President's Day, Note to My Daughter

Hannah, perhaps because of the spiralling severity of the world's recent economic woes, or perhaps because of my growing concerns that I will not know enough to discuss with you the basics of our country's history, I have charged myself with some presidential readings. I just finished Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which was noted by President Obama as the source of inspiration he leafed back through after learning of his winning bid for the presidency last November. My goal was to finish the book before President's Day. It took me two months, but I accomplished the task, and truthfully, I was sad to see the extraordinary book come to an end. I am now diving into David McCullough's 1776, given to me by your grandparents, Memaw and Boppa. This is the first time that President's Day has ever really meant anything for me. I have no doubt that this is because I now have a need to connect the relevant historical marks with the present times to help myself be a more competent guide for your sound and secure future. I wish I had recognized the importance of that need long ago...
Why focus on United States Presidents instead of any other historical subject, you might ask me? I have come to realize that learning more about our nation's history helps me come to terms with the fact that I, myself, never served in the military. Thinking about the choices, consequences, and sacrifices that others have made for our prosperity helps me feel connected to your great uncles who served in various branches of the military and to my cousins (your first cousins, once removed) Sarah Zelaya and Rachael Reeves who currently serve in our military. Reading about our presidents in the context of other nations' histories reminds me that we are a young and still relatively brazen country, and our challenge will be to develop into maturity alongside the health of other nations, not at theirs or our own needless expense. I am also incredibly curious and hopeful for the work being done by another first-cousin-once-removed of yours, Phil Brown, and his fiance Stephanie Fox, who are working for the United Nations in the Gaza Strip. The lives they lead inspire me. But for now they inspire me just to read up on my history and enjoy the relative peace and prosperity I share with you and Kristina, with the knowledge that harder times might always be around the corner and I should be grateful for our happiness. I leave you with two quotes from Team of Rivals which hopefully you will come to appreciate in time. Love, dad.

"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 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 cannot 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, not 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 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, 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." Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 1863.

"Fondly do we hope-fervently do we pray-that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yes, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said the judgements of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether. With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865