I have a confession to make. It was a disappointing month. This November is supposed to be a celebrated one for me who should celebrate our thirty-ninth anniversary and daughter’s thirty-something birthday. For a septuagenarian who decided last year to become a naturalized citizen, this year’s Presidential election was an exciting milestone event for me as a US citizen. I was very much eager to cast one small vote for my newly adopted country and happy to participate in a so-to-speak American democracy. The election result was opposite to what I dreamed of.

A touching article today 11/25/24, on a paper copy of New York Times’ national section, caught my eye. It was written by Dan Barry, a reporter, and was about a naturalization ceremony held in a very spot of Gettysburg, PA, where Abraham Lincoln’s famous 272 words speech 161 years ago in 1863. Barry’s story featured Harold Holzer, a Lincoln scholar, who recited Lincoln’s brilliant two-minutes address for sixteen newly-naturalized citizens from eight countries.

According to the article, Holzer started his words at the ceremony with the following sentence to new citizens. “No matter what words you may have heard or will hear – words that may seem tumultuous, or angry, or even hurtful – this is the voice of America.”

Then he continued reciting Lincoln’s qoute. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Holzer ended the 16th president’s famous address. “That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Coincidentally, I have finished reading Michael Morris’s new book, called “Tribal” (2024), subtitled as “How the cultural instincts that divide us can help bring us together.” Tribalism, something Morris said that we humans inherited, possibly would become a solution for our future progress. Well, we will see. Hopefully I will find it out before I go away. It may be a good incentive to live a healthy and pleasant life to eyewitness it.

We have a great address left by our 16th present. I became optimistic at the end. Thank you Dan Barry and Harold Holzer.