A dedication for Lincoln (for Larson)

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, who successfully led this country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserved the Union, ended slavery, and promoted economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family in a log cabin, Lincoln was self-educated, but naturally talented in business, military and political dimensions. He was a natural radical, seeking to reunify the nation. And with obscure opinions bestowed upon him, he accomplished his aspiration and changed America.

One of my favorite stories of Abe is when people refer to how he was "strong enough to intimidate any rival." At his first speech, when he saw a supporter in the crowd being attacked, Lincoln grabbed the assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers" and threw him!

And aside from his physical strength he had an oral strength not only as a speaker but as a writer. Lincoln was a superb writer, with the magic of his own pen in his beautiful hand-written-font he would scribble words like "the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

My fascination in Abraham Lincoln began as a mere interest because of my grandad. My grandpa, Donald James Larson, may have very well been Abe's biggest fan. I remember hearing about him and constantly seeing his pictures and books all over my grandparents Swedish tainted home in Nebraska. And maybe that was the very reason I fell into admiration for Abe, not necessarily because my grandpa respected him, but because Abe reminds me so much of Don.

Standing at 6'4" you read articles about Lincoln's tall, skinny frame and the honest fact that he just had an ugly face. My grandpa himself stood at that same 6'4" lanky frame, and although I found him a handsome man he always joked that his nickname from friends had always been the 'Big Ugly Swede.'

I see the comparisons in these two men so much, Abe a lawyer and my Don a doctor - they both were beyond studious, extremely disciplined and independent. Often absent but always affectionate, they were men of few words. Most of my memories of my grandpa are him sitting there silently looking over us but when he spoke we all listened because we knew it was wisdom. I've read over a dozen articles that speak of Abraham's sense of humor, love for jokes and tendency to speak in riddles for his own laughter but for the lessons of others.

And the quote that went to the grave with my grandpa was "shut up and dig" as he always had a sly smirk around his long face when he said, as all of us grand-kids knew he was referring to the time his own father said it to him, and that we were talking to much and needed to get on with business.

I can tell you how many people respected Abraham, because you can read it in the articles and the history pages, you know it by the way he worked himself to the presidency without formal education, powerful relationships or money - he accomplished all he did as a lawyer, as a military man, as a congress man, a father and a husband and president because people respected him. but I can't tell you how many people respected my grandfather, to this day I am still blessed by my grandma telling about one more person who adored my grandpa - you can see it in the way the hospital reacted to his retirement or the way my family acted in his presence, or the way the entire community responded to his death. My grandpa was an extremely, deeply respected man - a man who was adored and admired and made an impact on every soul he came into contact with.

My giant grandpa, the tall, lanky Swede that stood for what he believed in, that was never swayed by the world or by the opinions of others will never be forgotten by my family - his steadfastness, his faithfulness, his love and compassion, his courage and his immeasurable character, marked hearts and made indentions in numerous lives.

Just like that of Honest Abe - the 16th president who stood for what he believed in, in front of a nation, in front of those who opposed him - he never swayed from the truth that lived in his heart and because of him our nation found a new freedom.