Lincoln, the stuck pig and mirror neurons

[Juan Marrero]

A very charming anecdote that says so much about the man is the story of Lincoln riding a horse on the lawyer circuit and noticing, on a rainy, cold day, a pig that had gotten stuck on the wayside. He knew that, if he stopped to pull the pig out of the ditch, he would be a muddy mess by the time he got to court. So he rode on. But the pig's plight kept eating at him. He turned his horse around and saved the pig (sadly for probably an equally grim end).

Lincoln had the remarkable self-knowledge to know that he had turned around as much for himself as for the pig. He knew that, if he did not effect the rescue, the matter would gnaw at him ad infinitum. So, he did not congratulate himself on his kindness, and simply recognized he had done the best for himself--and for the soon-to-be bacon.

One-hundred sixty years later or so, neurologists are studying "mirror neurons" contained in the cells of the frontal lobe. Some posit that a super-abundance of these makes people hyper-sensitive to the suffering of others; and, conversly, a deficit would result in the kind of person who could do nasty things to others without a second look. If this be the case, it speaks to the heroic efforts that Lincoln made to conduct a war that must have devastated him emotionally.

[LincolnToddFan]

Juan, the stuck pig story-along with the one of the misplaced baby birds-is one of my favorite Lincoln stories
. He was a fascinating man and there is no way to get around it.

Here is how Michael Kauffman sizes him up in his classic American Brutus......."That people could see Lincoln in such wildly varying ways is perhaps the key to our fascination with him. Everything about him blended one characteristic with it's polar opposite....The president's politics and personal traits were no less mixed: he liberated millions, but was reviled as an oppressor; he was a gentle, fun loving man with a brutal approach to war"//quote, PG#143 (paperback)

[Gene C]

(04-24-2015 09:38 AM)Juan Marrero Wrote:  One-hundred sixty years later or so, neurologists are studying "mirror neurons" contained in the cells of the frontal lobe. Some posit that a super-abundance of these makes people hyper-sensitive to the suffering of others; and, conversly, a deficit would result in the kind of person who could do nasty things to others without a second look. If this be the case, it speaks to the heroic efforts that Lincoln made to conduct a war that must have devastated him emotionally.

Which may be a reason Lincoln selected Stanton for his Secretary of War. Lincoln used Stanton to do things that needed to be done, that he could not , or had great difficulty, bring himself to do.

[LincolnToddFan]

EXCELLENT point Gene. I've always thought of Stanton as Lincoln's "bad guy". He served AL in the same way that Bobby Kennedy served JFK as Attorney General...he did the dirty work.