~Herman Melville
Let me tell you about an ugly cousin of mine. He was my seventh cousin. He’s dead now but when he was living he was known as the ugliest man to ever hold a high political office. He had the equivalent to vertical cross eyes, was color blind, and had corns on his feet that we so painful he could barely wear shoes. In almost every picture taken of him, he was wearing a jacket because of his unusually thin skin. As a young man, one of his immediate family members showed up at a family reunion, Uncle Lincoln “Linc” Murray. He commented on what a beautiful family we had and I remember thinking, “Well, comparatively speaking you’re absolutely right!”
My dead cousin had a long list of defeats and failures but overcame them all. Here are some.
At twenty-two, his business failed.
At twenty-three years old he was defeated for Legislator.
At twenty-four he experienced another business failure.
But he experienced his first win at only twenty-five years old when he was elected to the Legislator.
Then, at twenty-six years old the love of his life died tragically, and when he was twenty-seven years old he had a nervous breakdown.
At age twenty-nine he lost the race for Speaker of the House.
When he was thirty-one years old he was defeated again as an Elector for the Electoral College.
At thirty-four he was beaten again in his campaign for Congress. Will this ugly cousin of mine ever give up? No, because he was beaten back again when he lost the race for Congress and thirty-seven years old, and two years later he lost again at age thirty-nine.
At forty-six years old he ran for a seat in the Senate—and lost. His track record of winning was so high (I’m being sarcastic) he might as well run for Vice President of the United State of America, which he did at forty-seven years old, and lost!
At forty-nine he was defeated again in his race for the Senate.
But at fifty-one years old he was elected at the sixteenth President of the United States of America, President Abraham Lincoln! He was arguably the greatest President to ever hold the office, although quite possibly the ugliest. I’m proud to be called the distant cousin of a man who refused to give up. A couple years ago I had the privilege to visit the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois., and was blown away at how difficult Lincoln’s life was.
Besides the extreme stress of leading the bloodiest war in American history, the Civil War, of his four sons only one lived past age eighteen. His wife, Mary suffered from severe headaches throughout her adult life, as well as protracted depression. Her history of mood swings, fierce temper, public outbursts throughout Lincoln's presidency, as well as excessive spending, has led some historians and psychologists to speculate that Mary suffered from bipolar disorder. She was involuntarily institutionalized for psychiatric disease ten years after her husband's murder.
What a remarkable, yet tragic, story of a man who lived a hard life, fought for every inch of ground, but ended early. His life continues to impact lives today. Abraham Lincoln overcame failure after failure and, although tragically assassinated, finished his life strong.
We all experience failure in life. The question is not if we will fail but when, and how will be handle failure when it hits us in the face. Will you rise up motivated to win or cower in fear and defeat? Failure is not final nor is it fatal.
You can do this! Forge a new path in 2018 as the best version of you!
