Both words are appropriate for this moment in time although vastly different in context and meaning.
This week “Presidents’ Day” was observed, celebrating past and present U.S. presidents, especially two whose tenure marked significant and pivotal reference points in the history of our country. George Washington’s death in 1799 sparked a day of remembrance for the venerable “Father of Our Country”, celebrated on the anniversary of his birthday, February 22, 1732. Officially recognized and signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879 as a federal holiday in the District of Columbia, it was expanded to the entire country as a national holiday in 1885.
Washington shares February as a birth month with President Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), another pivotal and iconic figure in American history. Although celebrated separately in some states, its national observance was consolidated under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed in 1968 and took effect in 1971 by executive order of President Richard Nixon. Four presidents (Washington, Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, Ronald Reagan) were born in February, the day chosen – third Monday of February – does not coincide with any of them. It was created to bring conformity to observances and a three-day weekend for federal workers. Initially, Presidents’ Day retained its moniker as Washington’s Birthday, but it evolved into its current reference as Presidents’ Day, adding additional, venerated non-presidential figures in some states.
This month has also marked a decidedly ironic moment in the history of our country. At a time when we, residents and citizens, have been asked to honor our nation’s iconic figures that created and preserved it, another historic event moved in an opposite direction. Washington helped create a nation; Lincoln helped preserve it and we, in the present are also faced with an existential threat. What we recently witnessed in January, a failed attempt to overthrow our system of government, is a reminder that complacency is not an option for citizens of a thriving democracy at any level – local, regional, national. Subsequent actions, maneuvers and pronouncements to provide cover and excuse for those encouraging and aiding an attempted coup are reprehensible and ignominious.
We are faced with a myriad of decisions every day that either stimulate iconic images for ourselves, families, friends and beyond as portrayed in our Constitution, or descend to an ironic and destructive imitation of such visions. It is up to each of us to make an enduring commitment to the former.
There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily
George Washington
“This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men — to lift artificial weights from all shoulders — to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all — to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”
“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.”
Abraham Lincoln
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Preamble to Constitution of the United States of America