“Be alert, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” – The Bible

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

31 March

Lincoln's victory speech on winning the Presidency in 1860 is worth considering because it challenges all of us. Here is that speech [and trust me: you've never heard any incoming President say anything remotely similar]:

‘I have been selected to fill an important office for a brief period, and am now, in your eyes, invested with an influence which will soon pass away; but should my administration prove to be a very wicked one, or what is more probably, a very foolish one, if you, the people, are but true to yourselves and to the Constitution, there is but little harm I can do, thank God!’

If truth be told, whichever way you happened to vote in the last election, in

ANY election, every incoming administration faces that same wicked/foolish conundrum. [Goes with the territory.] Maybe your guy won and you are rejoicing with exceeding great joy at the dawn of The New Age, maybe your guy lost and you stand, terrified, on the brink of disaster, in dread of the oncoming Armageddon. Whether or which, it is OUR job to be true to ourselves and to the Constitution; it is OUR job to do whatever it takes to keep harm to a minimum.

And hopefully we can do it in a context that validates the concluding bit to that Lincoln quote: "thank God!"