Lincoln and Me

Nancy and I recently watched Lincoln, and it was really great, although it had sort of a sad ending, which I won't give away and spoil the surprise.  Anyway one of the things I learned was how hard on her husband Mrs Lincoln was.  He was all like, "I've got to free the slaves and save the Union," and she was, "Yeah, Mr Great Emancipator, but you still forgot to put up the dishes!"  It makes me realize how much I have in common with the other great men in history.  I've set the high score in Minesweeper, but does Nancy take that into account?  No, it's all about how I forgot to wrap the cheese and now it's all hard on the end.  But that's one of the crosses we men of destiny have to bear.  I'm sure Gandhi would come home after a hard day's work facing down the British Empire and advocating nonviolence and all that, and all he wanted to do was just plop in front of the TV with a cold one, but then Mrs Gandhi would get on his ass about forgetting to pick up the dry cleaning.

I know it sounds sexist, but I can't picture it working the other way around.  I don't think Mr Joan of Arc ever complained because his wife left her armor lying all over the house.  He was probably more like, "Hey, saving France from foreign powers!  Way to go, honey!  Don't worry about supper, I'll pick up Chinese."  That's just the way men are.  Supportive.  I don't think Mr. Curie ever griped because Marie got radium all over the kitchen floor, but Mrs Isaac Newton was probably all like, "You'd think with all that universal gravitation, you'd remember to put the seat down."

But that, I suppose, is just part of the price of greatness.  Did Darwin let it get him down when his wife complained about all those species he let in the house?  Did Beethoven worry when his wife complained about all the racket he was making?  Did Ricky Henderson worry when his wife complained the closet was full of stolen bases?  They did not.  They forged ahead and pursued their dreams.  So I'm going to play another game of Minesweeper.

But first I'm throwing away that hard cheese in the refrigerator before Nancy sees it.