Someone’s got a birthday coming up! He’ll be turning 196 this Sunday, February 12th. Any guesses?
Well, they’ve called him “Illinois Rail-Splitter” and “Honest Abe;” just don’t call him late for dinner! WOO! (apology for the bad joke)
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most venerated figures in American history. His impressive political career is in every history textbook; however, his personal struggles rarely make the cut.
Too often is the past described with only heroes and villains. But in reality, we are all imperfect.
Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Ky. to a family with anti-slavery sentiment. His family even moved to Indiana when he was seven partly because of the racial inequality that brewed in Kentucky.
Lincoln was unlucky with love throughout his life. He had a strong connection with classmate Ann Rutledge. Sadly, in the summer of 1835, Ann died of typhoid fever.
Though frequently debated whether they were unofficially engaged, one cannot deny the impact Ann had on Abraham. Throughout his life, he frequently visited her gravesite and revealed her presence to friends or in his letters.
He proposed marriage to Mary Owens in 1837. She opted out, saying in a letter that he just was not marriage material – he lacked “those little links which make up the chain of a woman’s happiness.”
He finally met his wife Mary Todd at a Springfield dance in 1839. Their relationship was troubled from the start.
Lacking approval from her parents and with additional doubts of his own, Lincoln called off the initial engagement but finally tied the knot in 1842.
He wrote in 1842, “My old father used to have a saying that ‘If you made a bad bargain, hug it the tighter.'”
All historians know Lincoln had an ongoing battle with depression. He sometimes gave in, by not getting out of bed -he was even known to have White House meetings in his bedroom – or alarming friends with statements such as:
“I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forebode I shall not; To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better.”
What made him better was focusing on his passion. Out of his failures and unhappiness in marriage, he was able to evokes ideas and give his life to a great and worthwhile cause.
You read about the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address or the 13th Amendment but not that of Lincoln’s four sons, only one lived to adulthood or that he had a wart on his right cheek and a scar over his right eye from a fight with a gang of thieves.
History books clean up historical figures like photoshopping a model for the cover of Vogue. True heroes are not such goody-goodies as our high school history portrayed them.
How can you admire someone without the inopportune character traits, inevitable failures and private battles?
Without all this knowledge, true heroes become Disney characters and ultimately boring.
As a child, one could idolize Ariel, the Little Mermaid, but as an adult?
Give me a real person who I can identify with.
 
Laura is a communication studies senior. Contact her at lwilkinson@lsureveille.com