How Fine the Line

It is a dramatic and frightening fact that a man can do a thing right a thousand times, and then when he does it wrong just once, tragedy comes. Except for some very narrow escapes, perhaps any of us or all of us could be numbered with those whom we pity or with those whom we condemn. And we may never know how narrowly we may have missed the fate of someone who has had a terrible tragedy. This thought is unforgettable expressed in the comment commonly credited to John Bradford, Chaplain to Edward VI of sixteenth-century England. Seeing a condemned man marched to his death, and k owing of the narrow margins by which men are often made and unmade, he exclaimed: “There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford.” Significantly he himself later met a similar fate. There is often only a very fine line between winning and losing. In a race the difference may be only one wrong decision among a thousand right ones. In a contest, the difference may only be one wrong decision among a thousand right ones. In a contest, the difference may be only one point. In an accident, the difference may be only one small error of judgment or one small mechanical mishap. In so many things we do in life, there is an exceedingly fine live between safety and sorrow. We ourselves may not see it at the moment. But often others see it, and are frightened for us. And afterwards we are frightened for ourselves. This is one reason why parents are so often afraid for children. Parents have the experience and perspective to see how fine the live can be between success and failure, between safety and sorrow. The difference in cause may sometimes seem inconsequential, but the difference in result may be eternally great. And we should have compassion for the man who has met misfortune, for the man who has made a mistake; for the man who narrowly missed being what he might have been – and we should never forget that “there, but for the grace of God,” am I. And the thought should help to keep us humble and help to keep us holding hard and fast to the right side of every decision, and to the right side of every road.