Lagura: From humbling failures to smashing success

Fr. Flor Lagura SVD

Abraham Lincoln (1809 -1865)

BORN in 1019 in a Kentucky log cabin, the young Abraham could have easily accepted the fate as a “hillbilly.” Yet, he made use of whatever education given him, and, to add to his knowledge, he read voraciously.

The young, strong and long Kentuckian excelled in 1) wood splitting and 2) wrestling. But other than these he seemed doomed to be a failure. Twice, his business ventures collapsed. He courted several girls he liked, but unfortunately girls did not like him.

When he tried his hand in politics he lost 8 times. Nevertheless, he still presented his candidacy to the US presidency. In one of the political campaigns a woman heckled him saying, “Lincoln, you will never become president because you are ugly!”

To which biting remark, Lincoln gently replied, “But, Ma’am, God loves ugly people like me because of us He made so many!”

Fortune, or as some historians observed, God smiled on him; in his first ever run for US presidency, despite his dismal track record as a candidate, Lincoln won thereby becoming the 16th American president.

During his second term the horrible American Civil War broke out. It was Lincoln’s tremendous task to preserve the Union. After a bloody war where so many lost fortunes, friends, limbs and even lives, Lincoln faced the extremely difficult task of reconciling a much divided nation.

Asked by a reporter, “Mr. President, how will you eliminate so many of your enemies?” To which Lincoln replied, “I will eliminate my enemies by making them my friends.”

Unfortunately, in 1865 inside a theater booth, a crazed actor, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Lincoln.

Despite the doctors’ heroic efforts to save his life, the great man passed away. A friend holding Abraham Lincoln’s limp body tearfully said, “Now, he belongs to eternity!”

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