"So Whatever Happened to 'Honest Abe'?"

Yesterday would have been my MOM'S birthday, tomorrow will be MINE, and, also, it's the 210th birthday of PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN tomorrow.  Anyone remember him?? "Honest Abe," he was once called.  Anyway, the proximity of the three birthdays has me thinking again of when I was a little boy growing up in Newark, NJ and how my dear mom used to take me to sit by this, his statue in front of the Courthouse, around my special day.

"Always be like LINCOLN," my mom used to say to me as I sat shivering on the cold bronze bench next to Borglum's "Honest Abe," a HUGE likeness of the President. "Always tell the truth."

This is one of my fondest memories of my mom.  She taught me to LOVE Lincoln (which I did ANYway, because, in those days we got off from school for Abe's birthday, Feb. 12th.  I absolutely HATED school...I'm a contented high school dropout...and so as a kid I had my birthday OFF from that prison, thanks to sharing the day with Lincoln, Lol!!)  But, I digress.

By teaching me to love Lincoln even MORE at an early age, mom also taught me to value HONESTY...which partially explains why I react so strongly to someone's lies (see last post.)

It also explains why BOTH women I've been married to share the trait of incredible honesty.

See, back in THOSE days, the early 60s when I was a kid, the things they stressed in school about Lincoln were that he was "Honest Abe" and  "could not tell a lie." And, GEORGE WASHINGTON was lauded for the fact that he chopped down a cherry tree as a lad and honestly admitted it, being willing to face punishment.  That was when we celebrated their birthdays SEPARATELY...Lincoln was Feb. 12th, and Washington was Feb. 22nd.  And, such were the days when we honored those Presidents primarily for their HONESTY.

Nowadays, of course, Lincoln and Washington have their birthdays compressed into one "President's Day" which falls on NEITHER of their actual birthdays. And at times, this new "President's Day" has been diluted by some to include ALL Presidents, even recent, eminently DIShonest ones like Nixon, Clinton* and Obama.  See what's happening?? Abe and George's HONESTY is emphasized less and less as they are DEemphasized more and more.  Concurrently, Abe and George's good characters, their virtues of honesty, are now minimized....while at the same time, our P.C. society now tries to tear them down by suggesting things like Lincoln was gay and focusing on the fact that Washington had slaves. Lincoln ALSO used to be known for freeing the slaves, you know but even that is gradually being forgotten...watch and see if he is honored on his birthday tomorrow by those who celebrate "Black History Month," even though he obviously had a HUGE role in America's Black History!!  No, rather than recall his honesty and his HISTORY, someone actually made a movie about him a few years ago portraying him as a "Vampire Slayer," Lol!!

If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.

Is it any wonder that the virtue of honesty has disappeared so much, in our society??  Instead, DIShonesty reigns...and the real question I have here is "Whatever happened to Honest Abe?" I'm not suggesting that Abe's "decline" is the ONLY reason we're in the mess we're in, of course...in fact, it's more of a symptom of the problem rather than the cause of it.   But it's easy to point to these changes as evidence OF a problem, and perhaps in a future "Chetitorial" I'll delve into what the REAL problem IS.  (As a teaser, our REAL problem is that America's turning from the GOD of our forefathers!!)  But, that's a blog, perhaps, for another time.

For now, well, Abe's STATUE is still there, and, mind you, so are others all around the nation.  Yes, Lincoln's image is still on our currency and his MEMORY is still in our CONSCIOUSNESS.  But is Abe's defining character trait remembered by anyone other than car dealers who try to gain an "innocence by association" advantage, using his likeness in their "Presidents Day Sales" ads??  Is his STATURE still appreciated as much as his STATUES are??

And, does anyone but an older guy now IN his 60s still recall when Lincoln was honored as........"Honest Abe"??






* On Abe's (and my) birthday exactly 20 years ago, Feb. 12th, 1999, Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate of IMPEACHMENT charges brought by the House of Representatives.  ONE of those charges was PERJURY, and it truly saddens me that (on HONEST ABE'S BIRTHDAY, no less) this lying President was allowed to stay in office and finish his term.  This was definitely a turning point DOWNWARD for America.