Growing up, there was no one Ravi Singh admired more than Abraham Lincoln. "His story growing up and struggles he faced before becoming a hero is one that I can relate to very well. I am deeply appreciative of President Lincoln's lessons in perseverance. The lessons inspired me from a very early age. His will to persevere and try something he believes in again and again after failure got me up every day, knowing that there will be ‘the right moment.’”

Looking at his journey. In 1831 Abraham Lincoln failed in business, he tried and lost the bid for the state legislature in 1832, he went on to try another business in 1833, it failed. His fiancée died in 1835. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836. He tried politics again in 1843, ran for congress and lost. In 1848 he ran for congress and lost yet again.  In 1855 he ran for Senate seat and lost. The next year he ran for vice-president and lost. In 1859, he ran for Senate again and was defeated. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught lawyer, legislator, and vocal opponent of slavery was elected 16th president of the United States.  The difference between history’s boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is simply, the diligent will to persevere. You have the potential to succeed! That potential is not defined in any book but rather by your life achievements. You see, we do not know when we will expire from this earth. Otherwise, we would live our lives much differently. It’s all about this life we are living in this moment and how we engage with it.  

We can see it as awful, or we can see it as great.  We need to believe that we have control of life as we view it. We have the power to choose how we want to see things. The reason why I love social media and technology is because it has empowered us to live a life as we see it.  Social media and technology have granted us the freedom to share freely and voice our opinions without fear of persecution.  This freedom embodies what Lincoln stood for, fought for, and died for. The ability to be a free individual.  Whether it be in the online community or our offline world, our freedoms give us the power to become and express our true nature. Social media helps us communicate our true natures if we choose to do so, share them with the world, voice our opinions about them, and create engagement in our lives.  Social media is a great enabler in the digital world, and our voices empower its potential to change the world and leave a legacy before we depart.