Day #5: Reagan Rule Applies

I knew if anything was going to make me break, it was going to be Reagan.

Of every political figure in history, Regan is the one that always makes me blow a fuse.

For one thing, there is enough information out there about this man to show that all he did was wave a flag and people loved him, despite the fact that his own children couldn't stand him, the economy was in terrible shape while he was President, and he actually came out and said that AIDS wasn't real.

That last part really chaps me, moreso than anything else.

When he died, I found myself constantly battling with people who wanted to put his face on a new thousand dollar bill.

Granted, it would be appropriate since he was pretty much the model for American greed for an entire decade.

So when someone brought up Regan, I told myself to just be quiet, because there was no way I was going to be able to keep my temper intact.

Then I realized--why should I keep my temper?

This whole project is about learning to be a better person while not becoming a bore. What I usually dislike about "nice" people is that they seem to have no opinions about anything. They don't seem to have any passion or personality.

So I went ahead and ranted, and have been subsequently ranting ever since. Maybe I'm going a little overboard, but it's only because it feels good to actually voice a negative opinion about someone. Granted, I'm still trying to keep it from getting personal, but if I fail at that, oh well. I'm not gossiping about a friend, I'm commenting on a dead politician. I'm sure if I started talking shit about Napoleon nobody would care. So why should Regan get off any easier?

I instantly started to feel more like myself than I have for the past five days. Many of my friends have told me that being nice isn't being a doormat or being quiet. I think the problem is that all the "nice" people I've thought of in my life have been quiet and reserved. But why do I want to be like those people? I never LIKED those people! And the people who did like those people only liked them because they were able to project idealistic images onto those people, when in reality those people probably weren't like that at all.

Hmm...not sure I followed that.

FRIEND: I can't follow it either, but then again, I'm on my third after-tini.
ME: It's one thirty in the afternoon.
FRIEND: What part of after-tini didn't you understand?
ME: So what do you think of my new approach?
FRIEND: I love it! By the way, who the hell is Ronald Regan?
ME: Are you kidding?
FRIEND: Honey, I was born in 1998. I don't go farther back than that.
ME: That would make you twelve.
FRIEND: And?
ME: Do you not remember the Spice Girls either?
FRIEND: ...Well, there's history and then there's religion...

Hmm, what other dead guys can I take issue with?

This might just stop me from getting that ulcer I could feel coming.