The Mysteries of Providence

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

This evening is a good time to reflect upon the hand of providence in American history. A moment ago, I read a caption mired in the past. His Legacy Belongs to Black Americans No, Lady Boule. The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. belongs to all Americans. Forgive me for this slight digression from my argument this evening. I frown upon limited thinking as I regain my strength. Unity is our strength as Americans. We should encourage more expressions of unity in the public square and less primitive expressions of racial solidarity.

Early on the morning of July 9, 1755, a young military aide to Major General Braddock found himself in a military ambush. General Braddock ordered the young aide to go up an exposed hill and retrieve two lost cannon. With no fear in his heart, that young man led the charge into danger. He offered a magnificent target on horseback for the French and Indian enemy. His horse was shot from under him. He commandeered another horse in the midst of battle and continued the charge. His second horse was shot dead. The young man dusted himself off, and mounted the horses of dead riders. Shot after shot rang out in his direction. A doctor who witnessed the surreal courage and inability of bullets to fell the young man wrote “I expected every moment to see him fall. His duty and station exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.”

Fifteen years later, an Indian chief recalled seeing the young man, all of twenty-three-years-old, in battle. The chief ordered his warriors to take out the young man, fire directly at him with everything they had. The warriors shot the young man once through his coat. He did not die. They shot a second time through his coat. He did not die. They shot him a third time though his coat. He did not die. A fourth time did the warriors shoot the young man through his coat. And still he did not die. No bullet harmed the young man.

A Presbyterian minister made sense of the unexplainable for the colonial public: the “heroic youth Col. Washington” was being groomed by God for higher things. “I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved [him] in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.”

As George Washington brought our country into being, Abraham Lincoln’s destiny was to preserve Union during a Civil War. Lincoln lived to see defeat of the Confederacy at Appomattox Court House and to stroll through a liberated Richmond, Virginia, the city of my birth. And like Moses, Lincoln would not make it to the other side, to a full and restorative Reconstruction. Providence had other plans and a single bullet took Lincoln from us on April 15, 1865. I still feel the moral loss, although I was born a century later after his passing.

Providence can reveal itself in the simple reflex of a woman and her purse. What is that adage? If you see something, say something? There was no time for alerting authorities as Providence visited American history again. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was in a motorcade. Giuseppe Zangara, prepared to shoot Roosevelt from twenty-five feet distance but “Lillian Cross saw Zangara's pistol, quickly transferred her purse from right to left hand, and then pushed up and twisted Zangara's shooting arm. As he fired shots, Mrs. Cross reported that Zangara continually attempted to force her arm back down but she "wouldn't let go.” The man sitting next to Roosevelt was mortally wounded.

Roosevelt would live to take the oath of office, guide the nation through the Great Depression, and lead the Allies to victory in World War II. One woman kept the timeline on course for American history. One woman.

Providence reminds us of the blessings of the now. We should live our largest life at all times as we never know when destiny will call. So much has been written about the enduring imprint of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There is not much new I can add, except to say Dr. King’s Dream was rooted in the American Dream. And the word he used more than anything else in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech was “Freedom.” That nicely sums up Dr. King’s legacy to me. It is not race-based but human-based.

I have no memory of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech. I was two days short of two years old on August 28, 1963, probably approaching the terrible twos for my Mom and basking in love from Twymans galore.

I leave you this evening with a sober message. If we believe in Providence as Americans, then we should be grateful providence has bestowed her blessings on our wonderful country. The whole of America is our legacy.