And no, it was not a nightmare.
I was sitting alone in a crowded restaurant when Ronald Reagan placed a brown leather pouch on my table. He was very old and worn, obviously in the late stages of alzheimers. He pressed buttons on the side of the pouch and there emitted a rather sweet melody as if coming from a tiny piano. He shambled to the side of the room, whereupon two young men in suits, one white and the other African-American seized the pouch and took it to their table. I couldn't see President Reagan's response, but I immediately sensed dismay at such brashness. I quietly went to the table of the men in suits, snatched up the melodious pouch and then took it to the President.
"Thank you, sir, I believe this is yours."
He accepted it without a nod or a smile. The room feel silent, then people rose one by one to applaud the gesture. Whether it was for me or out of respect to Reagan, I didn't know. I left the room while they were still applauding.
In the most stultified lays compassion and consideration. Ronald Reagan seemed to be an extremely personable man, but when it came to issues like AIDS, he was ramrod straight in refusal to acknowledge a problem.
Alzheimers may have erased that facet of his personality. Through alzheimers he became less of a conservative icon and more of a human being, one to be respected even through the ordeal. At least, that's what I think my dream meant.
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