Lincoln on President’s Day 2019

This is President’s Day, and I am a distant cousin of Abraham Lincoln, so I would like to offer some Lincoln quotes appropriate to our times. Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite statesmen, not just because of what he accomplished, but because of what he wrote. Some of what he wrote is part of the great literature of the English language. The Gettysburg address and the Second Inaugural address are poetry in prose. My appreciation of Abe may also be influenced by my family relationship, although some of Abe’s quotes serve as reminders that family relationship should be more a matter of interest than significance. That Abraham Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents does not enhance my humble status. Every man must make his own way, or as Abe put it,

“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

Nevertheless, President Lincoln does serve as an awe inspiring example of what aspirations even humble Americans may entertain. The great Americans who have shaped the history of a great nation, give its citizens a standard to live up to.

I begin today with an old curse: “May you live in interesting times.” And we do. In troubled times, we can look to the words of the wise statesmen of the past for guidance and inspiration. I think some Lincoln quotes are uncannily appropriate to our current political situation. Immigration is, and has for a long time, been a continuing debate. There are 7.7 billion people on earth, more of which are in dire, and constant, need and danger all the time. Waves of these starving and brutalized people continually wash up and across our frontier. We are entitled to control our border, but we are Americans. We are a kind and generous people, and it is hard to see people suffer. I have a unique perspective on immigration. I grew up in Mexico and came to America when I was 15. I did not have to swim a river or climb a wall to come here. By merely the accident of birth, I was born in California, and in crossing the border, I came home. When I was growing up in Nogales, Sonora, and I would cross the border, the guard would ask me one question: where were you born? All I had to say was one word, “California.” It was like a magical key to the richest, grandest, best, country on earth.

Of modern immigration, we cannot say what policy President Lincoln would have held, but perhaps he would have said:

“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.”
And
“I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.”

Of slavery, Lincoln said:

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

I respectfully paraphrase that quote to apply it to Central American families seeking sanctuary:

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing against asylum, I feel a strong impulse to see it denied to him personally.”

Of the current presidency, he might have said:

“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.”

And
“Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”

Of America, he said:

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Lincoln’s quotes that I personally like to live by include:

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.”

“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count; it’s the life in your years.”

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”