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 1st
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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