Thursday, February 12, 2009

happy birthday, honest abe

sometimes i wonder what people in the past would really think if you could transport them into the future, via a time machine, perhaps, that would allow them to arrive with all memories of who they are intact. i think most of us prefer to believe that if such a thing were possible, these visitors would stand around in awe at the achievements of their progeny. but i'm never so sure.

i'm pretty sure jesus would be horrified. i wonder if lincoln would be proud, or equally appalled. the union he so fiercely fought to save still stands, although we're no longer torn between lines of blue and gray. now its red and blue.

i've read in other places a lot of parallels drawn between lincoln and obama, and the one that strikes me as most important is that they both face a crisis for which the lessons of history can only partly be applied. we've reached another point where rigid adherence to any one ideology is foolish, where we must be ready, in the words of the new treasury secretary, to try anything until we find something that "works."

what "works" is a fuzzy term, of course, and i don't think we're ready yet as a culture to try the options i can imagine. they're too radical for most people, though i have decided to refuse to allow myself to remain limited by others' lack of imagination.

but someday, maybe, after we've exhausted all our other options, we will indeed create a government "of the people, for the people, by the people," that embraces the entire globe.

6 comments:

Stacy Uncorked said...

Happy Birthday, Abe! Very well put, Annie, I couldn't agree with you more.

Unknown said...

Yup Happy Birthday to Abe! the point is driven home there.

Dina said...

you are right, i do think most men and women who made history would be appalled that this is what we did with all of that hard work. i don't think where we are today is what the intention was.

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Excellent thoughts.

Kim said...

w, that would be something

Mindy said...

I totally agree that they would be horrified.

Hubby was just reading to me some facts about Old Honest Abe. He was a tremendously interesting man and a great thinker. He would be absolutely horrified at how BIG the government has become, at how dependent we are on banks, at how the treasury doesn't answer to anyone.

Abe had thoughts and ideas about how these things would be the down fall of our great nation and I think we will live to see that day. It's pretty scary! Though I choose not to dwell on it, because after all, what can I do about it?? Greater people than I have tried and failed....