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Category: Holidays / Topics: History

Abraham and George

by Dan Seagren

Posted: January 16, 2014

A two-for-one celebration…

If you are a senior, or even younger, you probably remember when we celebrated their birthdays on on their actual dates. Now they are celebrated together on President’s Day, a Monday usually between the two birth dates.

We remember them for different reasons as well as similarities. Both were Presidents of the United States and both left lasting impressions. Sadly, time not only moves on but also tends to allow citizens to probe into the past of those who no longer can defend themselves. But more than that, it gives an opportunity to make discoveries that may have been overlooked.

I heard from a distressed person who hadn’t read the book “Killing Lincoln” who was badly informed and deplored the writing unintentionally. So easy to do, it can lead too easily to mere “digging for dirt.” Sure, truth can hurt sometimes just as untruth can, but unwarranted or unkind criticism or misunderstandings can resonate needlessly or inadvertently.

Because both Abe and George are not quite remembered today as previously, it could be to their advantage even though some of us may regret the attention given on February 12 and 22. Sometimes their forgotten words ought to be remembered like “I [Lincoln] was born in Hardin County, Kentucky [to] parents . . . of undistinguished families. . . My mother, who died in my tenth year was of a family of the name of Hanks ... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ... Indiana, in my eighth year ... It was a wild region ...There I grew up ...when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all.” Really?

Lincoln also said “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”

Nor should we forget George. Strange how we call some people by their first or nicknames even when perhaps inappropriate. Here is some of what he has said: “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led . . .Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” “It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

Could lumping them together lessen not only their visibility but their vitality? Who really knows?



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Dan Seagren is an active retiree whose writings reflect his life as a Pastor, author of several books, and service as a Chaplain in a Covenant Retirement Community.

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Posted: January 16, 2014   Accessed 133 times

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