Is the Land of Lincoln also the home of Homer Simpson? You betcha! And I can prove it ...
Drive west down North Grand Avenue. On the left hand of the street, just across from Monument Avenue, there is a ... you guessed it ... monument. It's basically a large, wooden sign that features an Abraham Lincoln quote. It says:
The first time I saw that sign, I thought ... "It will become all one thing? What the hell does that mean? What will become all one thing? That doesn't even make sense." It puzzled me ... until I saw the Simpsons.
There's an episode entitled "Lisa the Iconoclast" that introduces the character "Jebediah Springfield." In that episode, we learn that Springfield's town motto is written on a monument. That motto?
So now, everytime I drive down North Grand, I see that sign and think ... you just know Matt Groening had to visit Springfield, Illinois at some point ... and when he did, he must've seen that sign. Drive past yourself and take a look.
The schoolyard's up and the shopping mall's down
The stray dogs go to the animal pound
Springfield, Springfield!
Springfield, Springfield!
New York, New York!
New York is that-a-way, man!
Thanks, kid!
It's a hell of a...toooown!
The Simpsons - Springfield Springfield
[sigh] - Stop. Before you say anything, I've already gotten a nasty e-mail so let me clarify.
ReplyDeleteYes ... I know that quote is from Abraham Lincoln's famous "House Divided" speech.
Yes ... I understand that the "it" in question is the union.
The larger quote, for those of you who care, is this:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other."
For the love of Sweet Baby Ray's ... I understand all this. I'm not a moron ... my point was that the quote on the sign was taken out of a larger speech ... and, standing by itself, doesn't make much sense.
I guess I didn't think I'd need to quote historical documents to write a post about the Simpsons ... where's my Pepsi Freeze?