Abraham Lincoln' young son Willie died on Thursday, February 20, 1862 at 5 P.M. at the age of eleven in the White House. At the time of his death Washington D.C. was filled with tens of thousands of soldiers who were there to protect the capital from a potential Confederate attack. Sanitary conditions being what they were caused the water to become contaminated. The sickness that caused Willie's death is believed to have been caused by the water he drank.
It is ironic and sad that the condition created to provide Willie and his family safety is what caused his death. What his father believed was the best position to provide for his boy led to an illness that took his life.
What kinds of things do we allow in our lives that we believe protect us, but actually cause sickness in our minds, souls, and bodies?
I am not speaking here of an ecological reality, although there is plenty to be said about our need to provide clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment. I am thinking about the things that we seek or allow in our lives that we perceive as good or ultimate things that are beneficial, but can be causing a sickness in us. I am thinking about material things, emotional things, or activities like sports, work, or hobbies. These are all good and necessary things, but they can create an unhealthy life.
For instance how many people lose their health or important relationships trying to pay for a house, a car, or something material? How many people lose their marriage trying to prove themselves in the business sector or in some other way? They are looking for emotional encouragement, but in the pursuit of it they sacrifice the people they love and genuinely need and who need them. How many parents rob their children of childhood by making them semi-pro athletes, musicians or academicians? Sports, the arts, and education are good things, but at what point can they become detrimental to a child's mental, spiritual, and emotional life.
Willie died because he was in a position that looked "safe", but in reality caused a sickness that killed him. Are you creating an environment for your life with good things that will cause harm rather than make it safer or better?
2 comments:
That story reminds me of an Aesop Fable I read as a child, "The One-Eyed Doe." In most accounts of that story it ends with the dying doe stating that the very place she thought to be safe from hunters actually turned out to be her downfall.
And don't forget the classic "The Giving Tree"...it adds the twist of sacrifice, but it carries a very similar message.
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