| 200406072040AUMEL96415375MEDIA: A Star For Reagan
It's been so long since I last did this. I am doing this again - contrary to the earlier announcement that I would only 'come alive' after the 22 June - because I figure there is enough room for a breather from now until 17 June which is the due date for the next 'big event'. So much boredom and so much to comment urge me to find time for one more entry, and possibly a few more from now until the next important date. Well, so here's the rant and the grouse, yet again.
Ronald Reagan just passed away, aged 93 and of Alzheimers. I am always interested in obiturary news, don't ask why. I have done the same for Kurt Kobain, for Leslie Cheung, and just missed Anita Mui although I did keep the newspapers articles at home and think will one day revisit news on the diva, and will try to do one on her. Somehow the fact that people come and go, and that life is transient, just generate much interests in me. I have even thought that perhaps the Gods in heaven are playing chess, and we are the pieces. So when one piece is captured by the opposing side, then the analogy in real life is death. Such a concept appeals greatly to me, rather than the models advocated by all the religions, just because in my 'chess model' of life, there is no moral, no judgement, no one to tell us what this is so and what that is not, and it also gives insights to death that differs from what religions say. It is nothing to do with doing good or believing in a faith to gain salvation, but life and death is merely about existence and the lack of it. At the end of the journey after playing our parts, our utilities are dissipated and spent, and we become a prisoner-of-war and belong to the other side (in the analogy to real life the other side could well be virus, diseases or a suicide or murder attempt). We become inactive and indeed nonexistent on the chessboard, and that continues until the game is up and the players play the next game.
But why? This 'chess model' is also consistent with our real life experience. All of us, at least me, have always thought life was so transient and time passes so fast. Well, the gods' moves are timed and governed by the rules of the game. Damn the gods must be having a good time playing this game. Oh, the 'chess model' also assumes that there is more than one god. Here I have deviated from many religions that claim unitary devinity. Well, that's just an opinon and thought. And anyway, no mortal can prove me wrong or herself or himself right. So what's the harm in hypothesising?
So let's get back to the main character, Ronald Reagan. I have to say after browsing through his pictures in the web, my feeling is that that guy is first and foremost a sportsman. But I remember he has a unique style of delivering his presidential speeches that enarmoured a generation of people all over the world, myself included, a style which is not seen in the presidents post-Reagan. Well we had the senior Bush, followed by Bill Clinton, and followed by the present president the junior Bush. I must say in comparison, Reagan's style comes across as much more exaggerated, as if the important part about making a speech is the showmanship and presentation. Well Reagan has been called the showman umpteen times whilst he was the president. It does not surprise me, him coming from a background of broadcast journalism and an actor. But perhaps what strikes me as most characteristic of his style is his tall stature, and the fact that he seems to be putting on a wide grin all the time. Well, that to me just reflects the make-up of a sportsman. He is certainly no Bill Clinton who is the shrewd and intelligent politician and lawyer, neither is Reagan the matter-of-fact type of person that Bush junior is. Nor is Reagan the intense and deeply pensive type of character of Jimmy Carter. Reagan is simply and plainly sportsperson in comparsion to all the above presidents. But Reagan is also one of the few presidents in his time to be able to gain support more than one term of the presidential office. It shows that politics is such a diverse entity that it accommodates all kinds of traits and professionalities.
That said it is not difficult to be swayed by the Reagan's style of politics and to miss an enamoured president who has mesmerised a whole generation of people in the world. Reagan ended the cold war, a feat unthinkable then of anyone, even the U.S. president. Indeed U.S. and Russia pre-Reagan were building up nuclear arms, not depleting and disarming them. Reagan was also able to persuade the Germans to unite and now there is no more East and West Germany. And the younger generations now, for example my nephews and nieces, would have to dig history books to learn about the Berlin wall. Nobody thought such a thing was possible, just like no one now thinks reconcilation with or complete destruction of the terrorists are any possible now. When one compares that kind of political achievement in this sense, Reagan stands like a giant in the history of American and indeed world politics. But his political achievements are certainly beyond the tangibles. Reagan also brought home to the Americans and the world alike the message of the will and courage of his public servcie. Reagan publicly announced his diagnosis of Alzheimers so that the knowledge of disease be made aware for the beneift of the public.
The moral of the story is really death is not a scary thing. It completes the process of biological ageing, and it brings to a closure the themes that one advocates in one's lifetime, just like the fact that the bell has to go for every interesting classroom lesson and any course one attends, and that every good chess game has to have an end. Nonetheless it leaves no doubt in people's minds of the spirit, will and the character of the star on tv, the star in politics, and the star now in our hearts. |
