Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” is a movie about the beginning of the 2nd term of the 16th President of our country Abraham Lincoln and his struggle with getting enough votes to pass the 13th amendment into a law. His decision is one based on the idea that Slavery was wrong, period. However, the other side of the dilemma is that the Civil War is in its 4th year and the bloodshed and death are plaguing him as well. He could end the war, but doing so prematurely would certainly not end slavery any time soon. Dealing with the idea of sacrificing the life of the soldiers at war to bring about the end of slavery is something that doesn’t necessarily set well with Lincoln, but his strong belief that slavery must end was something he felt so strongly in that he would see this come to pass by any means necessary.
Epictetus
Epictetus believed that one can only truly find liberty and happiness when they grab ahold to the idea that certain things are well within our control and yet there are some things we have no control over whatsoever. Once one embraces this reality and learns the difference between what can be controlled in life and how they differentiate from the things that cannot be controlled, one can, and most likely will, find inner peace. Taking a mind over matter approach is most certainly one way to rise above the difficult experiences that life can sometimes hand us.
Lincoln’s ability to focus on his goals in spite of the tragedy of losing his son was a great example of embracing Epictetus’s philosophy. His wife Mary Todd, who he called Molly, appeared slightly frustrated with the fact that he had in some ways, made peace with their terrible experience of losing a son. Since he couldn’t control what happened to his son he decided to move past it and control the things that he could, one such thing was Lincoln trying to be as close as he could to his