He was described as homely, hatchet-faced, not handsome, gaunt, awkwardly different, uncomely, odd-featured, lean and ugly in every way, and having a most ungainly mass of arms and legs ever seen. His first official photograph had to be doctored to draw attention away from his overly long arms and neck. Even his wife said he was not pretty.
He was constantly worried about his appearance and reputation. He rarely smiled, not because he was never happy. The culprit for his less than joyous demeanor was his teeth, or rather dentures. The myth lives on that his teeth were made of wood…they weren’t. Instead, his dentures were made from ivory, other people’s teeth, lead, tin and copper alloys, and even possibly a cow’s teeth. The pain derived from his dentures stayed with him for most of his life.
He was a physically-uninspiring young boy. He suffered from asthma and was generally confined to indoor activities such as reading. Because of his frailty, he was kept from playing with children his own age. He suffered near-sightedness and an underweight body. In short, he was not the image of a healthy boy.
He was said to have uncommonly long arms. His hands and feet were oversized. He stooped a little, and when sitting, he slouched more than usual. His chin, too, as was said, was longer than normal.
The human eye. Made up of thirty different components, it is one of the most incredible, complex organs of the body. Many don’t realize it, but your eyes see the world upside down. Because of the process of refraction and the convex shape of your lens, the image that initially hits your retina is inverted. Your brain then takes the image and puts it in the right perspective, that of right-side up. Now, it is way more complicated than that and if I were a ophthalmologist I would be able to explain it better.
However, for all of the intricacies of the human eye, it only sees what is visible. With the assistance of technology such as x-rays, cat-scans, MRIs, and surgical cameras, the eye can see the inside of the body and the condition of bones, the heart, lungs, kidneys, etc, but it is still only sees that which is physical in nature.
The human eye is amazing, but it only saw the homely, hatchet-faced, ungainly mass of arms and legs of Abraham Lincoln. The human eye is extraordinary, but it only noticed the grim, joyless face of George Washington. The human eye is fascinating, but it only recognized the frail body of a young, asthmatic Theodore Roosevelt. The human eye is remarkable, but it only distinguished the longer-than-normal arms and chin of Thomas Jefferson.
The human eye could never see the most powerful nature of these men…that which made them who they were. It was not their physical appearances that made them great. If this were true, they all would have started with two strikes against them. If ever the old saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” rang true, it was in the lives of these four men. But isn’t that just what we do…judge by the externals, the appearances? Beautiful face – check. Six-pack abs – check. Toned muscles – check. Meanwhile, we pay no attention to those who do not have the photographic appeal.
Such was the case in the Old Testament book of First Samuel. God instructs the prophet to go and anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the new king. Upon arriving, Samuel begins the selection process. First up was Eliab. I don’t know for sure, but I think he was handsome, had the muscles, and of course, the requisite six-pack abs – for who would ever want a king without those? Samuel must have thought to himself, “This is the easiest job ever, Eliab is the chosen one.” But suddenly God intervenes. “Sam, it isn’t this guy. I know he is fine-looking. However, I the Lord, do not use the human eye to judge the capabilities of man. Sam, I understand that you look at his physical appearance and believe Eliab is the one. But it is not so. I look at the heart. I see what is on the inside of man. I know how a person is going to react to adversity. I know that when the going gets tough, you think that a man’s muscles are going to pull him through. But you are wrong. It is who he is on the inside, that which is invisible to your human eyes, that will lead him through the storm. That is what is important, Sam.”
And storms these men went through. Lincoln held together a divided nation. Washington led a rag-tag, ill-clothed, desperate group against a professional army, and won. Roosevelt mourned the loss of the two most important women in his life, his mother and his wife, within twelve hours of each other. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents in our nation’s history, which would have the effect of a revolutionary war.
We have honored them by having their likenesses carved into the side of a mountain, not because they were particularly good looking or had six-pack abs. Their faces are memorialized because of what the eye could not see in them. Because that is what is important.
Faith, Leadership, and History 