Why does Lincoln still matter?

[Rob Wick]

Yeah, she made one heck of a breakfast cake!

Best
Rob

[Hess1865]

Which Pres. Johnson do you consider worse??

I go with Lyndon

[LincolnMan]

Why does Lincoln still matter?

Part of the answer still rings true in words by Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose:

"He believed in America, in her Constitution, in her political system, and he believed in them much more deeply than the crititics who shouted "depotism" every time he found it necessary to go outside the law to achieve his purpose. He and Churchill stand alone on the mountain top, for of these two men, and of them only, can it be truly said, Had he not lived his nation would not now be."

[LincolnMan]

Reading from an Address given by the Hon. Edward L. Hamilton, on the occasion of the unveiling and reception of a statue of Zachariah Chandler at Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, I found interesting words regarding the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Hamilton mentioned that there was at that time "in the minds of men the eternal, daily question of human rights" that could not be quieted. He went on to say:

"The spirit that inspired that question was in the air. It sat down at every council board. It entered into and took possession of men, and took unto itself such names as Phillips, Lovejoy, Garrison, and John Brown. It would not down.

It teased men till they invented sophisms to refute it. It set families at variance. It set pulpits at variance. It lighted camp fires of armies, whole contentions shook the continent.

It mowed men down with the level hail of death.
It added to the vocabulary of war such names as Donelson, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness.

Long before it had sought out a lonely frontier cabin and presided at the birth of Abraham Lincoln. It made him its instrument; and five days after Appomattox his spirit, liberated by the hand of an assassin from its thrall of tremendous responsibilty, took flight in the golden dawn of a new day, and his fame passed into immortality."


Yes, Lincoln still matters!

[LincolnMan]

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Does Lincoln still matter? You bet your sweet bippy he does! (inside joke-reference to TV Show "Laugh-In). Daniel Day-Lewis looks so much like Lincoln that patients who saw this in my office thought it was Lincoln!

[RJNorton]

That is really something, Bill!

I thought this was interesting. I scanned this chart off the front page of today's USA TODAY:

[LincolnMan]

Wow! 6 million visitors to the Lincoln Memorial. That number is really staggering.

[L Verge]

The best time to visit the Lincoln Memorial is on a pleasant evening in spring or fall when most of the tourists have gone home and it's dusk or later. It's an eery, yet remarkable, feeling to walk around the plaza, to climb the stairs, and feel so tiny beside the huge, seated Lincoln.

Even though I consider him a man, not a god, it used to make me pause and reflect on his surrounding words. Believe it or not, I did this with several dates - ended up marrying one of them. No further comment...

[LincolnMan]

Love is eternal...

[John W]

Lincoln was our most hated president and our most beloved. He made bad decisions and appointments and great decisions and appointments. He was a man of humble beginning, who became an icon.
The Civil War was fought for simple reasons, and for very complicated reasons, for noble and for base motives. In it both North and South were at times the victor and the vanquished, the villain and the victim.
It is important to study Lincoln, both the man and the icon, to better understand who we are and who we want to be.

[LincolnMan]

John W: Welcome! Nice opening post. I like the contrasts as you laid them out.

[LincolnMan]

On the psychiatric unit yesterday, I was told about a new patient that was very depressed. Part of my job is to conduct 1:1 counseling with them. I introduced myself. She was, indeed, very downcast and sad. As it so happens, I have a photograph of Lincoln on the outside of my folding portfolio. I don't even hardly notice it there anymore. She noticed it! She told me of her love for Lincoln and how much she admired him. It was a connecting point. She said that Lincoln had been "very depressed," yet he chose to carry on. I smiled. I thought to myself that Lincoln still does matter-even in this situation. He still inspires people in how he lived his life and overcame so much. I guess I'll call it "Lincoln therapy."

Oh, and by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABRAHAM LINCOLN!

[Gene C]

Bill, Great message. The power of a being good example in life. You never know who you will influence.

[LincolnMan]

Right on, Gene -and Fido (if you're reading too).

[Dawn E Foster]

(02-12-2013 08:49 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Oh, and by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABRAHAM LINCOLN!

When she was little, my daughter, Beth, thought it was pretty special that she always got her birthday - February 12th - off school. She was the only one in the family lucky enough to have a birth day for their birthday though. Martin Luther King was killed on my birthday - April 4th. My son, Jamie, was born on November 22nd - the day John F Kennedy was shot. And his sons, my Ayden and Bryant, were born on April 15th - the day Abraham Lincoln died.

"Anybody here ... " remember that old song, "Abraham Martin and John?