11-01-2026, 11:54 PM
Well. I'm beginning to understand what the real message of the poem is, and that (not why) it isn't getting across. The idea that Lincoln could be good and compassionate while also taking his fellow men - all of them - as they were, simply doesn't compute to (some) readers. In modernity, "Who says A must say B" is taken as a given rather than one ideological doctrine among many.
Maybe an argument against this doctrine can be made in emotional, story-telling, fictionalized poetic terms. Which is to say, an argument that human relations need not always be political, that give-and-take is possible even on popular issues. It will be rejected by some, but if even one reader takes the point rather than giving up in confusion, it will be worth the effort. Something about a family Thanksgiving dinner where there are no villains, perhaps.
Musk and the Dark Side. Hmmm...
Maybe an argument against this doctrine can be made in emotional, story-telling, fictionalized poetic terms. Which is to say, an argument that human relations need not always be political, that give-and-take is possible even on popular issues. It will be rejected by some, but if even one reader takes the point rather than giving up in confusion, it will be worth the effort. Something about a family Thanksgiving dinner where there are no villains, perhaps.
Musk and the Dark Side. Hmmm...
Non-practicing atheist