To the editor:

As I commemorate Veterans Day and envision the fluttering flags adorning the graves in Pine Grove Cemetery of those who served from the Civil War to the present, I reflect on the recent election results and wonder about the future of our union.

I recall the words of President Lincoln during the dark days of the Civil War, seeking inspiration and courage. In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln spoke of the “unfinished work” and the supreme sacrifice made by so many. He called on us to “resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In addition to this solemn resolve, I turned to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address for further guidance. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds… to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Lincoln calls us to seek unity with charity and without malice, using our God-given strength to preserve our union. If we believe the Union and its Constitution are vital to our democracy, we should support efforts to preserve them.

As Thomas Merton wrote, “We have more to do than sing hymns while the ship goes down.”

John Coleman Walsh, Esq.
Lynn