GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, 1863

I was doing the dishes while my father-in-law was watching a trivia game show on Chinese TV. Amidst the hijinks, I snapped to attention when they host quoted in English “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

My Mandarin isn’t any good so I have no context on what was going on before or after the quote drop, but I’m pretty sure the folks out there had no idea about all that is embodied in this line.

But it was a great reminder to take a moment to revisit this speech as a cornerstone of our shared mythology, defining who we are as Americans.