Enjoy Part Two of the Abraham Lincoln interview! 

Me: How about another question, Erik?

Erik: But that was a good one, man. That’s like his total legacy, having his face on the penny.

Me: That’s true. Well if we get rid of that, he’s going to have to have his face on another. The gold doubloon. Okay, go for another question, Erik.

Jamie (shocked): What made you say that?

Me: The gold doubloon?

Jamie: Yeah!

Me: I don’t know. It just popped into my head.

Jamie: Well that’s what he went off on, and I told him, ‘come on, come on, let’s straighten up.’ But that’s not something that you’d [commonly] say.

Me: I know!

Jamie: I can’t even pronounce it.

Me: Well I can barely, too, as you may have noticed. Wow, we’re on the same page, Abe! That’s cool!

Jamie: Yeah that’s cool.

Me: All right. Erik, watcha got? Not in your pocket but in your brain.

Erik: Empty. My pockets are more full than my brain.

Me: Oh god.

Erik: Abe, if there is—

Jamie: I can’t believe he calls him Abe.

Erik: Abe, if there is one thing that you could leave for every, every, everyone to know, you know, just some words of wisdom, what would you drop down right now?

Jamie chuckles.

Erik: What would you say?

Jamie: He had his hands in his laps, and he kind of puts them on the table. One is over the other, which is very nice.

Abe: That is a very powerful question. I’d very much like to be president in this day and age seeing how [powerful and open] media is. I know it can work both ways.

Me: Yeah.

Abe: But I would like every American citizen, even those who are living with us that do not have citizenship, to know the value of loving thy neighbor. I believe that as your media grew and your focus on money grew, status became more important and friendships became secondary. It is—

Jamie: I don’t know that word. Sorry.

Abe changes the word.

Abe: It is nice to see how people protect their families, but I would also like to see them protecting their neighbors.

Me: We’ve become so insulated from them.

Abe: By wall, yards and fences. But they’re just steps away, and it would be wonderful to love them as much as you love yourself. The world would change overnight.

Me: Yeah.

(Poignant pause)

Me: What was your spiritual mission, Mr. Lincoln, and do you feel like you accomplished it?

Abe (According to Jamie, sweeping his hand to the side, in front of him): Do you mean the spiritual lesson that all could see or the one I held for myself?

Me: Oh, both!

Erik: You heard the woman, both!

Me: Erik, you’re something else, my boy.

Erik: Oh, Abe loves it, Mom. He loves it. Are you kidding?

Abe: The spiritual lesson for all to see was my self-sacrifice knowing that my life, though greater in influence than most, was not to be protected as something valuable. It was to be seen as one of many [lives.] I do feel like I succeeded greatly in that and not hide from my fears, but instead, to walk forward. The personal one that I held close to my chest? That was to understand self-gratitude and self-love. It was difficult for me to look inward though it was easy to see just my reactions to what I put out into the world. I tended to focus heavily on that instead of who I was. My contract with my wife was valuable in that she was the one who helped me see what I had deep inside of myself.

Me: Okay. Last question. Any final messages for humanity?

Erik: I busted my chops, Mom. I asked that first.

Me: Okay, ask another one then.

Erik (to Abe): Do you like cats?

Jamie: My cat is all over me.

Abe: I do like cats. I like animals.

Me: That’s a good note to end off on. Thank you, Mr. Lincoln. Thank you, Erik. Thank you, Jamie.