* Nancy was widely derided by everyone for being a controlling astrology-following bitch, but she loved Ronnie, knew he had enemies, and did her best to protect him.
* It seems to me that Jimmy Carter—the man, though perhaps not the presidency—is slowly being rehabilitated by history, while in the case of Ronald Reagan the process is moving in the opposite direction. I cannot help but think that with the passing of Nancy Reagan, another incremental step has been taken towards the eventual “historicization” of the man and his legacy, and it will not redound to the benefit of either. Now that the old widow is not around to defend him, or to have her sensibilities offended, the critics will have a freer hand
A curious thing, is death. For as long as a person is alive his deeds are not quite set in stone, for he can still do something to atone for them or revise them or improve them, to change the overall picture of the life he bequeaths to posterity. When death comes the moment of finality has set in. It’s not that new information cannot continue to emerge about a person that might alter our perceptions of him, but that he can no longer do anything to alter his legacy. The facts are now firmly set, awaiting only to be brought to light in the land of the living. As the dead go before God to receive their judgment, the living are left to deal with their aftermath for good or ill.
Immediately after death there exists a brief span of time wherein the person seems not to have really died but only stepped away somewhere, as if separated from us by the thinnest of veils. Nancy Reagan is in that time as I write this. It is a powerful time when prayers avail much, so pray for her soul if you believe her not to be damned. If you think her beyond hope, pray for your own soul that you not share a similar fate.
* Their main failure was as parents.
Their kids. Geez.
