Letter to the Editor

American miracles

Friday, December 28, 2012

Dear Editor,

As we approach some serious problems in 2013, we're going to need to think positively.

Reading "Seven Miracles that Saved America" by Chris and Ted Stewart, published in 2009 by R.R. Donnelly in Crawford, Indiana, is a step in the right direction.

Chapter 1 covers "The Miracle of Christopher Columbus." Gunships of some Mediterranean city states attacked a convoy of ships from Genoa, Italy. His ship sank. He was washed ashore in Portugal, home of the most skilled mapmakers of that time. Without the geographical information on those charts, Columbus could not have completed his historic voyages that began in 1492 and ended with his death in 1506.

"The Miracle of Jamestown" in Chapter 2 the Jamestown residents in Virginia faced frequent attacks by the Powhatan Indians. Their dreams of a profitable English colony were destroyed by typhoid fever and dysentery. They were saved by John Smith, who served as a leader when they were clinging to life. He demanded that they change their ways, and said "He that will not work shall not eat." He acted as a buffer (with the help of Pocahontas, the chief's young daughter, and prevented Indian trouble.

Chapter 3 -- "The Miracle of the Summer Fog," is a story about weather conditions saving the poorly equipped and ailing American troops. New York was a hotbed of loyalists who did not support the Revolutionary War. They reported every move the Yankee soldiers made to the British.

20,000 British troops surrounded the Yankees, who were occupying Fort Stirling on Long Island. George Washington ordered his men to evacuate. When the British stormed the fort, it was empty. A summer fog had rolled in, making Washington and his small group of men invisible.

Chapter 4, "The Miracle of the Constitution," speaks for itself. Its strength and durability protects all of us.

Chapter 7, "The Miracle of a Fraction of an Inch" involves President Ronald Reagan. John Hinkley Jr. fired six bullets after Reagans speech at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. A ricocheting bullet entered Reagan's body under his left arm. It missed his heart by a fraction of an inch. He lived and was able to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev and end the Cold War. (See "The Cold War," by John Lewis, published by Penguin Books 2005)

Chapter 5, "The Miracle of Abraham Lincoln," affects us all greatly. Without him, there would have been no Emancipation Proclamation. Southern and northern states would be two separate nations.

Chapter 6, "The Miracle of Midway" prevented a Japanese attack on the American fleet and Japanese control of the Pacific.