Dinner reservation with Abraham Lincoln by Valeria

Dinner reservation with Abraham Lincoln by Valeria - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

If I could have dinner with one U.S. President (living or not), I would pick Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, the current administration has used a tone and promoted messages that has created a separation and hate among races and ethnicity. I would like to know what Abraham thinks about this. He fought for civil rights and unity, which ended up shaping the future of the nation.

I would take this opportunity to ask him for a solution. Not to complain or try to point fingers to anyone because in the end that is not being productive at all. I believe that with his experience and social challenges from back then could help him give a unique perspective in this issue. And most importantly I would like to ask him how was he able to forgive the people who were against the civil rights idea to move on even though he was so criticized for being from the Kentucky, a slave state back then.

He also stuck with his believe and challenged slavery advocates. I would like to ask him how he found a way to talking to people that do not agree with you without falling into violence. I would like to mention to him the unfortunate outcome from the protest that happened recently in Charlottesville to see how this could have been avoided. Maybe at debate? Or what other ides does he have in mind.

I understand that slavery, racism and abuse of power can be a complex subject. However, I do not believe that a nation should lose more lives or injure another human being over a social or political ideal.

The good thing about being in a free country, like USA, is that you can actually be informed. Dictatorships are knowns for censoring channels and hiding the truth from the citizens. This is an opportunity for the population to read about the two sides of the story to make a point with proof and not diving into conclusions that are not true.
I would like to ask Lincoln how did he educate Congress in an issue where information was not as handy as it is in the XXI century. Creating legislature and policy must have been a challenge. I would like him to tell me some stories about dealing with congressman.

Most importantly, I would like to know if he ever gave up and why. I would like to use some of his inspirational stories to encourage a nation to keep working in unity. Most likely he had good days and bad days. I would like to use the bad days to see how he overcame those challenges and use it in his favor.

I believe if we all collaborate in union and hear all sides of the story we can achieve progress, tolerance and respect. The most challenging part would be forgiveness. I think this is an aspect where we all need to work on, so love can reign. This can be possible when we all work as one.