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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