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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.
The flag was folded into a triangle, passed from gloved hands to Maya's mother. Around them, people in uniform stood at attention while Maya tried to understand how cloth could weigh so much.
Her father had believed in something. That's what everyone kept saying. He'd believed in protecting people who couldn't protect themselves, in standing up when others sat down.
"Was it worth it?" Maya had asked her mother once, late at night.
Her mother took a long time to answer. "He thought so. He hoped the world would be better, even if he couldn't see it." She held Maya close. "Now we carry what he believed. That's how his sacrifice means something - if we don't let what he stood for disappear."
Must the citizen ever for a moment resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose.
A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight.
"You'll get detention," Brianna's friend warned. "Maybe suspended."
Brianna knew the risks. Walking out of class to protest was against school rules. Her parents might be disappointed. Colleges might see it on her record.
But she also knew that twenty years ago, students at this same school had tried to get the cafeteria to stop using Styrofoam. They'd signed petitions. Written letters. Nothing changed. The adults smiled, nodded, and kept doing what was easy.
At 10:00 AM, Brianna stood up. Seventeen other students stood with her. They walked out in silence, phones recording, posts going live. By lunch, the video had 50,000 views. By dinner, the school board was holding an emergency meeting.
"Rules exist for a reason," the principal said afterward.
"So does conscience," Brianna replied.