Denison Forum
Dr. Jim Denison
Does life have a purpose that transcends the happenstance and coincidence of our chaotic world?
If so, how do we find it each day?
What Lincoln and Kennedy had in common
In honor of Presidents Day, let’s begin with this coincidence: in late 1863, Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s oldest child, fell onto the tracks at the Jersey City railroad station. He was pulled to safety by Edwin Booth, the older brother of John Wilkes Booth.
Here’s another coincidence related to President Lincoln: Wilmer McLean owned the places where the Civil War began (with the First Battle of Bull Run on his Virginia plantation in July 1861) and ended (at his Appomattox Court House home where Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant in April 1865).
And many have noted the striking coincidences between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Among them:
- Both had seven letters in their last names.
- They were elected one hundred years apart, in 1860 and 1960.
- Both were assassinated on a Friday in the presence of their wives.
- Both assassins were known by three names, with fifteen letters in each complete name.
- Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater; Booth shot Kennedy in a theater and fled to a barn, a kind of warehouse.
- Both succeeding vice presidents were southern Democrats and former senators named Johnson with thirteen letters in their names and born one hundred years apart (1808 and 1908).
Of course, we can find coincidences nearly everywhere if we look hard enough. Consider that the famed physicist Stephen Hawking died on the birthday of Albert Einstein and Pi Day (March 14, when the date reads 3.14). And that three US presidents died on July 4—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826, and James Monroe in 1831.
In a day when only 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of our country, with tragedies like yesterday’s shooting in Minnesota and last week’s heartbreak in Kansas City still grieving our nation, with suicides, exhaustion, and social isolation on the rise, there is some comfort in the sense that the world is not as random and chaotic as it seems.
Is this the best we can do to find the hope our souls need?
