I
have an incurable fascination with tipping points, especially those of the
historical variety. There’s something alluring about a person or group who
arrives at just the right moment in time, at exactly the right place, and
manages to change the world we all know. At first glance so much of it seems to
be about random chance, about landing in the moment and stumbling into a place
in history. But other times, it appears planned. Maybe the person was destined
for that specific moment and their shear pursuit of it created their own fate.
Or maybe there’s something more—divine intervention or design. That’s why such
snapshots of our past are so interesting. Do we make our own fate, or is it
laid out in front of us simply to follow?
Not
all tipping points are a razors edge. Some are blunted, building through
months, decades, or even a lifetime. To me, these are the kind we control,
creating our own path through life. History littered with examples like Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Gallileo—individuals striving against unbearable obstacles
driven by a sense of purpose that others can only ponder. They made their fate,
shaped their future, and in the course changed all of us. I’m sure someone
could argue that they were destined for it, but they worked hard at their
vision for the world and in the process left us ideas like equality, or an invention
like the printing press, or an better understanding of our universe.
But
as a writer, I’m most fascinated with the other kind—the razor’s edge. I love
stories about a person running headlong into history and changing the world in
the collision. Those are the moments that no one saw coming, sometimes not even
those involved. And the best among those are names that have faded until
they’re almost forgotten. Maybe the authors of our history texts didn’t deem
them worthy, or maybe they didn’t fit the mold we looked for. They were the
wrong color, the wrong gender, or fell on the losing side. Imagine the stories
we lose if we forget them.
Just
a few weeks ago history dusted one of these stories off and thrust it into the
mainstream for us all to marvel over. Henrietta Lacks was all but forgotten, a
few articles and a documentary trickling out over the past few decades, but
nothing commensurate with her contribution to the world. In fact, the only
reason she re-surfaced was through a deal her family made with the National
Institutes of Health. Henrietta died of cervical cancer when she was just 31,
never knowing how she would touch so many lives. And as an African American
mother of five, she is just the kind of person that unfortunately history all
too often passes by. But in her case she had something special to offer. Cells
cultured from her tumor refused to die, something that had not been seen
before. Scientists now have an immortal line of cells for research, cells that
don’t die off after just a few divisions. The cell line was named HeLa after
the first letters in her first and last name, and they have touched so many
corners of medical research, from AIDs and HIV, to cancer and even a cure for
polio by Jonas Salk. And she never knew.
Not all
historical tipping points are as positive. Another historical marvel to emerge
should bring tears to all of us, the possibility haunting of what the world
might have been without it. In January 1894, a four-year old child broke
through the ice in Passau Germany while playing tag with friends. Another young
boy was able to pull him out in time, saving him from certain death in a fast flowing river capped by ice.
The rescuer became a priest, Father Johann
Kuehberger. The boy he saved—Adolf Hitler.
But the
tipping point that has fascinated me is something closer to home—ripe with
drama and speculation. Officer John Parker was one of four Washington DC
metropolitan police officers assigned to protect the president of the United
States. And on April 15th 1865, Parker was the officer who drew the
detail to stand guard in Ford’s Theater. The rest we know. But what would have
happened if Lincoln lived? Can you imagine the America that might have been?
I’ll save
my thoughts on John Parker for the next post!
