The Power of Prevention

We should like to turn for a moment or two to the power of prevention.

It seems sometimes that we spend too much of our lives putting out fires—too much time running to meet emergencies—too much time attempting to fix things that shouldn’t have happened.

We cannot expect perfection in people, and in using the freedom God has given us, we all make mistakes. But it would seem that we would learn more from the long experience of mankind, more from knowing the laws of cause and consequence, and more of the power of prevention.

It may be that we use this power more than we sometimes suppose, because prevention doesn’t always receive the same notice as does meeting an emergency. We seldom hear about the ship that doesn’t sink, or the aircraft that doesn’t crash, or the safe journey home on the highway, or the boy who doesn’t go astray, or the surgery that isn’t necessary, or the epidemic that doesn’t develop.

And certainly we don’t hear about the fire that doesn’t get started—nor much about the commandment that isn’t broken—because the person who quietly and consistently lives his life, keeping peace with his neighbors, being faithful to his family, being respectful of law, isn’t so likely to have his name in headlines. In this sense it is a blessed thing to keep out of the news, and to live, if not anonymously, at least not negatively.

It is good to turn back from error, to seek to make amends for mistakes, to save life, to relieve suffering after the accident, to help people back to health, to make repairs after damage is done. And great credit, great praise, a great debt is due those who meet emergencies, those who rise to crises, those courageously and constructively rush from wreck to wreck; from fire to fire; those who help to undo damage already done.

But along with the power to repair, along with the power to repent, along with the will to make amends, let us not lose sight also of the power to prevent, which while less dramatic, is less costly in money and in men, and is more contributive to health and happiness.

Personally and as a people, we should watch the warning signs, watch the symptoms, and not wait for the breaking point, not wait until something has progressed so far that it must be met with drastic measures. We should seek to learn to live not from crisis to crisis, but by thoughtful, prayerful foresight, with the power of prevention.