My amazing friend, Victoria Carter, wrote this and it has so touched me that I felt to share it with you all:

In my heart today, is just what government & governance is actually about.. What IS true governance? In the last couple of days, I have (again) found myself drawn to the amazing man that Abraham Lincoln was. A politician, who felt and considered every decision so very deeply… for he knew the great responsibility of governing PEOPLE. He cared most deeply for all.

Two brief examples… At the end of the civil war, he made no efforts towards glorifying any ‘victory’ (of the Union), but rather immediately set about bringing the people together (i.e. towards a truly lived ‘union’). At Gettysburg, in dedicating a cemetery for soldiers, Lincoln spoke of a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, that those who had perished “shall not have died in vain” for this true form of governance “of the people…”, “shall not perish from the earth”.

I am deeply touched by this man’s example, so much so that I can no longer ‘give up’ and numbly accept the many ill ways our government & its systems operate, nor the fact that there are issues of great importance for all, for our times and future times, that ask us to not hold back in clearly calling for response from those who are “in power”. Lincoln earthed something for us all, but what have we done with it since?