I have been editing our electronic resource records at work. This has entailed actually going to many of them to see if they a)still work and b)are still about what we think they are (many are just websites vs grand databases). Anyhoo, so I’ve been grinding along throught the alphabet and ran across this one, from Bartleby.com: Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States. if you know me, you know what happened next. Yep, I started reading. As our nation nears an election and we argue and debate the choices, take a second to read some of these addresses. The spirit of optimism and hope that radiates through so many of these speeches gives me hope. We ARE an optimistic nation, raised to expect the best – from ourselves and the world.

From Abraham Lincoln, 1861:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

From Woodrown Wilson, 1917:

 The shadows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be dispelled, and we shall walk with the light all about us if we be but true to ourselves—to ourselves as we have wished to be known in the counsels of the world and in the thought of all those who love liberty and justice and the right exalted.

From Ronlad Reagan, 1985:

 History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy—or we would have been standing at the steps if it hadn’t gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely President paces the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.

Read a few and regain your sense of optimism about what this country can be.