So I sat and watched the first 30 minutes or so of “Saving Private Ryan” last night. It was late, and as the movie is a bit long I wasn’t able to stay up through the entire thing. The movie is spectacular, but the one part I seem to enjoy the most is the scene where General George C. Marshall reads the letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow who was presumed to have had five sons killed during the Civil War (interestingly enough only two of Mrs. Bixby’s sons were actually killed).

The letter is beautifully written and reminds us not only of the beauty of the written word, but its power as well. This is what writing is all about, so I wanted to re-print it here as a reminder of why we all write, regardless if we write in 140 character blocks or 140 pages.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved, lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

Abraham Lincoln