"You know every generation is critical of the generation that preceded it and feels it must discard many of the mores and customs of those who had gone before. Our generation felt that way, and so will yours. But in casting aside the old, don't throw out those values that have been tested by time just because they're old. They're old because their value has been proven by many generations over the years and, yes, the centuries."He made a very accurate distinction between our customs and our values. This is a valuable lesson for all generations. At times we can be overwhealmed by the changes that occur around us. From advances in technology to changes in styles, these things only represent customs. Values are unchanging. We can not let our outward changes allow us to stray from the unchangeable values.
"Certainly the American story represents one of the great epics of human history. Yet ours is a story of goodness as well as of greatness."Another subtle distinction. Ours is a great nation, but it is also a good one. We have strength, but we also have compassion. We have military might, but we also have a nation of compasionate, giving people. Our history is repleate with examples of us reaching to those we have defeated and helping them back to their feet. Reagen, in his address, quoted former Prime Minister of Australia John Gorton: "I wonder if anybody has thought what the situation of comparatively small nations would be if there were not in existence the United States, if there were not this great, giant country prepared to make those sacrifices.''
His conclusion conveyed what I believe is one of his most outstanding attributes, his unbridled optimism.
"There are moments, indeed, when those of my generation fear that your youth and health and good fortune will prove too much for us -- too much for us who must tell you that good fortune is not all that life can present, that this good fortune has come to you because others have suffered and sacrificed, that to preserve it there will come times when you, too, must sacrifice. Then our fears are dispelled. It happens when we turn from our own thoughts to look at you. We see such strength and hope, such buoyancy, such good will, such straightforward and uncomplicated happiness. And if we listen, before long we hear joyful laughter. And we know then that God has already blessed you and that America has already imprinted the love of peace and freedom on your hearts. We look at you, and no matter how full our own lives have been, we say with Thomas Jefferson, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.''"
We thank God for gift we had in Ronald Reagan. He is missed but in no way forgotten. Ours is "a story of goodness as well as greatness." He was both.
