Everyone Thinks This Is A Mistake

In 1867, Russia was desperate to unload its territory in the New World. They feared that if any conflict with Britain broke out they would lose what now is known as Alaska anyhow, so why not try to sell it? So a deal was struck with U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million.

Now despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press. Some referred to it as "Seward's folly," and "Seward's icebox". President Andrew Johnson's called the area a "polar bear garden". Many questioned the logic of buying a territory with no population to fill it. Why would anyone want to go to Alaska? What use could it be? The criticism continued until 1896 when the Klondike gold strike was discovered. Then Alaska came to be seen generally as a valuable addition to American territory. Seward's Folly became one of the greatest deals in history.

People will find fault with any choice that is made. It doesn't matter how good or bad the choice is. If we concern ourselves too much with what everyone thinks, we will never do anything. What we should be most concerned with is whether what we are doing is the right thing to do.

Right choices will not always be seen by others as right. They may mock and degrade what we do. Right choice may not start out looking right, but they have an amazing way of ending up that way, not just to us but to everyone that sees them. In 1^st Peter 3:16 we read, “and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame”. We can’t stop the naysayers, but we can make them wrong.

Don’t ask yourself what does everyone else thinks when it comes time to make a decision, consider if it is the right thing to do.

Then do the right thing and let the results speak for themselves.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

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