Hypercriticism

Today, we visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. One of the most striking parts of the exhibit is this hallway you walk through where all you can see are mocking caricatures that hypercritical journalists/cartoonists have done of Lincoln, expressing their great disapproval for pretty much every little thing he and Mary Todd did. This is then followed by faces speaking to you about why they disapproved of him in all directions you could turn. The exhibit notes that all criticism abruptly halted once Lincoln was assassinated. I thought about this. If we spend time criticizing those in our lives to an excessive degree, would we all stop if we knew that their lives would be cut short?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.