9 Responses to “A Misfortune, Not a Fault”

1. Masale.Wallah Says:
   January 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

   I would also highly recommend ‘Lincoln’s Melancholy’ by Joshua Wolf Shenk.

2. Cosmo - the black dog! Says:
   January 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

   Thanks Masale - here it is . . .
   

3. jackal Says:
   January 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am

   . . . and even if you don’t do Great Things. . . it is important to remember: you are a Great Person.

   We can’t all do Great Things. But that does not mean that those of us who do not, are worthless.

   Or, as Ghandi put it:
   “It is not all that important what you do. But it is very important that you do it.”

4. Cosmo - the black dog! Says:
   January 30th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

   Jackal,

   Thanks for sharing that great Ghandi quote, that sums it up perfectly.

5. Chuck Says:
   January 31st, 2008 at 9:38 pm

   Excellent links, Cosmo.

   “A tendency to melancholy…. let it be observed, is a misfortune, not a fault. ” A. Lincoln 1841

   Now there is a quote worth remembering when the dark clouds are all around.

   Chuck

6. Cosmo - the black dog! Says:
   February 1st, 2008 at 5:30 am

   There’s another quote from the book -

   His law partner William Herndon said, “His melancholy dripped from him as he walked.”

7. John of Indiana Says:
   February 1st, 2008 at 3:12 pm

   Great links, Cosmo!
   I don’t think Abe would make it in Politics today. Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck and their ilk would sink their claws into him and ride his melancholy all the way to the bank.

   Yet at the same time, it would seem that the people in his life knew he had a big black dog, and helped him best they could.

   So I wonder when did the notion that Depression was “catching” get started?

8. Chuck Says:
   February 1st, 2008 at 8:32 pm

   Lincoln wasn’t treated any better by press and pundants in his day than politicians are treated today. Read the comments about him BEFORE he was assassinated and you’ll find name calling and bile equal to anything people on the Left or Right can dream up about each other today. When one can transcend his own limitations and the pettiness of his enemies is when a politician becomes a real leader.

9. Cosmo - the black dog! Says:
   February 1st, 2008 at 10:05 pm

   The truth is people are people no matter what their political leanings and the black dog doesn’t care if you’re left or right - it’s an equal opportunity depressor.

   I don’t know if any of you have noticed but I purposefully avoid bringing politics into any of my posts. We have enough on our plate without adding political emotions to the mix. So lets just admire Lincoln as a man who dealt with his black dog as best he could during some mighty bad times.

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