A Tribute to President Ronald Reagan

A Tribute to President Ronald Reagan

June 8, 2004-"Mr. Speaker, tonight it is my deepest heartfelt honor to remember and to celebrate the life of Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan was a man of unfettered principle. He was not afraid to do what was right. And not only was he not afraid, he was tenaciously committed to doing only that that he thought was right in his own heart.

Mr. Speaker, President Reagan warned us all to beware of the temptation to ignore the facts of history and the "aggressive impulses of any evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove ourselves from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil." Mr. Reagan understood that some things were worth fighting, even dying for, and he was resolute about them in his heart.

President Reagan made us all believe that America still had what it takes to be victorious, to rise above and out of difficult circumstances, and to face devastating challenges. He said, "Every promise, every opportunity, is still golden in this land. And through that golden door, our children walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support." By the grace of God, those words are still true today.

Mr. Speaker, President Reagan on so many occasions simply shared his wisdom and experience with us. He stated that "the future does not belong to the fainthearted: it belongs to the brave." I believe he would want us to continue to make this Nation great by preserving its goodness. He would want us to continue in the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

Mr. Speaker, Ronald Reagan's life was a transformed one, one that reflected the light from within, and he shared that light with all of us in the brightness and warmth of his smile and in his grace and good humor.

Mr. Reagan said this of his Savior: "He promised there will never be a dark night that does not end, and by dying for us, Jesus showed how far our love should be ready to go: all the way." Ronald Reagan's dark nights on this Earth have ended, and he is at this moment in the presence of his precious Savior. And now for Mr. Reagan each day has a bright new dawn and a shining sunset, and while he was here, he went all the way. And, Mr. Speaker, if he could speak to us one last time, I truly believe that he would tell us the same message that he told us so many times before when he said, "you and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We can preserve this, the last best hope of mankind on Earth, for our children, or we can sentence them to take that very last step into a thousand years of darkness. If we do fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us that we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

Thank you, Mr. President, for your life, and thank you for reminding us all of our rendezvous with destiny."