What does it take to change yourself? Others? The world?

We saw at least one example following the death of former president Ronald Reagan.

While some praised and some decried his policies, one point almost everyone agreed on was this: He moved people.

I had the opportunity to "accidentally" be at a rally for the president in downtown Cincinnati many years ago when he was running for re-election. I was walking downtown one day, saw a huge crowd around Fountain Square and shuffled myself in.

It ended up being a life-changing experience for me.

I watched as the President arrived, spoke for just a few minutes, and was whisked away to his next event-shaking just a few hands as he passed.

I don’t remember one thing he said, but I do remember this:

He had an intense charisma. Everyone could feel it.

And I believe his charisma changed our nation. When Reagan got elected for his first term in 1980, we were, as a nation, feeling a little down and hopeless.

Throughout the 1970’s we had watched our economy slip. We had seen a gas crisis, coal crisis and energy crisis. We had watched as a Vice President and then a President resigned amid the scandal of Watergate.

We had sat by seemingly impotent as Tehran held our embassy personnel hostage for a year.

Then Reagan came on the scene.

Whether his policies were perfect or horrible, I will let someone else decide. But he came in, with his perpetual grin, believing in the country, in its future, its people. I felt he even believed in me.

His belief, his hope, were contagious. They spread. It was as if the sun had risen after a grey winter. We began to believe again. We began to hope again.

And that hope spurred us on to greater things.

Who do you believe in? Do you believe in yourself? Your spouse? Your children? The people of your community?

That hope, that belief, can change their lives-and yours as well.