan, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:
RON REAGAN JR.: 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.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) 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.
Good one!
Everyone seems to be taking this as a slam on President Bush, but the first thing I thought of when he said this was Kerry receiving Holy Communion as a photo op.
"I guess you didn't notice his wife, to whom he's been married 20+ years, standing next to him."
"Cut the guy some slack. He just buried his father."
Thank you so much for pointing that out. I've never understood why some people insinuate what they believe to be negatives about someone just because they disagree with them. And at a time like this, no less. It's disgraceful.
"Arrogant" to believe Christ's own promise to ALL of us?
Bullhockey!
I didn't see it that way and neither will 99% of the American people.
Only those nutcases at DU who are wishful thinking themselves into reading that that which is not there.
Oh....and you.
I don't think that particular line refers to Bush.
Would you have others deny their faith in public as to avoid offending you?
Or rather would you have us arrested?
Yes, it is
here here!
God has revealed to all of us who is going to Heaven through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through His Word. It is not judgment, it is discernment.
I predict Ron will eventually appear on Hardball and spell it out in plain English for those who wish to pretend he meant no malice.
This does not mean I was waiting to be offended or wish to harp on it, just commenting on the obviousness of it all.
he's 45
I was puzzled by this line when Ron spoke it. Did he ever LISTEN to his Dad's speeches? Reagan made religious references ALL THE TIME! He believed America was the shining city on a hill, which means he must have believed that God had blessed her in a special way.
In hearing some of President Reagan's old speeches this past week, I was struck with just how much Dubya sounds like him in describing an America that he believes to be truly blessed, but with a huge responsibility to bring that message of freedom to the world.
I guess my caution is that we not obssess over what Ron said. He's obviously confused. Denying the promise of life after death, then he finished the speech by saying he will join his Father in heaven. Go figure!
As for those who thought of a sexual fetish with the earlobe story, I didn't. One of my favorite shows of affection from my Daddy was when he would surprise me by tugging on my ear twice and say, "Beep, Beep!" I did the same thing with my girls.
Cyn is right, Ron's speech is worth scrutiny, as we all were waiting anxiously to hear what he and Patti would say. I grade them, "no harm, no foul" to Ronald Reagan, or us.
Do you suppose he was referring to John Kerry's "thumbs up" following his "paying of respects" to Ronald Reagan on Wednesday?
That is true, but He also has revealed to us how we may KNOW that we have eternal life with Him:
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" - John 11:25-26
"And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that beileve on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5:11-13
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
I know..I was just being silly.
WHAT?! I hadn't heard that. I agree, that is nonsense.
I didn't say Ron's speech was worth scrutiny, though. Just that I heard it and knew what he was saying.
Sad to say, I suspect it was aimed at our president. Ron Jr. has repeatedly exhibited an intense virulent, irrational dislike of Bush. He has publicly referred to President Bush as an ignorant drunk, said he suffered from "dementia" (a particularly tastless remark given his father's condition) and was unworthy of President Reagan's legacy, etc. He's a Nader supporter (at least in the 2000 election) who often gives in to the worst instincts of the spiteful fringe Left.
Here's just one example of Ron's nutty nastiness. (Someone with access to Lexis-Nexis or TV transcription service could track down some of his other even nastier remarks) :
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