"We Are All Lincoln Men"

With thanks to lasombra for his Happy President's Day post, here is my own labor of love in that direction ~

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- Craig

Reviving this for Abe's Birthday(s.)

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Hear here ~

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Abraham Lincoln, Hick, Attorney, and Public Servant, was one of us.

Beyond that, he's that rare human being in history - one wholly worthy for his reputation. I always have been, and ever shall be, a Christian; but when it comes to "Secular Saints," I am also, always and ever, A Lincoln Man. And I have been very, very blessed to walk in many of his footsteps...

Kentucky: I have a tiny bottle of water that I filled at Sinking Spring Farm in where he was born, and have been in the cabin just down the road a piece at Knob Creek where he was a kid... Indiana: Spencer County, where as a boy he helped his father to farm - and to bury his Mother... Illinois: Bought a souvenir in the reconstructed store in New Salem that he ran for a short time; breathed the air of the Law Office upstairs in Springfield, of the house (and the outhouse) where he Mary had their boys, and of the Statehouse where he served, and prepared for even bigger things; New York City: I've seen the site of the train station where he arrived on his first visit, and stood at his podium on the stage at Cooper Union, where he grew as a national figure... Washington: I've been to the Capital and White House where he worked... Pennsylvania: Gettysburg, where he spoke some of the defining words about America, among still-fresh corpses from its War of Brothers... Back to D.C.: Ford's Theater, where Booth struck all the way from Hell with the tiny pistol that I saw in the basement; and the Peterson House across the street, which then still had on his deathbed the pillow caked with so much of his dried blood... Home at last to the awesome quiet of the cemetery in Springfield, where I stood over his mortal remains, way down below the concrete cap that was put over it after the attempt to steal them away. Finally, on day the 150th anniversary of his funeral procession in Manhattan, I walked the sacred route of his coffin with a few members of the Lincoln Group of NY, from the City Hall Rotunda, past the former sites of Matthew Brady's studio, and Brooks Brothers who made the suit he died in, to Union Square, where young Teddy Roosevelt watched from his Uncle's window. His trail was still felt in all these places.

But he's not there. He's Elsewhere.

Happy Lincoln's Birthday(s), both actual and commemorated, to all who observe.

- Craig

The rolling year has come 'round again - this time, quite cosmically, as the same few days saw Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day, and Ash Wednesday!

In a time when some misguided folks are literally advocating for Civil War 2.0 (!), the wisdom of this great, good man is needed now more than ever.

Hope you enjoy. Honest response always welcomed.

- Craig