summary of poem Abraham Lincoln's letter to his son's teacher
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Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to his son’s headmaster is full of his optimism and values he believed in; this letter reflects his greatness and ideals he always held close to his heart. In this letter he urges his son’s headmaster to instill in him these values to make him a great human being.
He asks him to teach his son faith in humanity. He should teach him not to be discouraged by scoundrels, selfish politicians, and enemies as there are heroes, dedicated leaders, and friends too. He asks him to teach him the value of labour and hard-work; the necessity of going through failures in order to appreciate success or victory. He asks him to teach him to stay away from envy and to enjoy quiet laughter. He requests him to teach him that bullies accept defeat quickly. He also urges the headmaster to teach his son the wonders of reading books and deep quiet reflection on the beautiful mysteries of nature.
He also wants the headmaster to teach him the value of honesty and integrity, his unique individuality, and self-belief and conviction in a trying situation. He appeals to the headmaster to teach his son the art of being gentle and polite with good people; and tough with the tough ones. He also requests the headmaster to teach his son to be strong enough and have the courage to be different, truthful, and always focus on the good.
He insists on him to teach him the secrets of keeping away sadness with laughter; lightening his heart’s burden with sincere tears; not to mind too much the cynics’ ideas; and beware of people who are excessively sweet. Lincoln also appeals to the headmaster to always endorse and support to the best people in physical strength and intelligence; he must never ever compromise on issues related to heart and spirituality. He wants the headmaster to teach him how to become deaf to the howling of irrational mob and always believe in himself and fight for what he thinks is right.
At the end of the letter he advises the headmaster neither to be too gentle with him nor treat him harshly. He requests him to teach him to develop courage to be patient, and have patience to be brave. He winds up the letter by asking him have sublime faith in himself because only then he can have faith in himself.
My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.
So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him – but gently, if you can, Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.
Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.
Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can – how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.
Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they are wrong.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filter all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.
Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.
This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy and he is my son.