A Coincidence Just for You

Do you believe in coincidences, as in, things happening by chance? I was recently reading about President Grover Cleveland who developed a cancer of the mouth. In those days, the 1890s, operations of any kind were very risky because of marginal anesthesia, potential for infection, and questionable knowledge of the surgeons; but operations in the mouth were especially dangerous because of the absence of endotracheal tubes to guard the airway and suction to remove any blood that might threaten the patient’s breathing. There was no such thing as a blood transfusion if excessive bleeding occurred.

  The cancer in the President’s mouth was getting larger and, if left alone, would eventually kill him. Interestingly, all of the people involved, including President Cleveland himself, knew of President General Ulysses S. Grant’s struggle with, and agonizing death from, the same disease in 1885. No one wanted to go through that again! It was decided that an operation was the best approach.

  Who would do such a dangerous operation on the President of the United States? The task was accepted by Dr. William Keen, one of the country’s most famous surgeons. He was known for his order and exactness—good traits for a surgeon. More importantly, he was a believer in the new techniques of anesthesia and the teachings of anti-sepsis by Dr. Joseph Lister. Interestingly, many years before as a young surgeon, he had toured Europe operating with and learning from the most famous surgeons in the world. On one occasion he worked with the surgeon most famous for removing cancers of the mouth. While he was there, he saw the surgeon use an interesting-looking retractor to hold the cheek away from the teeth and gums while doing these procedures. This retractor allowed the surgeon to remove most cancers of the mouth without making an incision in the cheek. He thought it was a unique device and brought one home with him, wondering when and if he would ever use it. Years later he was able to apply the knowledge he acquired and found a perfect use for the interesting retractor he bought in successfully removing the cancer from the mouth of one of the most powerful men in the world.¹

  Do you think this was a coincidence? I don’t think so. To bring it more up to date, just look at some of the stories of survivors whose offices were in the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11. One wore a new pair of shoes that morning for the first time. It rubbed a blister on his foot, and he had to stop and get a band-aid for it. He survived. Another was not in his office when the towers fell because it was his morning to get donuts for the staff, making him just a little late for work. He survived. I personally know a group who was supposed to be meeting in a conference room in one of the towers that morning, but someone forgot to schedule the conference room, making them move the meeting to a hotel across town. They all survived. Did all these things just randomly happen, making these among the luckiest people around? I don’t think so.

  Things generally happen for a reason despite what we might think. The problem is that when events like those mentioned above occur, they upset our schedule making us frustrated or even mad. Perhaps when we find our car battery is dead making us late for work, or we have to go back to answer a phone, or the person driving in front of us is going 10 miles per hour too slow and we can’t pass, or when any number of events unexpectedly slow us down, we should stop, smile, and wonder if this event is keeping us from something we don’t want to experience. It might be a coincidence just for us. Will you take the time to learn from it?

“There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.”
– Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD