What is Worth Fighting For?

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 I started reading a 400 page book by Cokie Roberts called Capital Dames, The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868.

If history has taught me anything, it is highly unlikely that I will make it to the end.  I pick it up and read some, and then lay it back down.  Not because it isn't good.  It's very good.  I just get antsy, I guess. 

Anyway, one thing I have found while reading this book, which covers a lot of the politics of the time, is that nothing has really changed.  A different book I'm reading that contains Lincoln's speeches is fascinating, and leads me to draw the same conclusion.

I am no student of history (I'm working on it), but to read about all of the heated debates on slavery at the time and Lincoln's opinion that a nation divided half and half would not work is interesting.  At times, Lincoln had to correct an opponent's misinterpretation of what he said by revisiting his speech and standing his ground, all the while, in a gentlemanly manner, kindly resisting any accusation that his opponent intended to misguide constituents, but allowing for the possibility.

Two things come to mind when I read such accounts of political history:

First, we are never going to get to a state of utopia, where everything's right and perfect.  

And second, the history we are making right now will make a difference to those who follow in our footsteps, and it is worth getting right.

The decisions we make, the choices we stand by, have the power to help or hurt others for years to come.  Lincoln and his colleagues argued over states' rights to slavery.  My point is, the laws and fights they had, brought us to where we are today and were worth their efforts.

But what about today? What is worth fighting for?  

Pick your topic.  Whatever you are passionate about.  Then consider the historical impact of your stance.  Is this a hill you are willing to die on? Are you holding war on something that is so big (think climate control, abortion, etc.) that it will impact our world, and others, for centuries to come, or are you allowing something that will be insignificant in the history of mankind to come between you and your brother?

Be careful here.

God gave us free will to choose good.  Good for ourselves, others and our world.  It is a gift that we must use wisely and never abuse.  We are the beneficiaries--or victims--of the choices of people who have gone before us, and we should take our own legacy very seriously.

While we do not want to be on the wrong side of history, we definitely do not want to be on the wrong side of God.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
#politics
#lincoln
#freewill




 

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