Be Someone -

Ok, so my talk went pretty well. Lynette's talk was great. Her's was better than mine because she told more personal stories and her personality was expressed more. As I said in my talk Lynette knows commitment because she lives it.

Anyway, Lynette found the following story that would have been good to include in either one of our talks. We decided not to include it because of time. But it turned out we had about 15 more minutes to speak than we were originally told. I guess we could have worked this one in to our talks somehow...ah well.

Most of us who have ever heard of the great American leader Abraham Lincoln will recall what he said of his mother: “All that I am, all that I hope to be, I owe to my Angel mother.” (in Abraham Lincoln’s Philosophy of Common Sense, ed. Edward J. Kempf, New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1965, p. 60.)

But how many of us know what his mother’s last words to him were? They were “Be something, Abe.”

Not only is this wise counsel, but it also expresses the yearnings of most fathers’ and mothers’ hearts to have their children be something. Simple terms, but, oh, how powerful, “Be something.”

I am so pleased she didn’t say, “Be someone.” She said, “Be something, Abe.” There is a significant difference. In the dictionary someone is defined as “conceived or thought of, but not definitely known,” while something is identified as “a person or thing of importance.”

Abraham Lincoln’s mother knew her son, his potential, and the rocky roads ahead of him; hence, she wanted him to commit himself promptly to being steadfast and immovable in living and promoting deeds of courage and faith in the lives of all mankind.

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Marvin J. Ashton