Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

As I've noted before on this blog, I am a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. He was a thinker, a caring person, and very much human--no matter how large his memorial in D.C. He was the person this country needed at its helm during those dark years of the country. Although some debate how truly great he was, at the end of his life he had seen our country through a terrible war and freed the people who had been subjugated. Because of a gunman's bullet, others were left to carry on his vision of America. More than 16,000 books have been dedicated to examining this man's life, from his early years, to his death, and his legacy.

Today being what would have been his 200th birthday, I give you the following quote:

"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."--Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

And a little joke: If Lincoln were alive today, what would he be doing?

A: Knocking on his coffin asking to be let out! (I heard that one on the radio today. Never said it was a good one!)

Today is also the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. Isn't it amazing that two people who have had such an impact on this world were born on the exact same day?