The Address

At a school in Vermont that accepts boys who suffer from a variety of different disabilities, such as ADHD, learning disabilities, and more, they had a goal:  To learn the Gettysburg Address by heart.  The determination, frustration, sacrifice, and character it took for this group to accomplish the task was tremendous.

A film has been produced about their effort and will be shown TONIGHT on PBS at 9:00 p.m.  The title is, "The Address."  Get out your tissue box.  You'll need it.  If you can't tune in tonight, DRV it!!

A guy named Mr. Burns brought the project into fruition because he was so moved by what these boys did.  He notes that the story of their work to memorize the address is interwoven with the Civil War and the Battle at Gettysburg itself.  So anyone who watches the special will learn information about the Civil War they may never have known.

Burns goes on to say that many Fortune 500 company CEOs suffer from dyslexia, and he believes that their struggle to overcome this disability is the very thing that made their minds work so well.  From rerouting their brains to deal with the scrambled letters and numbers that they saw, they did something amazing with their brains.  These boys from 11-17 did the same thing!!

The greatest speech EVER, the Gettysburg Address, was the one selected for the 9/11 anniversary event.  It should be noted that there are approximately four versions of the speech, and no one knows absolutely for sure which one Abraham Lincoln actually recited.  After he gave the address, additional notes and changes/corrections were made. 

It was noted by Burns that Thomas Jefferson and some of his peers who brought about the Declaration of Independence upon which the Gettysburg Address is based, kept slaves.  The words, "created equal," didn't include the disenfranchised members of society at that time -- slaves, non-property owning men, and women.  The Civil War came about to correct that mistake and to rearrange our country's motto -- E Pluribus Unum, (out of many, one) so that there is more Pluribus and less Unum.  That last little catchy phrase comes from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

The Gettysburg Address was given just four months after the battle ended and marked the date when a section of land would be set aside and dedicated to the fallen.  The country had not had the time to really appreciate what had happened and how the country would change because of what happened.  But Abraham Lincoln settled upon the words that signify that he did understand, that he had a vision that others did not have.

"That we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  The word unalienable is one we don't hear of or use often.  It means that these rights cannot be separated, taken away or given away. 

Perhaps as Mr. Burns says, we ALL should learn the Gettysburg Address by heart.  To that end, there is a site you might want to visit -- learntheaddress.org.  There you will see many famous people who share their own recitation of the address. 

With God's help, we can all be better people.  With inspiration, we can aspire, and then inspire others.

Let me know what you think of the program please.

Our Lenten quote for today is:

When the record of any human life is set down, there are three pairs of eyes who see it in a different light. There is the life as I see it, as others see it, and as God sees it.  Bishop Fulton J. Sheen