User:Pithy Francoln

Hi folks! Thanks for visiting my user page!

800+	This user has made over 800 contributions to Wikiquote.

This user is currently working on Wikiquote pages that discuss climate change mitigation.

I will soon change my user name

I have decided to discontinue using the "Pithy Francoln" user name. This is not because I determined that my writing really out to be more verbose and less memorable, or that I was just wrong when I concluded that Benjamin FRANklin and Abraham LinCOLN possessed many traits worthy of emulation. However, I do think that the "LinCOLN" portion of the name might convey the idea that I harbor an ill will toward my fellow citizens from the Southeastern US that I simply do not feel.

When I was younger I enlisted in my state's Army National Guard. I was sent to Basic Training in the Southeast, and my company was a mixture of troops from the Guard, the Reserves and the Regular Army. I'll bet that 75% of the soldiers I trained with were originally from the Southeast. I found that I enjoyed being around all of the Southern guys, no matter what their race, and that they were dependable people I would be willing to rely on in a dangerous situation.

Also, even though Abraham Lincoln and the US discovered that it is absolutely critical for a world-leading democracy to be ready and able to defend freedom (as Europeans also learned in September of 1939), the American Civil War was such a tragedy that I want to keep the idea of war in my head as a last resort, not a go-to solution.

I will write more on this issue as I have time.

Pithy Francoln (talk) Pithy Francoln

What does my user name, "Pithy Francoln" mean?

I chose the "Pithy Francoln" user name because it keeps two things that I aspire to before me as I contribute both to Wikipedia and Wikiquote.

"Pithy" just means "concise and memorable." I like using quotes, both in Wikipedia articles, and, obviously, in Wikiquote. Good quotes are frequently brief, they often reveal something profound about a complicated subject in a simple way, and they don't require the reader to wade through unnecessary verbiage. I would really like to think that when my writing is at its best, it is concise and enlightening.

"Francoln" combines the last names of two men I would like to emulate in many (not all) respects: Benjamin FRANklin and Abraham LinCOLN. Benjamin Franklin was curious and knowledgeable about EVERYTHING, he was committed to self-determination and the ideals of the Enlightenment, he was an engaging and effective writer, and he was hard working and practical. Abraham Lincoln basically embodies leadership and moral vision during a time of profound crisis. I am astounded that he was able to rid the United States of the curse of slavery and yet somehow avoid creating so much animosity that the separate, war-ravaged states could never again function as a unified nation.

Often my writing isn't pithy, and I am under no illusion that I come close to possessing all of the admirable traits of either Franklin or Lincoln. However, I find that this user name is a helpful reminder. It's useful for me to think briefly about my orientation and the goals I should seek to accomplish every time I enter the name and log in to work on a Wikimedia project.

Pithy Francoln (talk) 20:56, 18 October 2016 (UTC)