Learn to Let Go (Lesson from death of James Garfield)

Lesson from the death of James A. Garfield

By Gbenga Emiloju

James A. Garfield, the 20th American President was shot by Charles J. Guitean in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 2, 1881, less than four months after he took office. The two bullets entered his right side and his back, but he was rescued and his life was saved through medical intervention. 

But to the surprise of the doctors and surgeons that carried out the surgery, the bullets that went through his back was not found and all effort to trace it proved abortive. After the operation, the man was doing very fine and Doctors advised that it would be better to forget about the missing bullet, since it couldn't be found. But the president insisted that they should continue to look for the missing bullet in his body. 

Several medical examinations and further surgeries were carried out on him, yet the missing bullet was nowhere to be found. Still, he was not comfortable despite doctors' advice to let it be. As a result of this, an American scientist and the inventor of the telephone; Alexander Graham Bell was consulted to develop an electronic device to look through his body to locate the missing bullet. 

Bell determined that a properly configured induction balance would emit a tone when a metal object was brought into proximity with it. At the end of July, 1881, he began searching for the missing bullet, but none was found in Garfield's body. President Garfield died 11 weeks later, on September 19, 1881, at 10:35 p.m.

It was recorded that several doctors inserted their unwashed fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and in the process, one doctor punctured Garfield's liver unintentionally, which later resulted in serious medical complications.

Autopsy results showed that President Garfield died of complications caused by infections, not from the gunshot wound or the missing bullet, but several efforts and procedures while they were trying to locate the missing bullet in his body. His murderer, Guiteau, was convicted of murder and executed by hanging one year after the shooting.

LESSON

President Garfield wouldn't have died early if he had conceded to doctors' advice to let the missing bullet be, since it's been proved that such a metal can stay in the human body for 100years without any complication. 

NOTE

Sometimes, it's better to leave some problems alone and let them be. Don't try to find a solution to every problem by force or at all cost. Many things we go through in life are mysterious, and no matter how much we try, we can never unravel them. 

Worth Thinking About:

Do you have a missing bullet in your body and all effort to trace it has not been successful? Let it be and move on with life. It's good to make effort in trying to solve problems, but it's better not to go too far, and it's also important to know when to LET GO.

Gbenga Emiloju is the CEO of GIGMOF Scool of Mentoring, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria