Is that a Snowflake I see?
It is winter here in Virginia and we are just waiting for that big snowstorm to hit. They are calling for, perhaps, the biggest snowstorm of my lifetime and maybe the biggest snowstorm this area has ever seen. In this area, when we get 3-4 inches of snow, everyone runs out to the store to buy bread, milk and toilet paper. Some of these people don’t even like milk or eat bread. It’s just what we do. Just imagine what we do when they are calling for snow in feet and not just inches.
We were given a little notice on this giant snowstorm, so I suggested to my wife that she meet me at the store. We could go out to eat and then we could run into a store and get our groceries so we could survive three months of being snowed in. I thought we would beat the crowd since we were going 2-3 days before the storm. Boy was I wrong. The store and parking lot were packed. As I was heading into the store a gentleman said to me, “The shelves are empty.” He was close to being right.
I noticed one gallon of milk left. I quickly grabbed it. Later I heard someone complaining that there was no milk to be found. I threw a few items on top of my gallon, as to hide it, just in case someone got any ideas. We had picked up toilet paper earlier, so I rushed to the bread aisle. The bread aisle was completely empty. Even that hard grain bread, that even birds won’t eat, was gone. I had to settle for “healthy” flavored wraps. With all the essentials done, I decided to head off to the good stuff like cookies, potato chips, and chocolate. Before you knew it our shopping cart was full. We might get cold if the electric went out, but we sure weren’t going to go hungry.
When we came out of the store, it was snowing and sleeting. The weather man forgot to tell us about this “little” pre-storm. All they said was there was a chance of some light snow. The snow covered the cars and the parking lot. It was very slippery because the snow would melt when it hit the ground and then almost immediately it would refreeze. It was like being on an ice skating rink, without the skates. It caught the road treatment people off guard, too. In our area they are really big on pretreating the roads, but no one thought of doing it this time. I turned to my wife, who was driving our small pickup truck, with no weight in the back, and told her to be very careful as she drove home. She gave me one of those “I know what I’m doing” type of looks. I loaded the groceries into her truck and then I headed to my four wheel drive, work truck. I would follow her. We were off on our normal twenty minute journey home.
It was a sad day in Wichita, especially for him. He was making a whirlwind, four week, ten thousand mile, twenty-nine city train tour through the west, stopping in all but four states west of the Mississippi River. The train was getting close to pulling into Wichita. It was toward the end of his tour, but after Wichita, there were still four more cities to go: Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Memphis, and Louisville. The tour’s purpose was to put pressure on Congress to pass a treaty he worked six months on. The votes were very close, so every vote counted. Because of his health, most of his advisors didn’t want to see him make the trip. But he worked so hard on it and he wasn’t going to give up now.
The trip began almost three weeks earlier when he boarded a train at Union Station in Washington DC. The President’s private secretary, Joseph Tumulty, would recall a conversation he would have with the President when he expressed his concerns that such a trip might cost the President his life. The President acknowledged Tumulty’s fears and would reply, “I will gladly make the sacrifice to save the Treaty.” His friend, Dr. Cary Grayson, who was also his doctor, also advised him against making the trip.
I still had to walk to my work truck, so my wife started off a few minutes before I did. I knew we were in trouble by the time I got to the first stop sign at the end of the shopping center. My phone rang. It was my wife and she was almost in tears and definitely in a panic. She had nearly spun all the way around as she got on the main road near the stop sign where I was now stopped. I tried the best I could to calm her down. She didn’t sound very encouraged. I told her to go real slow and not to worry about everyone else who may be trying to go real fast. She got off the phone rather quickly to concentrate on her driving, but I knew she was not a happy camper. I stayed right behind her. I left a little distance between us but I was going to make sure that no other driver got right behind her and tried to intimidate her by riding on her bumper.
I noticed that when she would go over twenty-five miles an hour she would start to slide. Even though I knew she couldn’t hear me, I caught myself saying, “Slow down. Stay calm. Don’t worry about everyone else. We will get home.” I really hoped she would feel my thoughts and would listen to them. Surprisingly, I would then notice she would slow down and the truck would return to its normal direction. Soon some cars would speed past her. Again, I caught myself saying, “Stay calm. Don’t let them bother you. Just concentrate on getting home. Please don’t speed up.” Although I knew she couldn’t hear me, I really hoped she would feel my thoughts and listen. Again, she would keep her speed slow and she didn’t slide.
Secretary of War Newton Baker informed the President that the treaty required a name for the war that had just been won. The Navy adopted the name “The War Against Teutonic Aggression,” while the commanders called it “The Great War for Civilization.” Great Britain would just call it “The War of 1914-1918.” President Wilson, the man who guided the United States through it, would call it “The World War.” History would refer to it as World War I.
The Treaty of Versailles, the treaty President Wilson spent six months in Europe working on, was the document the Allies (United States, Britain, France, and eleven other countries) worked out to officially end the war with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). Within the treaty were Wilson’s ideas, his Fourteen Points, and it included his most prized part: the League of Nations. Most of the victorious European Allied nations wanted to absolutely crush Germany and tear her apart by dividing her land and taking away all her military. They also wanted to have her repay, rather quickly, for all the damage she had inflicted on their nations. Wilson’s ideas weren’t so harsh. He did agree to break apart all the empires and let the people within these nations determine their own government. But he also realized that requiring immediate repayment for damages would crush Germany to the point that it would never be able to repay anything. He also realized the German people would resent the rest of the world and that could do nothing but cause another war to break out. He thought the League of Nations would promote nations to gather together, in forums, to air their differences and through “strength in numbers” it would discourage war.
So President Woodrow Wilson would become the first President to enter the Senate and physically deliver a treaty. Wilson, who was never a model of health, would be very worn down by the months working on the treaty. Sometimes the Big Four (the United States, Britain, France, and Italy) would meet in his bedroom in Paris because he wasn’t healthy enough to travel to the conference. Some think he might have had a minor stroke while he was in Paris. Once he returned to the United States and knowing his health issues, some of his supporters strongly advised against taking his treaty campaign on the road.
The partisanship (Republicans verses Democrats) in Congress was very strong and the treaty would require a two thirds majority to pass. Wilson, a Democrat, knew the Republican majority had a real advantage, but he also knew, perhaps, he was one of the greatest speakers and motivators in Presidential history. He also knew that the Republicans, especially Henry Cabot Lodge, never wanted to see him get any victories, much less something as big as this treaty. So as a last measure, Wilson decided to take his show on the road.
Just before the Wilson treaty campaign was to arrive in Wichita, Wilson probably suffered another stroke and was unable to continue. They would draw the shades on the train car he was in and rush back to Washington. When he was back at the White House he suffered a major stroke and was never the same man again.
The Treaty of Versailles would go down to defeat as would Wilson’s hope of the United States joining the League of Nations (the League would grow up to 58 members, however). The League would lack that strong member to make it work, though. Benito Mussolini, of Italy, would state, that “the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out.” The United States would not actually end its war with Germany until July 2, 1921 when President Warren G. Harding, Wilson’s successor, would sign the Knox-Porter Resolution, officially ending America’s involvement in World War I.
We were about half way home when the thought hit me, “What would we do if she decides to pull over and says she just can’t do it anymore?” I thought about the groceries that needed to be retrieved from her truck. How would we get the truck home? Most of all I thought about her and the real struggle she must be going through. How could I calm her down and let her know everything was going to be okay?
I was never so relieved, some forty-five minutes later, as I was when she pulled into the driveway. I could tell as soon as she opened her truck door that she was really shook up. This brave woman, who teaches her second grade students how to do a snow dance to “make” it snow, was wishing that the snow and ice had skipped us this time. Of course, my first words to her were, “Would you like to do a snow dance?” She didn’t seem at all interested in doing a snow dance at that moment, but I guess there is always next time. Honestly, I was just so glad she made it home safely.
Wilson’s insights may have been prophetic. Germany would rise again and be a menace to the world in World War II. The League of Nations would transform into the United Nations and the United States would join that group of nations on November 24, 1945, after World War II. Woodrow Wilson would die of another stroke almost three years after he left office, on February 3, 1924. He would be buried at Washington’s National Cathedral. Woodrow Wilson was the first President to be buried in Washington DC.
God has given us the gift of free will. Hopefully, that free will means we will learn from our trials and our mistakes. Staying calm and listening for His voice in the trials and temptations of life, like the worried husband’s thoughts for his wife’s safety on that icy road trip home, always leads to better results. Sometimes we really don’t understand how much He really cares until we think about His sacrifices, like the Son dying on the cross. With Woodrow Wilson basically giving up his life for his ideas about peace and getting along, we witness what true sacrifice really is. God loves us so much and is so patient that He is always there rooting for us and He never gives up on us.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank You for all the lessons You have taught me through my trials and troubles. Thanks for never letting go of my hand while I go through those trials and troubles. Amen.
