Today would have been the 112th birthday of one of the greatest American presidents, Ronald Reagan. He went from being a Hollywood actor to the capable and far-sighted leader of the free world, the man who played an essential role in the crumbling of the Soviet Union. He told Soviet leader Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and he made it “morning again in America.”
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” —Ronald Reagan
Morning in America: Remembering Ronald Reagan
This quote of Reagan’s is well known but much emphasis is wrongly laid on the first part. The second, warning, half is something we can all easily visualise, “one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
The fist half containing the fighting doesn’t conjure any particular image, the second part conjures bitter regret and despair for abdicating our duty and failure in not passing what is rightfully our children’s legacy