The Black Hole
It was a beautiful spring day. The flowers were blooming and the trees were starting to expose their green leaves which they hid inside themselves over the long, cold winter. There was a crisp breeze in the air that required a light jacket, but it was a welcome relief from the heavy coat required just a few weeks prior. The birds were starting to return, too. Those beautiful birds, they sound so much better in the spring. The bright sun seemed picture perfect in the cloudless soft blue sky.
Wes was so happy that he decided to go out for a walk and enjoy the surroundings. He walked out his door and down the brick pathway that lead to the sidewalk in front of his house. The brick walkway was edged with tulips exploding with color. When he approached the sidewalk he turned right and headed up the tree-lined street.
As he walked up the streets he noticed several children chasing each other in a game of tag. They were laughing and having a great time. Their parents sat on the porch with the biggest grins on their faces. Their glow expressed the pride of the happiness in their children’s lives. As he traveled further up the street he noticed two young lads tossing a baseball back and forth. He imagined their thoughts of stardom and the upcoming baseball season. It all brought a smile to his face.
After several blocks he turned left and walked past several of the shops downtown. As he walked past the barbershop he peered inside. He noticed a few of his friends and he waved to them. With big smiles on their faces, they waved back. Wes had lots of friends and it was probably because of his listening ears and witty sense of humor. He walked a little further and his thoughts wandered blissfully. Yes, this really was a great place to live and he was really enjoying his life.
A long time ago, before this young lad ever had any thought of being President, he was much more concerned about getting from day to day. Several generations had passed since his great, great, great, great grandfather, Samuel arrived from Norwich, England. The young lad was named after his grandfather, though. This grandfather moved his family, including the young lad’s father, to where he was born and that, it seems, was out in the middle of nowhere.
Life in the wilderness was tough for this young lad. He seemed to be closer to his mother, Nancy, than to his father, Thomas. But his dad, probably had scars from his youth. This young lad’s grandfather was a captain in the military. When the young lad’s father was younger, he witnessed this grandfather’s brutal murder in an Indian raid. Although it is impossible to truly know, the young lad’s mother may have been a child born out of wedlock, which was highly looked down on in that day and time. He would have an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Thomas. His brother, Thomas, would die in infancy. Such was life in the wilderness.
His mother, Nancy, married his father, Thomas, in 1806. His oldest sister, Sarah, was born the next year. He would follow two years after his sister. His younger brother, Thomas, would come three years after his birth, but this little brother wouldn’t live to see his first birthday.
Thomas and Nancy, his parents, would move to Indiana in 1816 (the same year Indiana became the 19th state). Part of the move was based on his dad’s opposition to slavery. It wasn’t really on moral grounds that his dad despised slavery, but it was the unfair competitive disadvantage it gave the little man, like him, who were struggling just to make it. Two years after they moved to Indiana, at the age of thirty-four years old, his mother would pass away with what most would call milk sickness. Milk sickness comes from drinking milk or eating beef from cows that had ingested white snakeroot. He loved his mother so much and this devastated this nine year old child.
Thomas soon realized he couldn’t make it alone on the farm. He needed a wife. So Thomas left his son with the son’s older sister and he headed back to Kentucky in search of a wife. The young son, already not really close to his father, probably really felt abandoned now. Thomas found a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston, who had three children (Elizabeth, John D., and Matilda) of her own that ranged in age from five to nine years old. In a businesslike arrangement, he agreed to pay off her debt and she agreed to marry him and move back to Indiana with him. Sarah, the young lad’s stepmother, had an amazing talent of being able to blend the two families into one loving unit. Craving affection and attention, he fell in love with his new stepmother and he would even call her “Mama.”
When he turned seventeen, his sister, Sarah, married a neighbor named Aaron Grigsby. A year and a half later, his sister died in childbirth of a stillborn child. He would always blame his brother-in-law for her death because he didn’t call a doctor.
A crowd gathered around. After many years of corruption they had decided they no longer wanted to be ruled by Judges. They loved their current Judge, Samuel, but they knew his corrupt sons would inherit the judgeship and they were not happy about that possibility. They had been through this with another Priest who was like a Judge, Eli, and they really didn’t want to go through it again. They wanted a king. Samuel was very hurt by their decision. After much complaining to God, God decided to give the people what they asked for, a king. The crowd gathered together because today was the day Samuel would draw lots to determine God’s choice for their new king. The first lot chose the tribe the king would come from. The tribe that was chosen was Benjamin. The second lot determined what family in that tribe the king should come from. The family of Kish was chosen.
He was a tall, handsome young lad. You know the type, he walks into the room and you immediately take notice of him. He was one of the sons of Kish and he was the choice to become king. Despite his good looks, he was very shy and not at all the leadership type. So when the crowd gathered, they could not even find him. They searched and searched and Samuel finally found him hiding in a field. The young lad was probably like most shy people, hoping that it wasn’t his name that was picked to climb on stage of leadership.
As time passed, the King would grow into quite a commanding force. Yet it would not be his rise from humble beginnings that he would be known for. King Saul still had quite the inferiority complex. He feared David, a young, loyal soldier, was more popular than he was. This would cause David to flee Saul’s presence. In fits of anger the King would try to track him down, without success. King Saul’s kingdom would slowly slip from him.
King Saul stood at the edge of the battlefield facing the mighty Philistines at the base of Mount Gilboa. Without David and David’s men things looked pretty grim. But worse than all that was the fact that God had also given up on him. I’m sure Saul was quite depressed, because he probably understood that this battle was not going to end well for him, his sons, his men, and his kingdom. Soon it became very clear that the battle was lost. Saul’s sons had been killed and now he was wounded by a Philistine archer. Saul did not want to be taken captive. King Saul ordered one of his men to kill him, but the loyal soldier refused. Then Saul, who originally didn’t even want to be king, fell on his sword and killed himself. The problems and the defeats of this world were just too great for him.
It was such a nice day that Wes decided to head off the regular path when he reached the edge of the forest. With all the spring flowers and trees blooming, he decided to go for an adventure into the woods. Step by step he went deeper and deeper into the woods. Admiring all the beauty around him he soon lost any sense of his location. When he snapped out of his thoughts he was very confused by his location. It was getting darker and he didn’t know which way to turn. His steps lost their bounce.
Wes soon arrived at a very deep canyon. It was so deep and all you could see was darkness if you looked into it. The cover of light seemed to leave him. Wes became paralyzed with fear. He couldn’t move. Everywhere he looked there was darkness. He was afraid to take a step in any direction. He could find no friends to help him out of his situation, but even if he could it was very doubtful he would have listened to them anyway.
Abraham Lincoln never really restored a strong relationship with his father. In fact, when his father was on his deathbed he would not return to even visit him and when his father died he would not attend the funeral. Lincoln would not even pay for his father’s tombstone.
In 1843, Abraham Lincoln would become a father himself. Robert Todd Lincoln would be the first of his four sons. The others were: Edward, Willie and Tad. He decided he wasn’t going to be anything like he thought his Dad was. He was loving and doting. He wasn’t a disciplinarian and his sons would often run wild. Despite people’s disappointment of his son’s behavior, no one ever doubted that he loved his boys very much.
While Lincoln was President and in the middle of the Civil War, Willie, his son, would die from what is believed to be typhoid fever. Typhoid fever comes from ingesting contaminated water or food. Lincoln would say, “My poor boy. He was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so much. It is hard, hard to have him die!” Even though he was in the middle of the Civil War, Lincoln would become so distraught that he would not return to work for three weeks.
A phobia is the fear of something. It could be a fear of flying, a fear of heights, or the fear of almost anything. Depression is a very serious condition. Where, generally, someone with a phobia will run from or avoid what they fear, someone with depression will magnetically be drawn in the direction of that which caused its condition. With a life full of sorrow of loved ones dying, it is very easy to see how someone like Lincoln could suffer from depression as many have suggested he did. Sometimes it is a deep hole someone, like Wes, stares into. Despite everything around him seeming wonderful, there seems to be no safe direction to move no matter how much those around him try to talk him out of it. Life could be going so well and all of a sudden something pops up and all the happiness evaporates. In real serious situations, like Saul’s there seems to be no solution but suicide.
Depression is a very serious problem. It is estimated that at least 18% of the adult population in the United States suffers from depression and 3% of adults in the United States, at any given time, suffer from major depression. Women are 70% more likely than men to suffer depression, but this may have more to do with the fact that women are more likely than men to seek treatment and therefore their numbers are a little easier to track. Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, but of those suffering from them, only about a third seek treatment. It is estimated that people with untreatable depression die, on average, 25 years sooner than their peers. About half the suicides are thought to be from people with depression. Up to 15% of those with disorders, like depression, will die of suicide.
If you know of anyone suffering from depression, be a great friend and suggest that they get professional help. I’m not talking about people who are a little sad or are suffering from a disappointment. I’m talking about those whom seem to have lost confidence that things will ever improve or that they will ever get out of the lifestyle that has caused them so much unhappiness. Sometimes it’s more than a matter of just cheering them up.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Sometimes gloom can cast huge shadows over one’s life. In those times let us not be afraid to seek help if it is our lives that cannot see the sunshine. If it is someone we know, please let us be that brave friend that will help them find the help they need. Amen.
