President Abe Lincoln
President’s day can be just a day off or an opportunity to inspire your teen. There are few things more destructive to a sense of self than failure. You know there must be others who have failed, and yet when it happens we are convinced we are the only one who has experienced failure. This is especially true for teens that don’t always have the world view required to realize the truth in these words. This is a reminder about President Abraham Lincoln. Please remind your teen.
It is said that President Lincoln, one of our most famous presidents failed numerous times before he reached the success that he seems to be now. The list follows.
A list of Abraham Lincoln’s Failures:
- Lost job, 1832
- Defeated for legislature, 1832
- Failed in business, 1833
- Elected to legislature, 1834
- Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
- Had nervous breakdown, 1836
- Defeated for Speaker, 1838
- Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
- Elected to Congress, 1846
- Lost renomination, 1848
- Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
- Defeated for Senate, 1854
- Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
- Again defeated for Senate, 1858
- Elected President, 1860
In the event this list does not make the impact that persistence is key, please watch the video with your teen and remind them of the famous quote by Vince Lombardi, “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up.”
In relationships, friendships, academics, sports, life, work, health, teaches them that they will fail at something. Maybe it won’t be major and maybe it will, but they will not succeed at something. This is the nature of being human. However, when they do –and this is the important part- when they do, they need to dust themselves off and get- back – up.
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