Lincoln: Books, Tragedies, and the Desire
Honest Abe, known by the other name Abraham Lincoln, is mainly known for the elimination of slavery as the President of the United States, honesty, modesty, ruthless logic, superb elocution skills, Gettysburg address and many more. He rose from the most humble origins, faced obstacles which were cruel even to imagine, overcame depression, and became one of the foremost thinkers who influenced the idea of democracy, humanity and equality as we practice today. But the thing that made him what he as a person was the desire to do something to be remembered by the future generations. What were the events that shaped him as the Lincoln we know?
Pain: Born in a log cabin in the slave state of Kentucky, he lost his mother at the age of nine. His elder sister Sarah took care of him and loved him as her own son. But she died while giving birth to her child, when he was nineteen. His younger brother died in his infancy. All he could do during these tragic personal losses is 'cry'. He cried as if all the happiness is taken away from him, turning him into a sapless being. But this helped him become familiar with pain and loss in the upcoming years, when he lost his second child Edward.
Stories: Lincoln barely went to school. He himself admitted that his schooling did not amount to one year. He picked all his education on his own—through books and from the stories the adults exchanged as they sat by his father's fireplace at night. He would listen to the adults exchanging their stories, spend the night walking up and down the room and tried to extract some meaning from the story. Sometimes, he got angry for not comprehending everything that was told at the fire place. The next day, he would climb a tree stump or log, which served as the stage, and then delivered the same stories to his friends in the language they could understood. This is how he developed the art of storytelling which helped him acquire a huge mass following. Wherever he went, he occupied the center stage, exchanged his ideas and forged new relationships. It made him one of the greatest speakers of all time.
Books: Devoid of schooling, books became his school and college. But gaining access to them was not that easy, not at a time when ownership of the books remained the luxury of the upper class. He wandered the countryside for books and read every volume he could lay his hands on. He borrowed books from his friends and well-to-do farmers; read them whenever he could escape work and read them at night under the light. In fact, he carried a book with him wherever he went. He traveled to different parts of the world through books. It was through this exploration that he developed ambitions beyond far beyond the expectations of his family and neighbors.
If he liked a book, he could not contain his excitement. He could not eat or sleep until he finished it. Borrowing books also involved risks. Whenever he lost a book or damaged a book, he worked in the fields of book-lenders as a cost of repayment. When his father found him in the field reading a book or telling stories to the fellow workers, he angrily halted those. In extreme cases, his father destroyed his books to keep him working on the fields. But these hurdles never stopped him from reading books. He read books in such a way that he could remember everything written in a book. He used to write the important ideas from books on the wall so that he could read them till he understood them. These are the ideas that shaped Lincoln the man the world knew.
Love: All of us experience first love. It can happen at any time and no human being is an exemption. Some consummate in marriage and some will be stored in our brain as memories. Ann Rutledge was considered his first and passionate love. After Lincoln moved to New Salem in his twenties, he used to take his law books into the woods to read and Ann accompanied him. She was handsome, smart and intelligent. Friendship turned into love in no time and they planned to marry after her education. But she died of typhoid in 1835. And Lincoln mourned again, for the umpteenth time.
After moving to Springfield, Illinois, love happened twice to Lincoln. He got engaged to Mary Todd. But soon after, differences arose between them and they got separated. Lincoln thought that he is not being entirely satisfied that his heart was going with his hand. But he suffered the most. He also feared that a wife and family would undermine his concentration and purpose, a common fear everybody experiences.
The Desire:Thoughts of suicide followed him when his best friend, Joshua Speed, got separated from him due to his mother's illness, at the time when his engagement with Mary got cancelled. He stopped attending the legislature (which he won from Springfield) and withdrew from the active social life. Even in these circumstances, when Speed worried that he might commit suicide, Lincoln replied that he was more than willing to die but he had “done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived, and that to connect his name with the events transpiring in his day and generation and so impress himself upon them as to link his name with something that would redound to the interest of his fellow man is what he desired to live for.”
Even in that moment of despair, the strength of Lincoln's desire to engrave his name in history carried him forward. The wisdom he acquired from his life helped him find his mojo back. His resilience, conviction and strength of will fueled him to gradually recover from his depression. Also, Lincoln's doubts regarding marriage began to fade. After learning that Speed's marriage was successful, Lincoln summoned the courage to renew his commitment to Mary. When he proposed, she agreed to marry him.
A happy ending? More about the professional Lincoln some time later.
(Some sentences are directly copied from the book. Sorry Goodwin, I could not simplify more!)
Image source: havecamerawilltravel.com
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