Story: On 12th February 1809, in a one room log cabin with a dirt floor on a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, a baby boy was born.
When he was only 9 years-old, his mother died.
He was a boy with rugged determination. And although he only had less than a year of formal education, he succeeded in becoming a lawyer.
However he wasnt satisfied with that. He wanted to REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE and so entered US politics.
If he was going to have maximum impact, he believed that he had to achieve the highest position in the land that of being president of the United States.
Being a man of perseverance, he tried and tried again – and he failed and failed again.
His list of failures was embarrassing:
YEAR FAILURES or SETBACKS
1832 Lost job and was defeated for state legislature
1833 Failed in business
1835 His Sweetheart died
1836 Had nervous breakdown
1838 Defeated for Illinois House Speaker
1843 Defeated for nomination for Congress
1846 Elected to Congress but lost
renomination in 1848
1849 Rejected for land officer for Illinois
1854 Defeated for U.S. Senate
1856 Defeated for nomination for Vice-President
1858 Again defeated for U.S. Senate
But in 1860 he was elected President.
And by now you have probably guessed who I am talking about - Abraham Lincoln, probably the greatest of all American Presidents.
His persistence paid off. I’d have given up long ago but Lincoln persevered.
He had a vision of what he wanted to do – and the setbacks that he had did not deflect him from his goal.