TAHG Day 8

The grant trip is half completed today.  I am having so much fun and learning even more.  I don't want to go home.  Just keep feeding my insatiable hunger for learning.  I miss two things: easy access to ice and having a fluffy puppy under my left arm and a big puppy on my feet when falling asleep.  I can manage.  Really.  Let's just keep traveling along!

Today was a mental hurricane for me.  I didn't have teachers, good as they were, who dissected Lincoln's character and the documents he wrote (Gettysburg Address, letters to newspapers, Emancipation Proclamation) like we did today.  I saw a man torn by his own convictions and trying to be a fair ruler to our nation.  I realized for the first time just how severely compromise in writing the Constitution hurt our country just a few decades later.  Compromise meant that humans could be deemed property.  Compromise meant a legacy of human abuse continued in a nation whose declaration of freedom clearly stated all people were equal.  I saw Lincoln in a new light, and he garnered a deeper respect from me than I had given him before.  I'm still processing what the lasting legacy could have been for America had slavery been outlawed from the beginning.  It might mean I wouldn't have grown up with four delightful Zambian brothers trafficked into this country in an era far, far removed from our founding fathers and Lincoln.  Personally, it's a lot to take in.  I'm not sure I've reached the far side of the storm that brewed in my head this afternoon in the conference.  I respect Lincoln for standing his ground but working within the confines of documents that couldn't have predicted what would come 70 years after they were written. Lincoln did all he could to try to make decisions that would be deemed constitutional.  'Ol Abe played his cards wisely, waiting until he knew the Union looked strong to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.  By making abolition a military move, he discreetly guaranteed Britain would not fight against the Union as they had still in living memory the likes of William Wilberforce and others who had fought hard to make Britain free of slavery.  Brilliant.  He hated slavery but knew he couldn't just make a decree to abolish it just on a whim.  He had wisdom that spanned past the depth of his personal emotions.  If only I could have that kind of fortitude!

Lincoln's Cottage

Before we visited Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home, we went to Frederick Douglass's home called Cedar Hill.  Most of us grew up in school hearing how Fred taught himself and escaped from slavery to become one of the most popular abolitionists of our time.  He too was brilliant, and I appreciated learning more about how he sacrificed much to set an example for America.

Cedar Hill

80 some odd steps up to the front door.

I want this piano.