Jason was BusinessWeek’s Featured User on February 24th, 2010. There was a mention in the upper right corner on the site and it was also tweeted on their Twitter profile.
(Image: Michael J Deas)
Abraham Lincoln had many nicknames during his lifetime—the Rail Splitter, The Great Emancipator, The Liberator, Father Abraham, Uncle Abe—but perhaps none of these is as widely recognized and referenced today as the nickname, “Honest Abe.” But do you know why people called Lincoln “Honest Abe?”
Stories of Abe’s Honesty:
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln worked as a general store clerk. One evening he was counting the money in the drawers after closing and found that he was a few cents over what should have been in the drawer. When he realized that he had accidentally short-changed a customer earlier that day, Lincoln walked a long distance to return the money to the customer.
On another occasion Lincoln discovered that he had given a woman too little tea for her money. He put what he owed her in a package and personally delivered it to the woman–who never realized that she was not given the proper amount of tea until Lincoln showed up at her doorstep!
Lincoln’s integrity and insistence on honesty became even more apparent in his law practice. In his book, An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Steiner notes that: A relative by marriage, Augustus H. Chapman, recalled: “In his law practice on the Wabash Circuit he was noted for unswerving honesty. People learned to love him ardently, devotedly, and juries listened intently, earnestly, receptively to the sad-faced, earnest man…I remember one case of his decided honest trait of character. It was a case in which he was for the defendant. Satisfied of his client’s innocence, it depended mainly on one witness. That witness told on the stand under oath what Abe knew to be a lie, and no one else knew. When he arose to plead the case, he said: “Gentlemen, I depended on this witness to clear my client. He has lied. I ask that no attention be paid to his testimony. Let his words be stricken out, if my case fails. I do not wish to win in this way.”
Lincoln didn’t like to charge people much who were as poor as he was. Once a man sent him twenty-five dollars, but Lincoln sent him back ten of it, saying he was being too generous.
He was known at times to convince his clients to settle their issue out of court, saving them a lot of money, and earning himself nothing.
An old woman in dire poverty, the widow of a Revolutionary soldier, was charged $200 for getting her $400 pension. Lincoln sued the pension agent and won the case for the old woman. He didn’t charge her for his services and, in fact, paid her hotel bill and gave her money to buy a ticket home!
He and his associate once prevented a con man from gaining possession of a tract of land owned by a mentally ill girl. The case took fifteen minutes. Lincoln’s associate came to divide up their fee, but Lincoln reprimanded him. His associate argued that the girl’s brother had agreed on the fee ahead of time, and he was completely satisfied. “That may be,” said Lincoln, “but I am not satisfied. That money comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl; and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner. You return half the money at least, or I’ll not take a cent of it as my share.”
“When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad, and that’s my religion.” – Abraham Lincoln
(Image: The Warren Report)
Lincoln carried his regard for the truth through his years at the White House. He, himself, was forthright and deeply sincere. It seems as if some of his colleagues wondered if he could ever tell a lie. During the Civil War, President Lincoln stated, “I hain’t been caught Lying yet, and I don’t mean to be.” [Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Lincoln Among His Friends: A Sheaf of Intimate Memories (Philip Clark, "A Friend of Lincoln's New Salem Days"), p. 65.] For Lincoln, the truth was not worth sacrificing for any gain, no matter how large that gain may have been.
Lincoln didn’t need to lie to save the Union, to unite the people, to free slaves or to lead a nation. Perhaps that is why he remains a hero to so many around the world, and an inspiration to leaders well into the future. From his work as a clerk to his duties as a president, Lincoln’s honesty was unwavering, showing that telling the truth is an essential lesson for all, no matter who you are or what you do.
Thank you for the influence you still provide us more than 200 years after your birth.
Abraham Lincoln: February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865
What can you do to be more honest in your life?
Story Adapted from:
Why Honest Abe?. By Kathy Crockett, The MY HERO Project
Honest Abe. By Adam Khan, Stuff That Works
(Photo: Chris Abraham)
I have a dream…
Enjoy your day and take some time to reflect on what is truly important in your life!
Here are a few quotes you may enjoy…
“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” – Woody Allen
“If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.” -Frank A. Clark
“There’s always something to be thankful for. If you can’t pay your bills, you can be thankful you’re not one of your creditors.” – Author Unknown
“If elected I shall be thankful; if not, it will be all the same.” -Abraham Lincoln
“Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.” -Mark Twain
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)
“Even though we can’t have all we want, we ought to be thankful we don’t get what we deserve.” – Author Unknown
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(Photo: COLOURlovers)
I have been traveling a lot this month. I’m not going to lie to you; it can be tough on a family. In our case we do not live in an area close to family and friends’ so traveling for work adds a layer of stress to the situation. It so happens I will miss Halloween this weekend with our young children. Let’s face it, this is a kids holiday and what a great treat it is for them to dress up as their favorite character, go around to every house on the block, say three simple words, “trick or treat,” five if they say, “thank you,” and come home with a bag filled with the best candy confectioners have to offer.
It’s not so much that I will miss the day, it is the participation in the celebration: seeing the joy in our kids eyes brought by the day as they dream about dressing for the occasion, the dance they do waiting for us to take that last picture, the anticipation waiting out the final minutes before we open the gates and let them run wild, seeing their pride as they come home with the “mother load” like a man home from a hunt carrying a bountiful feast for his family to share, sorting through their candy at the nights end making a pile, they don’t like, so they can portion it out to share with others, and finally, choosing that first piece and enjoying it as it melts upon their tongue, of course quickly followed by ten more pieces and a sugar buzz to last the whole night through.
So you see it is not about adults, children make this night special. All their innocence, all their joy, and every smile they bring to your face. It’s truly a night of transformation anyone would hate to miss.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor men. I will miss you this weekend.
(Photo: American Presidential Photos)
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Happy Birthday Mr. President. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919)
The Theodore Roosevelt Association. 2009. 17 October 2009 < http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm>.
Shiver me timbers, tis’ international talk like a pirate day! Gather up yer matey’s and sail the high seas. Aye, me parrot concurs.
When I was a boy, I would fall asleep with the television on, static blaring and would wake to the wonderment and focus of the color bars. These bars provide clarity to all of televisions static and clutter. It is these simple color bars which are the basis of all television is; used for calibrating a television monitor to deliver information accurately.
Today, older, wiser and no stations going off the air at night; I find myself seeking ways to cut through life’s static. Always in pursuit of new ideas to fine tune life’s color bars by realizing the focus and clarity once found so readily staring me in the face as I woke in front of the television at night.
It is this search and discovery of fresh ideas which prompted me to develop a blog in order to share concepts with the rest of you looking for ways to – “turn life’s static into clarity.”
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