Last week my daughter's 5th grade class went on a field trip to the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA.  I was fortunate enough to tag along as a chaperone and learn more about one of the greatest President's our country has ever elected. 

Regardless of political affiliation visiting this library is a definite must for anyone in the Los Angeles area.  The collection of history, artifacts, and memorabilia demonstrates the genuine nature of a young Ronald Reagan, and walks you through the various years of his life on his journey to becoming the unwavering leader that stands up to communism, shuts down the cold war and reduces our federal debt.

Instead of writing this post about the exhibits and galleries found at the library, I want to explore a question that I posed to the 5th graders while at the museum.   As we looked at a photograph of Ronald Reagan with his 5th grade class, I asked,  

"Do you think that he was thinking of becoming President of the United States back then?"  How many of you would like to grow up to be President of the United States? 

Surprisingly they all said "No" to this question.  

None of them claimed to ever dream of becoming President some day.  At first I thought their replies were out of shyness, but after speaking more with them.  I realized the responses where driven by other factors.  Basically the job of leading our country doesn't appeal to them.  Has the Presidency lost its luster?  Have political arguments become so aggressive and tainted that we frown at the thought of working as part of our political system? 

As Americans we take pride in our freedom and in our democratic policy, yet we aren't encouraging our children to embrace this process.  Instead, we criticize, polarize and state opinions in a such a win/lose way that we forget, that the other side is still on our team.  Whether you're a Democrat, or Republican the opinions contained within each political arena is all part of a process and that shouldn't be viewed as a bad thing.  It's part of what makes us strong!

Later that evening I was telling this story to my friend Jeff Turner who said to me, that from his viewpoint it appears that we just don't speak of the Presidency the same way we did 30 years ago.  When we were kids the Presidency was the ultimate job.  Every kid dreamed of this role in some way or another. We grew up seeing our parents looking up at our President as a powerful leader, and even though times were different we still had political opposition, bitter debates and strong opinions.  Yet, the role of President was a respected one.  Somehow we've lost some of that magic today.

Unfortunately, it appears that we're so opinionated that our focus has become shutting down the opposition or if that doesn't work, we withdraw and humbly shy away from political discussions because we don't want to offend others.  This is what our kids see. 

Be proud to express yourself and acknowledge the difference of opinions that you will have with others.   Ultimately someone has to be the leader, why not teach your kid to step up to the challenge.

The headstone above Ronald Reagan's grave site reads,

"I Know in my heart that man is good
that what is right will always eventually triumph
and there is purpose and worth to each and every life."

Let's teach our kids to focus on that which is right, and be bold enough to proudly step up in leadership roles to express their views. 

I want to thank the staff at James Foster Elementary school for taking the 5th grade class to learn about Ronald Reagan and all of our U.S. Presidents.  I think everyone learned something new on this field trip. 

I know I did.