Perspectives
by ED CHERRYHOLMES
One of the eternal questions about life which plagues us is why, in a crisis situation, some people live while others die. Many years ago, I knew Jean Palmiter quite well as he was a member of the church I was serving as Senior Pastor.
Jean was a quiet, unassuming person. He told me of an event that changed his life. In 1945, he was a sailor on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, which carried the first atom bomb. On the ship’s return to a U.S. base, a Japanese submarine sank it. Suddenly more than 1,200 crewmembers were in shark-infested water. Due to a lack of communication, no other ship received the message of the hit. Nearly a thousand crewmembers perished in the three days before a ship did arrive.
Palmiter saw his mates slip below the waves. He wondered then as he wondered always, why he lived and others died. This is a question that seeks an answer, but in vain. We just have to live with the mystery. It carries over into other areas of life. We see fate strike one home or person and spare others. It certainly isn’t because one is better than the other.
Scores of people were killed in a rash of tornadoes that recently swept through the south. At the same time we hear about scores of people living near people who were spared. Some of them question why they lived and other died, just as Palmiter wondered why he lived while “better” sailors died. One thing we know for certain is that God loves those that died as well as those who lived.
The Psalmist said it best in Psalm 91: “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” Of course, the body may not survive but the spirit is eternal. This makes all of life worthwhile even when the mystery stays with us.
Ed Cherryholmes served as pastor of the Kyle United Methodist Church until his retirement.
