PRESIDENT LINCOLN
I WISH I’D MET HIM
He’s always been my favorite. He was considered an ugly duckling not only as a child but as an adult. I can relate to this somewhat, because as a child I was a skinny little thing. He was geeky in his clothes, too. All elbows and knees. It wasn’t that clothes couldn’t be made for him at 6’4”, but he was poor and couldn’t afford them. But all that is just appearance. What I love about him is that he was so darn good at seeing both sides of everyone’s story, not just his side.
When he became a leader, some of his competitors hated him because, well, they lost to him and were full of envy. They were more educated, more experienced in their field and they lost to this unknown upstart. Now, most of us would have just kept our distance from these rivals. Not him. He saw the skills of each of them and put them in important positions where their expertise could be used. It didn’t occur to him to be threatened by their superior educations, culture and prestige. When asked, “What will you do with all these enemies?” He quickly responded “I’ll make them my friends.” And so he did. He was able to have compassion for his enemies because he understood them. That’s tough to do.
Would that we could all have a dose of that. Now, he had an irritating wife, as some folks do. She had migraines and probably PMS and often lashed out at him in public. He would gently sooth her, understanding all the pressure she was under and loved her anyway while others watched in amazement.
You may have guessed by now that I’m talking about my beloved friend, Abraham Lincoln. Oh, I hated history in school because it was a bunch of dumb dates about a bunch of powder-haired stuff shirts that I couldn’t relate to. If only one person had made me dig deeper and read just one book about him so I could learn what a wonderful human being he was! Now that I’ve read several books about him, he is alive to me and has had an impact on my life! You know he learned to read in a shabby cabin by candlelight. So what, a kid might ask. Think about it. What kind of fire in the belly did that take? He taught himself law by reading books late into the night, after a long work day, often walking for miles just to borrow a book. Where, on earth, did he get the drive, all on his own, in the midst of his poverty, to do all this? He wasn’t even exposed to any great motivational teachers like we expect our kids to have. And if our kids don’t achieve, it’s the teachers fault! But I digress.
When he went to meet the other legislators in his first elected position in Illinois, they laughed at him. Ugly. Pants too short. From the back woods. But when he spoke, squeaky voice and all, down to earth sensible logic came out of his mouth and they stood back in awe. Indeed, in the early days, while on the “circuit” in the times when lawyers rode from town to town with a judge to do court duties for the area, they all gathered round in the local boarding house dinner table to hear his Mark Twain type humor telling homey hilarious stories. That’s the other thing I love about him...his self deprecating humor. For example, in one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas accused him of being two faced. Lincoln smiled calmly and replied, “I leave it to my audience. If I had two faces, would I be wearing this one?” And to the question, “How tall are you?” He responded, “Tall enough to reach the ground.” The common man could relate to this homespun humor. They loved him. And so do I.
He had an ingenious way of helping his enemies save face even after he knew they had criticized him behind his back. He would invite the man into his oval office and tell him not to worry. He would say that he had heard the talk and that he would, “Never believe you would say a thing like that about me.” The man would leave ashamed of himself, realizing that he had been caught, but that Lincoln had helped him save face, and leave forever a loyal supporter. That produced a long trail of faithful supporters for Lincoln over a lifetime who he had forgiven and won over.
His listening skills and ability to see the other side of every situation with compassion was a large part of his greatness. Take the South for example. Many of them hated Lincoln for freeing the slaves. But after his assassination, they realized he was the greatest friend they ever could have had. He had great empathy for them and their losses. His generals wanted the southern generals to be thrown in prison. He said no. Forgive. Let’s heal and help. Let’s be a nation again. I’m so glad that at least he lived to see the end of the war and his dream of freeing the slaves and saving the union accomplished.
Management seminars are conducted today to learn his skills in relating to people and forming loyalty. Books are written such as, “Lincoln on Leadership”, by Donald Phillips. But my favorite book, “Team of Rivals”, by Doris Kearns, a Pulitzer Prize winner, describes all these delicious stories about this heroic human being. Please read it. I leave you with the greatest words ever written in American history from the Gettysburg address, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
If there be a heaven where time and space end, and I am fortunate enough to get there, one of my first requests will surely be, “Can I meet him?”
He’s always been my favorite. He was considered an ugly duckling not only as a child but as an adult. I can relate to this somewhat, because as a child I was a skinny little thing. He was geeky in his clothes, too. All elbows and knees. It wasn’t that clothes couldn’t be made for him at 6’4”, but he was poor and couldn’t afford them. But all that is just appearance. What I love about him is that he was so darn good at seeing both sides of everyone’s story, not just his side.
When he became a leader, some of his competitors hated him because, well, they lost to him and were full of envy. They were more educated, more experienced in their field and they lost to this unknown upstart. Now, most of us would have just kept our distance from these rivals. Not him. He saw the skills of each of them and put them in important positions where their expertise could be used. It didn’t occur to him to be threatened by their superior educations, culture and prestige. When asked, “What will you do with all these enemies?” He quickly responded “I’ll make them my friends.” And so he did. He was able to have compassion for his enemies because he understood them. That’s tough to do.
Would that we could all have a dose of that. Now, he had an irritating wife, as some folks do. She had migraines and probably PMS and often lashed out at him in public. He would gently sooth her, understanding all the pressure she was under and loved her anyway while others watched in amazement.
You may have guessed by now that I’m talking about my beloved friend, Abraham Lincoln. Oh, I hated history in school because it was a bunch of dumb dates about a bunch of powder-haired stuff shirts that I couldn’t relate to. If only one person had made me dig deeper and read just one book about him so I could learn what a wonderful human being he was! Now that I’ve read several books about him, he is alive to me and has had an impact on my life! You know he learned to read in a shabby cabin by candlelight. So what, a kid might ask. Think about it. What kind of fire in the belly did that take? He taught himself law by reading books late into the night, after a long work day, often walking for miles just to borrow a book. Where, on earth, did he get the drive, all on his own, in the midst of his poverty, to do all this? He wasn’t even exposed to any great motivational teachers like we expect our kids to have. And if our kids don’t achieve, it’s the teachers fault! But I digress.
When he went to meet the other legislators in his first elected position in Illinois, they laughed at him. Ugly. Pants too short. From the back woods. But when he spoke, squeaky voice and all, down to earth sensible logic came out of his mouth and they stood back in awe. Indeed, in the early days, while on the “circuit” in the times when lawyers rode from town to town with a judge to do court duties for the area, they all gathered round in the local boarding house dinner table to hear his Mark Twain type humor telling homey hilarious stories. That’s the other thing I love about him...his self deprecating humor. For example, in one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas accused him of being two faced. Lincoln smiled calmly and replied, “I leave it to my audience. If I had two faces, would I be wearing this one?” And to the question, “How tall are you?” He responded, “Tall enough to reach the ground.” The common man could relate to this homespun humor. They loved him. And so do I.
He had an ingenious way of helping his enemies save face even after he knew they had criticized him behind his back. He would invite the man into his oval office and tell him not to worry. He would say that he had heard the talk and that he would, “Never believe you would say a thing like that about me.” The man would leave ashamed of himself, realizing that he had been caught, but that Lincoln had helped him save face, and leave forever a loyal supporter. That produced a long trail of faithful supporters for Lincoln over a lifetime who he had forgiven and won over.
His listening skills and ability to see the other side of every situation with compassion was a large part of his greatness. Take the South for example. Many of them hated Lincoln for freeing the slaves. But after his assassination, they realized he was the greatest friend they ever could have had. He had great empathy for them and their losses. His generals wanted the southern generals to be thrown in prison. He said no. Forgive. Let’s heal and help. Let’s be a nation again. I’m so glad that at least he lived to see the end of the war and his dream of freeing the slaves and saving the union accomplished.
Management seminars are conducted today to learn his skills in relating to people and forming loyalty. Books are written such as, “Lincoln on Leadership”, by Donald Phillips. But my favorite book, “Team of Rivals”, by Doris Kearns, a Pulitzer Prize winner, describes all these delicious stories about this heroic human being. Please read it. I leave you with the greatest words ever written in American history from the Gettysburg address, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
If there be a heaven where time and space end, and I am fortunate enough to get there, one of my first requests will surely be, “Can I meet him?”
posted by Ann Baker, Realtor at
6:40 PM
