Alittle research revealed that there is a fair amount of dissention regardingwhose birthday we're celebrating today. Wikipedia says it's Washington's birthday.  On the other hand, the U.S. Parks Servicesays it's a day set aside to celebrate both George Washington's and AbrahamLincoln's birthdays.  Then there's thefair state of Alabama, my home state, which officially celebrates the day asGeorge Washington, Thomas Jefferson Day.     I'mgoing to go with Washington and Lincoln, because I am thinking about them.  Iinvite you to take a minute or two and join me in those thoughts.  This country would not exist had not each ofthem appeared when they did or had either of them failed to act as they did.     Inthe beginning, before there was a United States, there existed a group ofcolonies who were very wealthy but practically powerless.  A few of the richest members of those colonieswere incensed at the amount of money they paid to the king who had set them upin business.  Determining to do somethingabout their situation, they convinced one of their numbers, George Washington,to put together a ragtag army and take on their oppressor – the King ofEngland.  Then, the men who recruitedWashington to fight for them, failed to support him monetarily, or in any otherway that mattered.  That pretty much tookaway his home field advantage.     Thefact that George Washington, with little or no help from anyone, did in factwin the war, is a tribute to the power of his conviction, intention, andability to motivate – being in the right place at the right time didn't hurtanything either.  However, winning thewar and freedom from England wasn't George Washington's greatest gift toAmerica.  It's what he didn't do thatmade the United States what it is today. George Washington went against the wishes of his supporters and constituents by refusing to become the King of America.  That's right.  The first Americans did not want aPresident.  They wanted a King.  Washington made it clear that the only way hewould lead the country was as its President.      Andwhat of Abraham Lincoln?  If you want toconsider a bad job description, think of what the relatively unknownpolitician, and eight-time failure from Illinois was up against.  Half the country believed that slavery wasacceptable, the other half believed it wasn't, and both sides were willing to killanyone who opposed them.  UltimatelyAbraham Lincoln reunited the country and, yes, it did cost him his life.       Washingtoncreated the United States as we know it, when he refused to become itsking.  Lincoln saved it during the hourof its greatest peril when he followed his heart, knowing he could well lose hislife.Thedarkest hours this country has ever faced brought forth its two greatestleaders.       The world, not just America,owes them both more than we can imagine. It's fitting to consider them today, and every other day that brings athreat to the freedom of even one man, woman, or child on this planet.  It brings me a measure of peace to know thaton at least two occasions in history, that threat itself has brought forth itsresolution.Thisis a perfect moment to consider a few of the words of President AbrahamLincoln, spoken at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863 ------- "It is for us the living, rather, to bededicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus farso nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great taskremaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotionto that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that wehere highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that thisnation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government ofthe people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. " 
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