There are a few people on my list from history that I would like to sit down to dinner with. Abraham Lincoln is one of them. The more I learn about him and what a monumental influence on this country he was, the more I am in awe of that great man. I am convinced that without his inspired leadership we would not be the country we are today - whole and free. While in Illinois visiting my sister, we drove down to Springfield to the museum there. If we had the time we could have done a lot more in that town - including touring his house, and seeing his tomb. But we spent about 6 hours alone in the museum and we could have easily spent a bit longer.
There were so many wonderful historical items and the museum did a great job at making the life of Abraham Lincoln real to you. There were a couple of things that really were must sees there. First, they had a four minute long video that played on a loop through one of the sections of the museum. It was a graphic that showed a map of the United States with the South and North split as they were during the war. The front line would change and curve and move as the graphic went along the years of the Civil War. As it went along you saw where the battles were and where the South advanced and ultimately how the North slowly won the war. The really solemn thing was the graphic in the corner of the large screen. It was the death toll count for the North and South as the war progressed. It was quite moving, and very humbling. The room was quite with reverence as the song of the video played and the death toll rose. It ended with over 1.3 million lives lost combined. I had never realized it was so many and my gratitude for all those lives lost was tremendous. Regardless of what side those men fought on - they fought for their values, fought for their belief in the rightness of their cause, and they died as a legacy to their convictions.
It was also a honor as a parent to get to explain what the video was showing to my son. It was one of those moments in a parent's life where you are sad you have to tell them anything so horrible ever happened but proud to share with them a part of their own legacy - won so many years ago on various battlefields across the country - and how blessed they are to live in such a wonderful country. A country where men freely give their lives to fight for the freedom we enjoy. I never take pleasure in exposing my son to the harsh realities of life or history, but I do take pride in the way he reverenced what he was taught and how he grew proud of his country in that moment. It was also a honor to know that some of my ancestors fought in that war. I thought of them as I watched the map around Pennsylvania.
Another neat part of the museum was a fun 3D movie that was unlike any other we ever experienced. You didn't need glasses because the 3D was done one various screens. But I still do not understand how they did some of it because at one point we had a real person behind the glass talking and then he disappeared. It was fantastically done and also very cool to watch.
Below is the family posing with the Lincolns - we're real tight.
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