"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."
Lincoln understood this. He said it. Lincoln said a lot of things and he understood a lot of things, including this. Also, he understood himself, and that's enough for anyone.
Just to clarify, to disenthrall ourselves is not an act of self-effacement; it is the process by which we can regain some sober self-regard -- each of us, as a person -- in a nation of peoples. It's to recognize that the definition of America is fluid -- steered by our ideals and ideas and not by the government. To disenthrall is to strip off the ways we define ourselves and one another. When we do that, we can be naked, so to speak. And when we're naked, we can be honest with ourselves. It's tough not to be honest when one is naked. Try it.
Nowadays and too often, we let others define us. Each of us with a label; each of us neatly placed into a category. It's getting to be a problem. It's is a problem! And who wants to be labeled, anyway? Are there label lovers out there?
Once we disenthrall ourselves with our filtered impressions of the past and the labels of our present, we can start to usher in the future we would like to see. A future to be enthralled by. To say "eh" to present day America is not unpatriotic. Was Lincoln not a patriot? Do you think the label lovers would call him unpatriotic? We wouldn't let them. So why do we let them.
In order to disenthrall we must accept that sometimes the emperor might actually have no clothes. Sometimes the emperor is naked, but not like we could be. He might have nothing to wear, but he's not being honest with himself. The boy who told him all this was also disenthralled.
"Public sentiment is everything -- he who moulds public sentiment is greater than he who makes statutes."
When we begin to understand that our government and its officials are no more than servants to the public will, then we, the people -- by just energizing and organizing our voices -- can point us towards whichever future we choose.
Disenthrall to empower. Lincoln understood this, too. And the label lovers won't see it coming.
