Over the past year, my job allowed me the flexiblity to work from home for long stretches at a time. On the days I was in the office, the first thing I would do is tear off the daily entries for the Lincoln desk calendar that I received as a gift last Christmas. Lincoln’s words and deeds were always a good way to begin the work day.
This week was the first time I had been in the office in 2012, and I discovered that my 2011 Lincoln calendar had run its course. All things must pass, and that applies to desk calendars as well.
Rather than throwing each day’s entry away–as I would probably do with other desk calendars–I put them all into a filing bin sitting on my desk. At the end of the year, instead of gathering up all of the pages and throwing them out, I arranged them into a stack, put a rubber band around them, and will find a place for them somewhere in my office work space. Throwing them away just felt like a foolish thing to do.
So now I have a stack of Lincoln quotations and facts at the ready, for whatever situations may present themselves in this and other years to come. And on a psychological level, that’s comforting to me. I was born and raised in Lincoln’s hometown, my ancestors knew Lincoln when he was just an ambitious young man on the prairie, and as a result Lincoln is literally my middle name. As I see it, Lincoln is the ideal desk companion to have.
Blue Batting Helmet 