Recently I have been reading the biography—Abraham Lincoln, written by James Baldwin. Though I haven’t finished my reading( in fact I have just finished the part about his childhood), I am totally grasped by this book and Lincoln’s early experience makes me think a lot.

Lincoln is known as one of the greatest men in the world, who is remembered not only by American people but also by the world people. All in all, such a great man is admired and respected by us for this or that reason. Previously I thought a person like Lincoln should come from a noble family or at least a literary one, because during the 19th century getting education was not easy. In fact, Lincoln was born in a humble and extremely poor family. For a long time his family lived in a half-faced camp. What’s worse, his home was in backwoods. Even though he longed for knowledge, there was no teacher to help him. From time to time, there might be a preacher who could teach the children, but such condition didn’t last long. So Lincoln didn’t gain much schooling and if all his school days had been put together, they wouldn’t have made twelve months. Despite this, it couldn’t stop him from being a lawyer, being a president and being a knowledgeable man.

The key is that Lincoln himself never gave up the belief to study. Thanks to the great mother who had taught her son from an early time and encouraged him to read books all the time. Influenced by his mother Lincoln loved reading and a book could be read for times. Under such hard conditions Lincoln tried every means to gain books and saved all his spare time to read them. So it is no wonder if Lincoln learned more than some people do nowadays who have every opportunity and yet are lazy and careless.

The example of Lincoln convinces me deeply that whether a person can achieve something or not is not determined by other factors such as conditions or environment but only by himself. Everyone is the master of his or her own fate. When we fail and complain about some unrelated factors, we should feel shameful. It’s we that have messed up the thing. We can imagine that if Lincoln had only complained his poor family and having no chance to go to school but without any efforts on his own study, he might have been as common and illiterate as others. He stands out because of himself and instead all the difficulties helped shape his strong character. However, the irony is that some people have good opportunities but achieve nothing and even degenerate.

This book also tells me that a great man should be a merciful. Although he lived in backwoods and most of their food came from the creatures in the woods. Lincoln, unlike his father, could not see any sport in hunting. He showed great sympathy to those ignorant creatures. These things show that Lincoln had great love in his heart. When he grew up, this love became a responsibility to liberate the slaves and to make all people equal. The great love made him devoted himself to the whole America without any hesitation. I believe that a selfish person can’t achieve a great career because he doesn’t have a broad mind and a merciful heart. If you want to be remembered by the people, you should have them in your mind.

Show great respect to Abraham Lincoln!