Seven score and ten

THINKING ABOUT LINCOLN

AT GETTYSBURG

One of the only two confirmed photos of Abraham Lincoln (circled)
at Gettysburg, taken about noon, just after Lincoln arrived
and about three hours before his brief speech.

Thinking about Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” today and concluding that, most of the time, when we let the recollection of those famous 272+/- words run through our heads in a sort of rote “Four score and seven” triggered way, we risk missing the point, even from our historically informed viewpoint.

Yes, the “address” is about the awful carnage and honoring the sacrifice of those who died for a great and noble cause.

 

But when we see it only as “history” --

… and commemorate the passage of 150 years with anniversary lip service

… and conclude that the great mind and heart of Lincoln these few words synthesize has become our 21st Century reality

-- we do Lincoln, the address, the history and ourselves a great disservice.

If you’re inclined to give it some time today, as you re-read it, note how often Lincoln has repeated the word “here” and consider, as I have concluded, it is not simply an orator’s device and doesn’t simply mean “a portion of that field” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863.

 

Rather, Lincoln’s “here” speaks across the seven score and ten years to the ever present here and  now and endlessly into the future and calls us -- “the living” -- to continued commitment to meaningful deeds, devotion and action in the service of whatever great and unfinished cause lies before us.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com  

The New York Times article from November 20, 1863.