Travis Holt sent me an image of a plaque that a faculty colleague of mine once had on his office door. When I first saw it, I told the colleague that it could be interpreted very differently than the way he was interpreting it. The plaque says that if you “are easily discouraged,” don’t be, for there is a man who:
Failed in business in 1831; was defeated for the legislature in ’32; again failed in business in ’34; his sweetheart died in 35; had a nervous breakdown in ’36; was defeated in an election in ’38; was defeated in a run for Congress in ’43; was defeated in a run for Congress in ’46; was defeated in a run for Congress in ’48; was defeated in a run for the U.S. Senate in ’55; defeated for vice president in ’56; defeated for senate again in ”58 . . .
I would add that this man also had several mental illnesses; his friends took all knives out of his house for fear he would commit suicide; wrote poems about suicide; and took “medicine” for depression that included a heavy dose of mercury, which was said at the time to cause “violent mood swings,” among other things.
“That man was Abraham Lincoln,” says the plaque.
The alternative interpretation, of course, is that in politics and government, society’s losers and misfits rise to the top.
9:32 am on June 18, 2017
