Remembering an American Citizen
by Fr. Daniel Sparks ~ June 5, 2005. Filed under: Liberty & Society.
Today marks one year since the death of former United States President Ronald Wilson Reagan. I’ve reflected on his life and death often since that day and have wanted to write about him several times but this is the first.
His death was a very sad occasion. I was at my parents’ home: I sat reading Chesterton’s Father Brown mysteries; my brother called to say that President Reagan had died. His death had long been anticipated and, in the few preceding days, even more expected. I passed the news to my mother after she came in. Then, I went in the back room, covered my face and wept.
A few days later, I watched President Reagan’s funeral. I cried and laughed with the anecdotes, praise, and concern that were shared by the several illustrious speakers at the funeral. The procession into the church, the service, the procession out of the church, the journey to the airport, the procession to the place: each moment was solemn and special.
I had also watched some of the visitors to the Reagan Museum while his body was there. The respect of each visitor was obvious: the elderly, the middle-aged, the young, the small children carried by parents who wanted them to know the passing of a great man. The faithful fighting men kept watch.
My tears weren’t the only ones shed, of course. What made President Reagan so special to us? There are countless reasons.
Perhaps my view of the American presidency was shaped by the man who was in office for eight years while I was growing up; maybe my perspective was influenced by this giant who invoked the words and spirit of the Founders. Perhaps, but there was much more.
I remember seeing footage on television of President Reagan’s visit to Decatur, Alabama. He spoke at the Spirit of America event and thousands of people were present to hear. I remember receiving eight copies of a White House booklet featuring President Reagan; they arrived by mail on the last full day of his presidency, in response to a letter I had written him. I don’t remember what I said in the letter. I still have a copy or two of the booklet. I remember listening by radio as President Reagan spoke as a private citizen before the 1992 Republican Convention. The next day, I cut out of the newspaper a photograph of him and President George Bush at the convention; the clipping was destroyed shortly thereafter but the image is still burned into my mind.
I remember other things, too. I remember the Iran-Contra ordeal and listening to Colonel Oliver North testify before Congress. I remember the Challenger explosion and President Reagan’s words at the memorial service. I remember watching, with my mother, an old movie in which he played a man whose legs has been cut off in a train accident.
Some of my memories are jumbled and it’s hard to explain why they seem so significant. I was only five years old when President Reagan was sworn in and thirteen when he left office; I was only sixteen when he gave that last major speech at the Republican Convention.
President Reagan was an imperfect man but a man who valued truth, a man willing to pay the cost of liberty. He was a man who should have been more diligent in protecting the unborn. He was a man who should have been more diligent in choosing Supreme Court nominees. He could have done more but he did so much. Yes, he was flawed, as we all are, but he knew that good trumps evil, truth trumps lies, bravery trumps cowardice, honor trumps disgrace. He beckoned us to the paths of righteousness; he didn’t promise ease–he knew that it is often hard to stand for truth and justice–but, he beckoned us the same. He saw himself as a servant of God, and he certainly was. He didn’t deny God and he always sought to do what was right in the Lord’s eyes. He sometimes faced ridicule for saying and doing those things.
Why does President Reagan’s life mean so much? Here are some reasons, selected from his 1992 speech:
To hear them talk, you’d never know that the nightmare of nuclear annihilation has been lifted from our sleep. You’d never know that our standard of living remains the highest in the world. You’d never know that our air is cleaner than it was 20 years ago. You’d never know that we remain the one nation the rest of the world looks to for leadership.
It wasn’t always this way. We mustn’t forget – even if they would like to – the very different America that existed just 12 years ago; an America with 21 percent interest rates and back to back years of double digit inflation; an America where mortgage payments doubled, paychecks plunged, and motorists sat in gas lines; an America whose leaders told us it was our own fault; that ours was a future of scarcity and sacrifice; and that what we really needed was another good dose of government control and higher taxes.
It wasn’t so long ago that the world was a far more dangerous place as well. It was a world where aggressive Soviet communism was on the rise and American strength was in decline. It was a world where our children came of age under the threat of nuclear holocaust. It was a world where our leaders told us that standing up to aggressors was dangerous – that American might and determination were somehow obstacles to peace.
But we stood tall and proclaimed that communism was destined for the ash heap of history. We never heard so much ridicule from our liberal friends. The only thing that got them more upset was two simple words: “Evil Empire.”
But we knew then what the liberal Democrat leaders just couldn’t figure out: the sky would not fall if America restored her strength and resolve. The sky would not fall if an American president spoke the truth. The only thing that would fall was the Berlin Wall.
It was because of men like President Reagan that I considered entering military service. When the world, and many of our own citizens, looks down on our servicemen, I remember the value of truth and freedom to which President Reagan always called attention. It is because of men like President Reagan that I am proud to wear my uniform in defense of the United States.
See, these were the things that inspired us about President Reagan: he spoke the truth and he wasn’t afraid to speak it; he paid the price; he seized the opportunity to do good; he encouraged us to seek the best and to go forward in righteousness.
In honor of President Reagan, I encourage you to read his 1992 speech and view the memorial presentation from the Reagan Library. Most importantly, let us renew our commitment to truth, liberty, and justice before God. To this President Reagan called us.
If you join me in weeping, weep not as one who has no hope. Instead weep because of the blessing of the Lord given in his servant Ronald Reagan; weep for the hope found in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14):
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
For further reflection on so great a man and so great a country, here are President Reagan’s closing words from his 1992 Republican Convention speech:
My fellow citizens – those of you here in this hall and those of you at home – I want you to know that I have always had the highest respect for you, for your common sense and intelligence and for your decency. I have always believed in you and in what you could accomplish for yourselves and for others.
And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.
My fondest hope for each one of you – and especially for the young people here – is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here.
May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism.
And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.
Before I go, I would like to ask the person who has made my life’s journey so meaningful, someone I have been so proud of through the years, to join me. Nancy…
My fellow Americans, on behalf of both of us, goodbye, and God bless each and every one of you, and God bless this country we love.
I have many more thoughts, some of which I may share in the future. For now, I simply thank God for his servant and his faithfulness. And, I pray that God may guard these United States of America and that his Spirit will lead us into all truth.
Further Reading
Proclamation by President George W. Bush on the death of President Reagan