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. - Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
This day, given what is transpiring around all of us common people, - not just here in The United States but all around the world - I think this address is particularly poignant. We've struggled against the forces of oppression since the dawn of time, and our struggles continue today.
Our nation, and Liberty herself, are in peril. We must each do our part, however we see it, to defend what is ours. Let not the sacrifices of those who have gone before us vanish into the past, rather let them be a guiding light for the labors ahead.
May God Bless those who have sacrificed their lives in defense of the noble proposition that all men are created equal, and endowed with unalienable rights among which are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
5 comments:
Ugh... Lincoln did more to destroy the Constitution and this country than the Dark Lord and his Dimocrap horde have...
Fine post! And I don't care what May'b says. Lincoln was alot of things but ...It was one damn fine speech.
Very nice post, Catman! Here's to the veterans everywhere!
Mayberry,
Thanks for your comment.
Lincoln was no saint, I agree. However, he was a fine orator, and one without a teleprompter.
Neither side, North or South, IMHO was in err. Both had been manipulated by the same forces who work at dividing us today.
What is important in Lincoln's address is that the people's government not perish, and I think that is what we owe those who have sacrificed so much for all of us.
Sci and Hermit, thanks!
And thanks to all of you for swinging by today.
...better late than never,a fine post indeed Catman,no fan of lincoln here either,but yer right, the underlying message is whats important...
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