Lincoln Lives

We pulled into Springfield, Illinois today on the next leg of our vacation jaunt. We got to tour the old State Capitol Building (in use 1839-1876) where Abe Lincoln served as a state assemblyman and argued cases before the court. We also went on tours of his law offices and his home. Tomorrow we plan to go to the History Museum and to New Salem, a recreation of the pioneer town where he got his start in Illinois.

Most meaningful to me was the scene at the Park Service Visitor Center at the Lincoln home. We got there in time to obtain tickets for the 4:10 P.M. tour of the house. As we waited there were three Korean tourists happily pushing buttons on a scale model of Springfield in 1860, making the various buildings light up. Who would have thought an American leader from almost 150 years ago would be known in Korea? Another group of about a dozen Japanese had just returned from the previous tour and talked excitedly among themselves. The only word I could make out from their conversation was the repeated use of the word "Lincoln."

A mother and her son came into the building. She wore the head scarf of a devout Muslim. She took her son over to a bronze bust of the 16th President and talked to her boy in a serious tone. Then she got out her camera and had him stand next to the Lincoln bust to take their picture together. That one really got me.

Abraham Lincoln still captures people's imaginations and wins their veneration because he stood for the right, no matter the cost. His meaning knows no borders or creed. Freedom is right. Subjugation is wrong. He was willing to be personally reviled, ridiculed and blamed, and to risk not only the lives of others but his own in pursuit of the right. Those traits represent not only the best of what it means to be American but the best of what it means to be human. That is why his appeal stretches beyond our own borders. As long as there are those in injustice and the dream of justice lives Lincoln's memory will live also.