When Abraham Lincoln was a young boy, his mother, Nancy Hanks, whom everyone adored, passed away. She had been a beacon of light for young Abe.
And still he walked.
When he was a bit older, Abraham Lincoln lost his first true love, Anne Rutledge.
And still he walked.
Shortly after he lost Anne, his older sister Sarah passed away in childbirth. Lincoln could not contain his grief and some say he went mad.
And still he walked.
In Springfield, Lincoln lost his second son, Eddie, to tuberculosis.
And still he walked.
The first casualty for the Union side was a man whom Lincoln knew and loved.
And still he walked.
In 1862, with the Civil War just heating up, Lincoln lost his son Willie, whom he held in a special place in his heart.
And still he walked.
With all the weight of the world on his shoulders, with the death of hundreds of thousands of men seeming to fall on his shoulders, still he walked.
And he became one of the greatest men history has known.
When the weight of the world seems to be on you, when a cloud of despair seems to be following you, what can stop you from walking? What can stop you from doing what must be done?
Only think of Abraham Lincoln, whose face bore all of his grief and whose back carried an entire nation.