A President and a Candy
Policy doesn’t change the world…. Jelly Beans do.
Imagine. Your sitting in the Oval Office, on a cream-colored couch, in between two burnt orange colored pillows. To one side of you, there is a unique jar of colorful candies sitting atop a sleek side table. No matter your reason for being at the white house, no matter your opinion of the man that works in that room, you are only thinking about the candy. Just as you decide to open the jar and nab a handful of the delicious snack you hear the voice of the president say “Take a licorice, they’re the best.”
The 80’s were a time of global unrest and economic change, a time where people needed a light to shine through all the darkness in a decade following such social rebellion and turmoil. Who knew that a president, a bright eyed, enthusiastic actor from California, with a unique obsession for a tiny sweet treat was more than qualified to do just that?
President Reagan was most definitely a policy changer. He completely reinvented the way the world would pursue economics forever and used his rhetoric to tear down the Berlin Wall, but is that how he is remembered by the people that crossed his path? Raegan was known as a peace keeper and he used a very simple mechanism to invoke the peace that surrounded his life. A sweet treat that would later turn into a legacy. Jelly beans.
Reagan’s obsession with these tiny orbs of sugar all started in an effort to kick an old pipe smoking habit. When a friend died of lung cancer, Reagan decided to change his life for the better and quit cold turkey. Pipe smoking, an activity once known for neutrality and peace had transformed into something different for Reagan. Instead of an obsession that inspired peace it had turned into a reminder. A poisonous reminder of a lost friend, so he needed something to fill the gap, the peace that his old wooden pipe had once given him. Little did he know that it would be such a sweet addiction that would develope into an iconic memory that Americans and global leaders all remember him for today. The jelly beans that sat on one of the side tables in the oval office lightened the mood between any two people discussing any topic, no matter the importance nor the tension between them. As said by representative Ben Quayle in his Politico article about Reagan, mentioning the candy, “They represented the uniqueness and greatness of America — each one different and special in its own way, but collectively they blended in harmony.”
In our day in time I think it’s important to look back at the small things that impacted our world for the better. To put aside the corruption, the lies and the political mayhem in order to appreciate the good that comes from a small act of kindness like offering someone a licorice jelly bean (Reagan’s favorite). Even at his worst moments, Reagan was positive and polite while at the same time straight forward and somewhat demanding. Are those qualities of leadership still possessed by our world leaders today?
“There are no constraints to the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress, except those we ourselves erect.”
-Ronald Reagan
We often think of leaders as a person that possess power, but Reagan shows that it is being able to do what others cannot. Of course, there are different ways to guide the masses, and I guess it is up for debate on which is the most efficient.
Reagan changed his life in what seems to be such a microscopic way in order to make his life better and to coupe with a tragedy in his life. He took an old addiction and turned into a new one that would change the world. It really is comical to think about, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States of America, and in his presidential library there is a jelly bean portrait of him made from 10,000 jelly beans. What an incredible way to be memorialized.
