Thread by @fenrir_71

I'm doing my morning thing, reading articles, my virtual newspaper, and in a piece by Bill Krystal there's a link to Lincoln's concluding remarks to Congress, Dec 1st, 1862.

Then suddenly I'm crying.

This was one month after Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation:
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"I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience than I, in the conduct of public affairs.
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Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect yourselves, in any undue earnestness I may seem to display.
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Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the national authority and national prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely?
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Is it doubted that we here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption? Will not the good people respond to a united, and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly, or so speedily, assure these vital objects?
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We can succeed only by concert. It is not "can any of us imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion.
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As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.
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No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this.
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We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.
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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."
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Lincoln not only believed in our union, he believed in his fellow citizens, his fellow humans. Our "better angels."

And I do too, even after the shitshow of a life thrust upon me, then that I made for myself before I figured shit out.

Even after the election of trump.
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We CAN get through this y'all, and I truly believe that. There's more pain on the way, but change will follow: change for the better.

This is another challenge we must overcome as a PEOPLE, and hating each other will only make that change come later than it should.
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Lincoln knew that, and I'm quite confident that if he saw the rot and corruption that infects his party he'd be happy to hear me say the we MUST vote his party into the dustbin of history. His party that has now become a party of selfishness, and death.
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Our future, nay THE future depends on us putting aside our hatred when this is over so that one day we might become the light of the world we so hope we are.

We CAN be better than we are, because ALL humans can be better, with patience, hard work and time.
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So when the ugliness pervades your consciousness let yourself deflate that from inside you, be a better person and NEVER stop helping those around you be better humans as well.

And please always remember: we're all in this together, for better or worse.

#EPluribusUnum 🇺🇸

- fen

P.S. if you don't believe me, lemme tell you a personal story, from DEEP in Republican America:

https://twitter.com/fenrir_71/status/1244976497141612545?s=19