Honest Determination

A quick look at your encyclopedia for the historical, fascinating story of Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is marked today, will teach people the meaning of determination. The log cabin in which “Honest Abe” was born should make you say “Wow! and I am complaining!” Since schools rarely, if ever, provide American History for our young, parents and others ought to introduce their charges with history of who we are, who it was that gave so very much of themselves from the birth of our nation for its vision and progress.

From such activity, our citizens, et al, would learn the valuable meaning and result of honest determination that was so early American. I urge everyone who feel absent from details of our early founding to read about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, and others of course, as I share with you information about Lincoln from other angles.

A Grown-up Lincoln

Upon entering the national scene, Abraham Lincoln was an expert in experiencing defeat and failure. Had it not been for his determination to serve his fellow countrymen and his God, history would not have recorded him as one of the greatest American presidents. His failures were his victories, no doubt about it. “Abe” met his first political failure when he lost the seat in the Illinois Legislature. Friends persuaded him to venture into business. Failing at this he spent nearly twenty years paying off debts. His next failure was the loss of the young woman he was to marry. He later married a woman who proved to be a “thorn in his side” – another failure for happiness. Congress was his second political goal. Not only did he miss it, but also opponents claimed both the United States Land Office and the United States Senate. Most men would lose their courage after so many defeats. But, not Lincoln, he pursued even higher attainments, he believed he could gain the Vice Presidency in 1856. Failing to take the office, he tried once more in 1858 and lost to Douglas. One failure after another throughout his entire life before ascending to the Presidency, severe and disastrous failures, is a lesson for all who would give up too soon in this life. It’s as if Lincoln knew what Winston Churchill was to exclaim a hundred plus years in the future. That is “Never, never, never, never give up!” Who has not heard of Abraham Lincoln? Yet he is a man not known for his failures! A grateful nation, in tribute to this man of ages past, raised The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. where he could look out over the land he so dearly loved and protected it from its road of self-destruction through the Civil War. For this he was martyred. This massive shrine pays due respect to the greatness of a simple and heroic man whose very life was offered in the name of liberty. His image sits in a great chair 12½ feet high, the gentleness, power and determination of Lincoln come to us clearly through the features chiseled in granite by the sculptor. we can almost hear him speak the words with which he closed his famous Gettysburg Address: “. . .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.” He left us a legacy, for there is something you can do to preserve the God-given liberty with which America is blessed. Do more than complain about those who are striving in a hundred different ways to destroy it. They are on the job, not sitting on the sidelines. If your heart is in truth, you will be determined to work as hard for good as they do for evil, you will be acting as Lincoln did and carry on the torch of freedom handed to us.

Thanks for visiting. God bless America and Abraham Lincoln's Spirit!