What a day.  Rosh Chodesh Adar.  That means Purim is in two weeks. It’s also Chinese New Year.  And, it’s Lincoln’s Birthday- what used to be a holiday when I was a tyke.  (Now we celebrate that bland ‘President’s Day’ on a Monday, soon.  Thanks to Tricky Dick and the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971.)

Oh, yeah.  Today is also the first day individuals are allowed to file their taxes.   (Businesses have been free to do so since the start of the new year.)

If you haven’t gotten your stuff in order, now is the time to reread my post from last Christmas (25 December 2020), where I outlined the documents you might need to file your taxes.

And, since it is his birthday,  let us not forget one of Lincoln’s most famous speeches.  The Gettysburg Address.  272 words. While it would take me under 60 seconds to pronounce, it lasted about 176 seconds when delivered by Lincoln.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Did you hear those words?  No soul is better than another.  It’s actually the reason why we should easily recognize that corporations are not and cannot be people.  Because corporations don’t go to jail when they do something wrong.  There hasn’t been a single corporation ever executed by Texas.  It’s the people of America that are equal.  If they aren’t, then it’s our job to make it so.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

This is the ironic portion, because Lincoln was dead wrong here.   We do remember these words. Many school systems still require (thankfully!) students to memorize this glorious speech.   This speech, with its superb ideals, brings tears to my eyes and a pang in my heart every time I hear it.  And, we rarely recall the sacrifices made by the largest group of Americans to ever die in a single battle for our dream to survive.  We should.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

This is the closest secular statement I have ever seen reflecting the commandment of Tikun Olam.  The repair of, the act of perfecting, this imperfect world in which we live.  To insure that our children shall have a better one in which to live.

…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

There is nothing one could add to this concluding prayer- except for our actions to ensure it becomes reality.  (Thankfully, TheDonald is gone.   May there never be another to shake this foundation.)

Take a moment today and remember that America is but a tad older than a dozen score years.  We have come far- and still have far to go.

To make the United States and America to be one and the same.

Today, the 212^th time it’s Lincoln’s birthday, is a great day to commit (or re-commit) ourselves to this journey.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG, 1863 (Photo credit: robert huffstutter)

 

The Gettysburg Address in its entirety

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Happy birthday, Mr. Lincoln.  May we all rededicate ourselves to the goals espoused in but 272 words.