Today we celebrate the 197th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
What do we know about this man? some discussion of his depression according to STLToday

Some allege he suffered from melancholy or depression, but unlike the celebrities nowadays who wallow and delve into their misery and nihilsm from whom we hear nothing but a deadening repetitive whining, - we celebrate how Lincoln transcended it. . "We'll never be able to diagnose Lincoln, but we can continue to learn from how he handled his condition: the old-fashioned way."


It is known that with his towering intellect and his sensitivity to the suffering caused by the war, he would still begin cabinet meetings with a reading from one of the low-brow humorists of the day. "Yet it was just such moments, when he shed the emotional weight of his responsibilities in full- bodied laughter, that helped him overcome his melancholia."

What say he of religion?
Speaking of the Bible to his friend Joshua Speed in the summer of 1864, Lincoln advised, "Take all of this book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man."

Ought we not try to typify that spirit?

Did he allow his depression to cripple him?
It is said that during phases of his early adulthood and middle age, he had experienced depression and learned to live with it. When it came time for him to lead the nation through the crucible of Civil War, he had attained an emotional equilibrium that enabled him to carry the nation's burden as well as his own.

Perhaps on some level this puts the lie to the notion that even debilitating depression can
prevent someone from finding one's highest destiny.

President Lincoln personified the struggle we all have on some level, allowing the supreme human value to be the victor.