REMEMBERING REAGAN WHAT IS RIGHT EVENTUALLY TRIUMPHED.

Byline: CHRIS WEINKOPF

WHILE thousands of Southern Californians flocked to Simi Valley last week to pay their last respects to Ronald Reagan, I, regretfully, wasn't one of them. I figured I had better things to do - two small children to tend to, too much work. Who needs the hassle of crowds and endless lines?

For a short while, I cynically envisioned myself as somehow more sensible and practical, or at least less sentimental, than those who waited hours on end for a 30-second glance at the former president's casket.

Fortunately, Reagan himself shattered my cynicism - just as he shattered the nation's more than two decades before.

The moment came on Wednesday, as I made my morning commute. Driving southbound on the 101 Freeway, traffic suddenly came to a crawl. The opposing lanes were empty, save for the occasional CHP motorcycle. A crowd had gathered atop the next overpass, holding signs and an American flag.

The late president's motorcade was passing by, en route from Simi Valley to Point Mugu, where a waiting plane would fly his casket to Washington.

My car idling in the left lane, I watched the procession from just the other side of the median. First a bevy of police cruisers. Then some limousines and an open truck full of cameramen. Finally, the hearse, and inside it, President Reagan, not more than 20 feet from where I sat.

I found myself offering an impromptu salute, quickly uttering some words of gratitude and blessing. And immediately, my thoughts turned to the enormity of the loss at hand, and the need for the mourning I'd tried to avoid.

My mind raced back to 1984, as a sixth-grader in Mrs. Raymond's classroom, when our class followed that year's presidential campaign - my introduction to politics. The choice facing the nation seemed so obvious. On the one hand, there was Walter Mondale, the drab former vice president who promised to raise taxes and accommodate Soviet despotism. Then there was Reagan, the dynamic president who spoke not of America's limitations, but its potential, who vowed that the country would never falter in its struggle against communist tyranny.

In our class's mock election, Reagan won by a landslide, just as he did nationwide. He won three landslide elections, in fact - two for himself and one for the first President Bush. And today he endures as one of the nation's most popular presidents, not because he was a great communicator, but because he communicated great ideas and achieved great things.

Reagan didn't just engineer a massive economic recovery, he put an end to the defeatist myth that America's best days had passed her by. He not only stood firm against communism, he hastened the demise of a cruel regime that held the world hostage with the threat of nuclear holocaust. He could be tough as nails, but he also was unembarrassed to publicly cherish his wife or adore his country.

And through it all, Reagan never despaired. Not when a would-be assassin's bullet nearly claimed his life, nor when Nancy developed breast cancer. Not when his critics savaged him, nor when he discovered that his final years would be spent under the crippling fog of Alzheimer's disease.

Those qualities - his strength, his hope, his humor - had a natural appeal to my youthful idealism. But the genius of Reagan was his understanding that idealism isn't just for the young. It's the lifeblood of the American enterprise. It's what moved pilgrims to take to their boats, settlers to mount their Conestoga wagons, brave young men to storm the beaches of Normandy in 1944.

Reagan's optimism wasn't some unfounded, stubborn belief that by dumb luck, things would just turn out his way. It was a profound realization that the most enduring truths are the simplest ones.

The three phrases emblazoned on his grave site say it all: 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.

Those are the sort of sentiments at which the Reagan-haters scoff - too simplistic, they say; sweet sentiments, but of little value in our nitty- gritty world. Man may be good, but not as good as bureaucrats and judges. What is right is a matter of personal opinion, and must yield to what is practical. And life only has purpose or value if it's convenient or of a sufficient ``quality.''

But Reagan didn't merely preach those convictions, he lived them. In his kindness and humility, he was good. With the fall of communism, right did triumph. And all the many years of his life were rich with purpose and worth - including the final 10, when he graciously and courageously endured his affliction.

As the hearse drove by, I was overtaken with memories of the man who so profoundly influenced not only my own thinking, but the entire course of history. A tear in my eye, I was grateful for the chance - unsought though it was - to bid Ronald Reagan a final thanks and farewell.

Godspeed, Mr. President.