ON PERSEVERANCE

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Good for him. And I would be remiss if, as a Midwesterner, I did not point out that he was born in Kentucky and grew up in Indiana, and did not set foot in Illinois until he went to college. So eat it, "Land of Lincoln."

In any event, much is made of the persistence Lincoln showed in his adult life. And according to snopes.com, not all of that story is entirely true. But Lincoln - like anyone, I'd imagine - suffered his share of setbacks along his path to being on the penny AND the five-dollar bill. [Note: I believe Lincoln was the first person to be depicted on a US coin for general circulation, as he was an "embodiment of liberty" or some such nonsense.] The story of Lincoln's repeated failure is used to teach people the value of persistence, of sticktoitiveness, of perseverance.

That having been said, I'm pretty sure Lincoln never had twelve different women ignore his eharmony advances.

Maybe I'm just nostalgic for my youth, when we got days off for both Lincoln's birthday AND Washington's birthday...I think. It's possible I'm misremembering this whole thing. This stovepipe hat is making it hard to think.