“If you want to launch big ships, you have to go where the water is deep.” - Anonymous

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

26 November

Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiver-in-Chief, First Installment

The Civil War broke out a few weeks after Lincoln’s inauguration in 1861. To fight that war required volunteers who were prepared to interrupt their lives in a most profound way. That degree of commitment called forth gratitude from the Commander-in-Chief, but unlike other Presidents thanking troops for going into harm’s way [“the enemy is disorganized and has land we want;” “we need to get our oil from under their ground,” etc.] Lincoln’s gratitude was real. That’s why, in that first year of the war when volunteer regiments arrived in Washington, D.C. in ever-increasing numbers, the President made it his business to thank each one of those regiments personally.

Stay tuned: second installment tomorrow.