Mourning In America
By Jonathan David Morris (06/10/04)
The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, has died at the age of 93 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's. In the days to come, you'll read many essays attempting to capture his innermost thoughts and agendas, which will be written by people who knew him about as well as I did -- which is to say they'll be written by people who didn't really know him at all. I won't claim to know enough about him to warrant my writing a eulogy. From what I understand, he was a good man, but a little hard to get to know.
My connection with Reagan is mostly nostalgic. I was born in 1978, and he entered the White House in 1981. For me -- and, I'd imagine, for many men and women born around that time -- Reagan represents more than a presidency, a Cold War, and an Iran-Contra scandal. For me, he represents an era -- a moment in time and a time in my life. When I learned the word "president," Reagan was president. And when I discovered America, he spoke for it. So for me, to some extent, he still does.
Maybe it's just my whacked-out way of thinking, but I can't think of Reagan without thinking about my youth. This isn't a recent thing. It isn't because of his passing. It has always been this way -- he has always been like a spokesman for my childhood, for as long as I've been old enough to say things like "my childhood." I'm 26 now. I'm closer to 30 than 20 for the first time in my life. I think about my childhood all the time. I guess it's because I'm nearing a time when I'll think about having kids of my own. I don't know. But the point is, with Reagan, a part of my childhood has died. And I agree with you if you think this sounds corny, but I'm not afraid to admit that it's true.
I now know, for example, that -- like the Saturday matinees enjoyed by my parents -- the era of Saturday morning cartoons is dead. Oh, sure, there are cartoons on Saturdays still. They exist. I've seen them while flipping through channels. But it's not like it was when I was a kid and Reagan was king. Back then, I didn't flip through channels on Saturday mornings. For one thing, I didn't have a remote. I switched stations with a box connected to the TV by a long, unruly wire. But second, and more importantly, I didn't flip through channels because I always had my Saturday mornings mapped out. I took a Hi-Liter to the TV Guide every Friday evening and kept to the next day's schedule faithfully. I had to. There were hours upon hours of cartoons on all major networks. It's like getting lost in a toy store -- yeah, there are toys, but you're still walking down the aisles, crying, just trying to find your mom.
Reagan represents an era of innocence for me, a time when it wouldn't've mattered if I knew Papa Smurf was a Marxist because I didn't really know what a Marxist was. Reagan represents a time when I had my first dog, and lived in my first house, and could still see my grandparents on weekends instead of in photos and dreams. He reminds me of the big house my mom's folks had up in Plainfield, with a breakfast nook I'd like to rebuild in a house of my own someday, and a den where we'd gather 'round to watch M*A*S*H. He reminds me of my dad's parents' furniture, which was covered in plastic and rather uncomfortable.
He reminds me of Max Headroom and the original, invincible Mike Tyson, and MTV before I understood it, and Nintendo before it passed me by.
He reminds me of old Coke being replaced with New Coke, and New Coke being replaced with old Coke because New Coke sucked.
When I think about Reagan, I don't think about his famous speech the night the space shuttle Challenger exploded. I don't think about its crew "touch[ing] the face of God." I think about the classroom I was in when they announced it over the speakers. I think about how I got yelled at for raising my hand during the moment of silence. And I think about a very special episode of Punky Brewster.
When I think about Reagan, I think about the Cold War before I knew what war was, before I knew which wall he wanted Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down." I think of the Cold War as a plot device -- an excuse to box Russians in movies. And I think about my all-time favorite film, Back to the Future, and the scene in 1955 where Marty tells Doc that Reagan becomes president.
"Ronald Reagan? The actor?" Doc asks in disbelief. "Who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?"
Doc didn't believe Marty had his facts straight. But he believed in the future. And he believed he could get there. Back then, I believed the same thing. I'm more cynical now, to the point where anything less than cynicism seems like a dangerous waste of time. Life does this to you. It molds you, and it kicks you between the legs. It knocks down your favorite buildings. It drags you, kicking and screaming, into wars between evil and good.
Ronald Reagan was an optimist, though. Again, I never met him, and I can't speak from experience here. But this is what people are saying. Bill Clinton thinks Reagan "personified the indomitable optimism of the American people." And Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm thinks he "transformed our nation's psyche with his optimism and positive vision," while New York Gov. George Pataki calls him "a man of unwavering principle whose sense of hope, optimism, and opportunity appealed to the best in Americans." I don't care what any of these people think. But at the very least, it would seem to validate the optimism I always -- instinctively -- link with the Reagan era.
It is a place to which I'd love to return.
In 1984, of all years, Team Reagan ran a campaign ad with a now-famous phrase: "It's morning again in America." What an optimistic concept. In fact, I can't think of anything more inspiring than morning. The scent of fresh coffee brewing in the kitchen. History, in its entirety, wrapped up and repackaged as yesterday's news in a paper on the front porch. Morning is a fresh start -- not a blank slate, per se, but a slate wiped somewhat clean. There is hope in a rising sun. There is reason to believe the future will turn out like you envisioned it in the past.
For me, this is something Reagan represents. And partly, that's due to the fact that, when Reagan was president, I was young enough to believe anything was possible. Kids aren't realistic. But they're never afraid to ask, and never afraid to believe.
We've fallen upon tough times in America. Whether you knew him or not, and regardless of whether you liked him, Reagan's death ought to remind us -- even if by brand-recognition alone -- that we haven't reached morning yet. And it would seem to me a noble destination, even if cartoons aren't waiting for us there.
Inasmuch as he led us to such a place to begin with -- mister, we could use a man like Ronald Reagan again. God bless him. Amen.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121899,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121884,00.html
http://www.reaganfoundation.com/reagan/speeches/challenger.asp
http://www.reaganfoundation.com/reagan/speeches/wall.asp
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/quotes
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