Lincoln, the Unlikely Hero

Yesterday was the birthday of the sixteenth president of the United States. He was an imperfect and flawed man, but he was the man of the hour, accomplishing what no one thought he could accomplish and things that, perhaps no one else could have accomplished.

He was a man of sorrows and a man of great humor.

He was an evolving man who grew in office.

He was humble and savvy and presidential in his own awkward way.

He is my hero because of his greatness, but also his weaknesses, his blind sides, and his ability to change, adapt, and grow.

He is my hero because he overcame inner turmoil and outward adversity.

He was the brunt of jokes, the object of derision, and the subject of brutal criticism, yet he rose to the occasion. His heart broke for every Union and Confederate soldier lost in the war.

He gathered a cabinet of political enemies because they were the right people for the jobs and worked with them, making them a team.

He dearly loved a wife who was difficult at best. He was accessible and wise. He worked hard, suffered much, and was finally recognized for the man and the leader he was.

Abraham Lincoln - one of a kind. I wonder what he might have become if he had lived.

I wonder what we might become.