Abraham Lincoln

February 12 , 1809 - April 15 , 1865

His Humanity

Lincoln was haunted by death both in his own life and in the war . He would often sink into deep melancholy only to pull himself up; over and over again.

Telling jokes and funny stories connected him to people and lifted his spirits. Reading and reciting dark passages of poetry about mortality,  the ever-changing physical world, and life’s indifferent impermanence allowed him to express depression, irony, and vulnerability and provided him with a kind of reprieve from his own oppressive pain.

Both comedy and tragedy sustained him.

Of an evening in May, 1864, Lincoln received bad news from the front:

“ Twenty thousand poor souls sent to their account in one day “ at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia.

Besotted with grief , he picked up a volume of Shakespeare and read aloud in his high - pitched voice to those present from Macbeth’s most famous soliloquy:

“ Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays
have lighted fools
the way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow,
a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale,
Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Macbeth
Act V , Scene V
(1606 )

These very sentiments of despair and abnegation inspired President Lincoln to summon the restorative, purposeful spirituality of the Second Inaugural Address delivered just ten months later, weeks before his death.

"Abe" David S. Reynolds 2020 (Source)

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January 6, 2021

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.

C. S. Lewis
1898 — 1963

—— —— —— ——

Do the American people really believe in the truths of this nation to the extent that said belief becomes a matter of life and death to them?

These truths are well known to us and have been dearly earned over nearly two hundred and fifty years.
The first is “E Pluribus Unum," (Out of Many, One), our motto on The Great Seal.

The second is “All Men Are Created Equal” illuminated by Thomas Jefferson, in an age of Kings and Princes, in the Declaration of Independence and then as a proposition in the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, and later enshrined as the XIII, XIV, and XV Amendments to the Constitution.

These truths have created a magnificent nation, increasingly inclusive and diverse; a Lighthouse nation of astonishing strength and vibrance with a deep and abiding faith and trust in the human spirit, free enterprise, religious freedom, the rule of law, and the very miracle of America itself.

When united there is little we can’t do.

But there are those who are unhappy with and disturbed by today’s America. This is nothing new. The thread of their discontent has a long, bloody history. It is the history of White Supremacy, of self - appointed privileged classes, which takes many forms and disguises and is very much alive and a threat to those truths which are our inheritance. Is there really any other explanation for this sorrowful division that so fractures us?

Make America Great Again — It is but an illusory nostalgia steeped in fear and dystopian carnage.

The Civil War was the denouement of the Founding of 1776, including the original sin of slavery. And it is precedent for just about everything that has followed until this very day. These truths of which we speak were baptized in blood in that War.

The Confederate Battle Flag has long been a symbol of White Supremacy — since the Ku Klux Klan emerged in 1866.  And today, nearly 160 years later, divisive messaging around race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, and identity — wherever fault lines can be found — are the code words for a form of conflict which is monetized and politicized with the object of bringing the center down.

This virulent doctrine of supremacy means that we are not “One” out of many and that all men are not "created equal." It is the very opposite of that which we honor and hold sacred.

It is our hopeful prayer that the future of America will be guided by these sacred truths but that prayer will be realized only if our belief in them is a matter of life and death to us.

On March 4 ,1861, Abraham Lincoln, facing the secession of Southern states on account of slavery, tried to appeal to his countrymen and save the Union. He did not succeed but his words are timeless and remain for us a solemn prayer:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched by the better angels of our nature."

There is an urgency in this moment.

It is 2026.

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Bernard "Bernie" Kenny of Hoboken is the former senator from the 33rd Legislative District.