“Only those who exert themselves fully will attain the Way, but even if you abandon all for the ancient path of meditation, you can never forget the meaning of sadness.” Dogen
“Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.” Dalai Lama
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde
When I was in school today was a holiday because it is Lincoln’s Birthday. We also got the 22nd, Washington’s Birthday, off. Now in the quest for more 3-day weekends we have the ubiquitous “President’s Day.” I for one wish that we still had the separate celebrations. I feel that today’s children are getting the short shrift in learning just how important these two men were in making this country what it is today.
I am well aware that modern historians have uncovered flaws in both men but if you understand what their times were like and the mentality of those times that were not as enlightened as ours are now then their accomplishments are monumental. Being from the Midwest originally and coming back to it later in life I have more of a personal fascination for Abraham Lincoln. It is no secret that our President Barak Obama has too.
I think others today can probably do a better comparison of Lincoln and Obama. I personally am most impressed with both men’s ability to speak. I learned the Gettysburg address on my own because it is so beautiful and heartfelt. I think Obama hit the same stride when he gave his famous speech on race in America.
The thing that is on my mind today is the fact that Abraham Lincoln was willing to make a stand. He was willing to do something about abolishing slavery even at the risk of tearing the country apart. He was willing to become involved.
If we learn anything from the celebrations today we should learn that each and every one of us needs to become involved. There are many people who complain about the government but if you ask them they tell you they are not a member of any party. They don’t vote. They don’t know who their representatives are. They don’t become involved because is for “someone else to do.” If you aren’t willing to make an effort to get involved in the political process then why do you think you have a right to complain?
One thing that really puzzles me are people who are “independents” and not a member of a party. In politics today it is the party members who get elected. If you aren’t working in one or other of the parties then how are you supposed to try and get good people to run and win? Very few people who are running as “independents” ever get elected to anything. Wouldn’t it make more sense if you really care about what is going on to get involved in a party and try to change things? Does anyone really think Obama would have been elected if the people who become involved in “grass roots politics” hadn’t been there with our small donations but willingness to work the long hours trying to convince people to vote? If this last election proved anything it proved that we the people can make a difference. With the way our country and world is today we need to start becoming involved. It is no longer acceptable to let the other guy do it. Guess what? The other guy is waiting for you to become involved.
As the wind blows fiercely here in the Midwest today we should rededicate ourselves to becoming part of “we the people.” We need to get involved and stay involved because “yes we can” make a difference. Each and every one of us has a part to play. As a reminder of his birthday today I’ll end with the Gettysburg Address. It is a short but very beautiful and still resonates even in today’s world.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.” Dalai Lama
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde
When I was in school today was a holiday because it is Lincoln’s Birthday. We also got the 22nd, Washington’s Birthday, off. Now in the quest for more 3-day weekends we have the ubiquitous “President’s Day.” I for one wish that we still had the separate celebrations. I feel that today’s children are getting the short shrift in learning just how important these two men were in making this country what it is today.
I am well aware that modern historians have uncovered flaws in both men but if you understand what their times were like and the mentality of those times that were not as enlightened as ours are now then their accomplishments are monumental. Being from the Midwest originally and coming back to it later in life I have more of a personal fascination for Abraham Lincoln. It is no secret that our President Barak Obama has too.
I think others today can probably do a better comparison of Lincoln and Obama. I personally am most impressed with both men’s ability to speak. I learned the Gettysburg address on my own because it is so beautiful and heartfelt. I think Obama hit the same stride when he gave his famous speech on race in America.
The thing that is on my mind today is the fact that Abraham Lincoln was willing to make a stand. He was willing to do something about abolishing slavery even at the risk of tearing the country apart. He was willing to become involved.
If we learn anything from the celebrations today we should learn that each and every one of us needs to become involved. There are many people who complain about the government but if you ask them they tell you they are not a member of any party. They don’t vote. They don’t know who their representatives are. They don’t become involved because is for “someone else to do.” If you aren’t willing to make an effort to get involved in the political process then why do you think you have a right to complain?
One thing that really puzzles me are people who are “independents” and not a member of a party. In politics today it is the party members who get elected. If you aren’t working in one or other of the parties then how are you supposed to try and get good people to run and win? Very few people who are running as “independents” ever get elected to anything. Wouldn’t it make more sense if you really care about what is going on to get involved in a party and try to change things? Does anyone really think Obama would have been elected if the people who become involved in “grass roots politics” hadn’t been there with our small donations but willingness to work the long hours trying to convince people to vote? If this last election proved anything it proved that we the people can make a difference. With the way our country and world is today we need to start becoming involved. It is no longer acceptable to let the other guy do it. Guess what? The other guy is waiting for you to become involved.
As the wind blows fiercely here in the Midwest today we should rededicate ourselves to becoming part of “we the people.” We need to get involved and stay involved because “yes we can” make a difference. Each and every one of us has a part to play. As a reminder of his birthday today I’ll end with the Gettysburg Address. It is a short but very beautiful and still resonates even in today’s world.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon 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 here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it 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 can never forget what they did here.
It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. 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 here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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