It’s strange to think that the subject of a birthday bequeaths gifts rather than receives them. Still, the memory of Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day 217 years ago, calls to mind numerous contributions he made to the survival and welfare of our country.

Among such gifts, the Gettysburg Address ranks among the greatest. Delivered four months after the battle of Gettysburg, which ended on the eve of July 4, 1863, it was a commemorative speech.

It was not a gloat nor a boast nor a victory lap.

Indeed, it was nothing if not an earnest reflection, one man’s contemplation on behalf of a nation. Amid the ongoing bloodshed of the Civil War, Lincoln seized the moment to distill the essence of the war in 272 words, spoken in a handful of minutes. The very brevity of the speech demonstrates how well he understood not only what the war was about, but also what was at stake.

In his book “Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer,” author Fred Kaplan describes the speech as making “reality the basis of the wisdom that heals and renews.” The reality was the toll of war, the sacrifice made by multitudes, and Lincoln’s enduring faith in the Declaration of Independence, written those “Four score and seven years ago.” By addressing the present moment with hope for the future, he first tapped into the past.

We could use such healing and renewal in our country today.

As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary this year, we would do well to mark it by more than fireworks and parades. While such celebration has its rightful place, so too, does quiet commemoration at an individual, communal and national level.

As Lincoln looked to Gettysburg, we can look at a more recent tragedy in our nation’s history, one that manifested itself in the air above another Pennsylvania field 100 miles west of Little Round Top and Devil’s Den.

We would do well to remember Todd Beamer, Sandy Waugh Bradshaw, Jeremy Logan Glick and Toshiya Kuge, a Japanese national who was vacationing in the United States at the time of 9/11. We would do well to remember what Stephen Clark, superintendent of the National Parks of Western Pennsylvania, in remarks at last year’s 9/11 memorial ceremony in Shanksville, called the “collective decision” made by the crew and passengers of United 93, and the “collective action” they took to engage the hijackers. We would do well to remember the “last full measure of devotion” they gave by rising to the terrifying undeniability of their present moment — and meeting it with the utmost courage.

But not only that.

We should be more fully dedicated to remembering all others who lost their lives that terrible Tuesday. We should more fully resolve to honor the memory of those who died in responding to the terror of that day, either by running into burning buildings or engaging enemies on distant battlefields. We should be more fully devoted to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, to which Lincoln directed his audience — then and now — with his words at Gettysburg.

Such reflection will help us better remember what we’re celebrating. What’s more, it may well just help with the healing and renewal from the national trauma of 9/11 that we have yet to fully address as a people, 25 years on from the terrorist attacks.

This call for reflection is quite a gift from our 16th president. It is incumbent upon us to open it, learn from it and be healed by it in our 250th year so that our nation may endure 250 years more.

David Peduto writes from Annapolis.