To celebrate the Lincoln bi-centennial I've been reading Ronald White's wonderful new biography, A. Lincoln.I was dimly aware that the former President had a seemingly strained relationship with his own father, Thomas.What I had not realized was that Thomas, at age six, stood next to his own father when the latter was shot and killed by an Indian.I can imagine the effect it had on the young boy, and the man he became. And I am moved that he named his only son after that fallen father: Abraham.As the Roman poet, who extolled familial pietas, exclaimed: Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt -- human experiences, death-destined, breed tears, and strike the hollows of our hearts (translation with apologies to P. Vergilius).