President Reagan
On this day, i thought it would be fitting to post yet another of my sister's columns...
"As we approach tomorrow’s National Day of Mourning,
many people have been recalling President Ronald
Reagan. I’m no different.
While I’ve heard plenty of stories about the former
California governor’s charisma, public policies and
foreign diplomacy, my memories are a little more
simple.
I remember my first civics lesson during first grade
in 1980. My teacher explained the political process
and talked about the candidates up for election:
President Jimmy Carter, Reagan and an independent guy.
Then, we voted.
I didn’t choose Reagan. I didn’t choose the sitting
president either. Like most of my classmates, I chose
the independent.
At the time, we naively thought our votes counted, so
we all began watching the election. We weren’t
thinking about politics, just who looked the part.
Judging by the outcome of the real election, I guess
it’s a good thing first-graders don’t vote in
presidential contests. The only thing I knew about
Rea-gan then was that he liked jelly beans.
I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing when
Reagan was shot in 1981, but I do recall the
assassination attempt being rebroadcast on television
over and over again. My little friends and I couldn’t
fathom why someone would want to harm the president.
After all, he was in charge of the greatest country in
the world. He was our leader. He was one of the good
guys.
What I remember from that day is thinking how great it
was that the president had all these guys willing to
take bullets to protect him. I also thought that being
a Secret Service agent had to be the worst job in the
world. That was long before I waited tables in
college.
In 1986, the Challenger explosion showed me that a
president isn’t necessarily superhuman. He can cry
like the rest of us, too.
My sixth-grade class spent the afternoon following the
tragedy after a television set had been wheeled into
our classroom. Later, I listened to Reagan’s words
along with the rest of the country. His voice and
words were comforting.
At some point, I learned that Reagan had once been a
popular film star. I was in denial of that
information. There was no way this conservative guy
could have been a cool Hollywood actor, I thought. And
there was no way the people would have elected a movie
star.
My young naive mind was proven wrong. And after
watching a pro wrestler and an Austrian action star
take high-ranking offices since then, Reagan’s ascent
doesn’t seem so surprising now.
Sometime during the late ’80s, the band Genesis left
their own Reagan impression on me. It was a video on
MTV for the song “Land of Confusion” that featured the
40th president as a puppet running around in a
Superman costume. Puppet Reagan then drowns in bed
with his wife, Puppet Nancy, by his side.
If the video was a political metaphor, I didn’t get
it. I thought it was just using the president for
laughs.
When Reagan was preparing to leave office in 1988, it
was unsettling for me. Up to that point, he was the
only president I had ever really known. I wondered if
“President Bush” would ever flow off the tongue as
easily as “President Reagan” had. Eventually, it did.
While Reagan was in office, I never paid much
attention to politics. I didn’t realize his impact on
ending the Cold War until later. It wasn’t until the
elder George Bush was campaigning for his second term
in 1992 that I began to care about what went on in the
White House.
Six years after Reagan left office, I was finally able
to vote for a real presidential election. I haven’t
stopped since.
In recent years, Reagan put a familiar face on a
horrible disease - Alzheimer’s. While he was absent
from the public eye, his wife, children and close
friends shared their struggles to care for him. They
offered a glimpse of what many ordinary Americans deal
with, and set an example through their resolve.
Tomorrow, as the nation mourns President Reagan, I’ll
remember him as a strong leader whose positive impact
was felt in our country and around the world."
-Kristen Coppock: BCT Staff Writer
"As we approach tomorrow’s National Day of Mourning,
many people have been recalling President Ronald
Reagan. I’m no different.
While I’ve heard plenty of stories about the former
California governor’s charisma, public policies and
foreign diplomacy, my memories are a little more
simple.
I remember my first civics lesson during first grade
in 1980. My teacher explained the political process
and talked about the candidates up for election:
President Jimmy Carter, Reagan and an independent guy.
Then, we voted.
I didn’t choose Reagan. I didn’t choose the sitting
president either. Like most of my classmates, I chose
the independent.
At the time, we naively thought our votes counted, so
we all began watching the election. We weren’t
thinking about politics, just who looked the part.
Judging by the outcome of the real election, I guess
it’s a good thing first-graders don’t vote in
presidential contests. The only thing I knew about
Rea-gan then was that he liked jelly beans.
I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing when
Reagan was shot in 1981, but I do recall the
assassination attempt being rebroadcast on television
over and over again. My little friends and I couldn’t
fathom why someone would want to harm the president.
After all, he was in charge of the greatest country in
the world. He was our leader. He was one of the good
guys.
What I remember from that day is thinking how great it
was that the president had all these guys willing to
take bullets to protect him. I also thought that being
a Secret Service agent had to be the worst job in the
world. That was long before I waited tables in
college.
In 1986, the Challenger explosion showed me that a
president isn’t necessarily superhuman. He can cry
like the rest of us, too.
My sixth-grade class spent the afternoon following the
tragedy after a television set had been wheeled into
our classroom. Later, I listened to Reagan’s words
along with the rest of the country. His voice and
words were comforting.
At some point, I learned that Reagan had once been a
popular film star. I was in denial of that
information. There was no way this conservative guy
could have been a cool Hollywood actor, I thought. And
there was no way the people would have elected a movie
star.
My young naive mind was proven wrong. And after
watching a pro wrestler and an Austrian action star
take high-ranking offices since then, Reagan’s ascent
doesn’t seem so surprising now.
Sometime during the late ’80s, the band Genesis left
their own Reagan impression on me. It was a video on
MTV for the song “Land of Confusion” that featured the
40th president as a puppet running around in a
Superman costume. Puppet Reagan then drowns in bed
with his wife, Puppet Nancy, by his side.
If the video was a political metaphor, I didn’t get
it. I thought it was just using the president for
laughs.
When Reagan was preparing to leave office in 1988, it
was unsettling for me. Up to that point, he was the
only president I had ever really known. I wondered if
“President Bush” would ever flow off the tongue as
easily as “President Reagan” had. Eventually, it did.
While Reagan was in office, I never paid much
attention to politics. I didn’t realize his impact on
ending the Cold War until later. It wasn’t until the
elder George Bush was campaigning for his second term
in 1992 that I began to care about what went on in the
White House.
Six years after Reagan left office, I was finally able
to vote for a real presidential election. I haven’t
stopped since.
In recent years, Reagan put a familiar face on a
horrible disease - Alzheimer’s. While he was absent
from the public eye, his wife, children and close
friends shared their struggles to care for him. They
offered a glimpse of what many ordinary Americans deal
with, and set an example through their resolve.
Tomorrow, as the nation mourns President Reagan, I’ll
remember him as a strong leader whose positive impact
was felt in our country and around the world."
-Kristen Coppock: BCT Staff Writer