There Is One Lincoln

by Yervand Kochar

The mystery of Abraham Lincoln was in his ability to unite opposing fractions of society while maintaining a divisive position. This ability to transcend opposites made him a subject of claim from diametrically opposed entities and worldviews.

Lincoln became an inspiration for Republicans and Democrats, evangelical conservatives and liberal-progressives alike. Even the ever dull Communists and ever angry radical socialists scraped a spark of inspiration from the mounting figure of Lincoln. But after every group had shaped its own statue of Lincoln according to its own manual, we’ve lost the real Lincoln. Lincoln has been turned into a concept and every concept began to be manipulated to fit ideologies and socio-political insecurities. And, as in the case of everything under the sun, the most insecure and the most unrelated ideologies manipulated Lincoln the most and claimed him the strongest.

In reality, there was and there is only one Lincoln. Many politicians have compared and continue comparing themselves to Lincoln without understanding that what transformed that poor tall Midwestern fellow into Abraham Lincoln was not his external attributes or his immediate surrounding.

Today many ‘Lincoln wannabe’ politicians believe that being young and charismatic, going from rags to riches, advocating the rights of oppressed, coming from Springfield, IL or even taking the same train trip to Inauguration is what makes the real Abraham Lincoln.

This is a ‘Victoria’s Secret’ version of Lincoln.

In fact, being shot in the back of the head for uncompromisingly fighting an unpopular war is what makes the real Abraham Lincoln.

It’s quite sad that 150 years after the Civil War, the mindset against which Lincoln fought all his life and by which he was eventually murdered, finalized the process of hijacking his legacy.

Through the ongoing “sissification” and castration of society, we ended up with an image of Lincoln as benign pacifist, kind and loving father who united the nation. We were given a half-portrait of a man and were taught to ignore the fact that before unifying the country, he divided it. He did not unify by his goodness alone, but by a ‘terrible swift sword’. He united by burning down cities, by sacrificing men in thousands and by destroying an entire civilization.

We are sold the image of Lincoln the lawyer, but before becoming a lawyer he was a rail-splitter, a ferocious wrestler who upon his arrival to a new town would challenge the strongest man around and beat him unconscious in front of an amazed crowd.

Let us not forget the toughness of the man.

He was neither a pacifist in his personal life nor in his politics; he was a fighter, a warrior. It is only on the background of this wild Midwestern force that we can outline and appreciate his kindness and goodness. It is also important to remember that it was not only his innate kindness that made him great but also his strong sense of justice.

Justice is a balance of mercy and severity. In this perspective, there is no doubt that Lincoln was a kind man of goodwill. When Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he claimed that he surrendered to Lincoln’s goodness as much as to Grant’s army. Lincoln’s personal anxieties about the tragic war are legendary and his love for all his fellow Americans, both North and South, are beyond dispute. But in order to get a real picture of a man, we have to acknowledge the other side of his personality. The side that was there to kill and bring justice through punishing war, the strength of conviction that would stop in front of nothing, the ability to sacrifice others and ultimately his own life for an ideal.

This is the image that was erased by the scribes and Pharisees of modern American scholarship who turned Lincoln into an anti-war Marxist hero in order to suit their frightened worldview.

Through the media they paint an image of Lincoln in watercolors and hang it in their plastic exhibition halls. And as they would glorify this new image they could not even imagine that if they had happened to live in the time of Lincoln, they would be the first to eternally ban his image from display.

The mindset that glorifies Lincoln today is the one that crucified him yesterday and will deny and accuse him every time he returns.

But somewhere there in the forgotten attic of our national memory hangs another image of Lincoln. It is an image carved with a nail on a rusted iron, an image that can scare one in a fierce battle. It is an image that his friend saw when he compared Lincoln’s look to an Indian chief entering an enemy camp. It is an image that is so deeply engraved into the Southern psyche that many still cannot forget and forgive it for the destruction he brought upon them and their families. In short, it is an image that we have to come in terms with, otherwise we are doomed to see it through the eyes of those who never really understood the man and never appreciated what the man did.


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Posted Feb 12th 2009 at 7:45 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 42 Comments