Seeing Value Around You

When was the last time you looked for something several times in different places only to return to the first place you looked to find it in plain sight? We all do that from time to time. We overlook what we are searching for. That not only happens with things but also with people.

It is rare to see the qualities of the people around us. It is often easier to see the weaknesses of others rather than their strengths. Seeing their weaknesses impedes their progress and discourages them, while focusing on their strengths inspires them to reach higher and be what they never thought they could be. Why is it so difficult to see the value of others? It could be because we are focused on our problems. It could be because we are disinterested. Seeing what people can become is a gift—a God-given gift!

We all get stuck in life, but the people who make a difference find a way to break the monotony. The “doldrums” is a nautical term that refers to the belt around the Earth near the equator where sailing ships would sometimes get stuck on windless waters. People also get stuck in the doldrums where life becomes too ordinary. When that happens, we will likely overlook the value of people in our lives. What is needed is for people to find a way to make their ship keep moving forward until the wind comes back. In moving our ship forward, we will create our own wind, and others will join, creating even more.

A Sotheby’s sculpture specialist, Elizabeth Wilson, was intrigued by a small bronze figure at a garden sculpture sale in England 1999. It was appraised at $2,000-$3,000 and had been sitting unnoticed in someone’s garden for nearly forty years. As she studied the statue more thoroughly, Ms. Wilson realized it was a piece from Dutch Sculptor Adriaen de Vries, who lived in the 16th century. De Vries’s casting method was rarely used by other artists because the statues could not be reproduced. Each figure was unique unto itself. Wilson had the “Juggling Man” pulled from the sale and placed in a more high-profile auction. A collector then purchased the classic bronze sculpture for $10.7 million.  This is an example of our inability to see the value of people we encounter daily. Still, when we do, amazing things can happen in those lives around us.

Magnanimity

Over 70% of the earth is covered by the sea that averages a depth of 2 ½ miles. Why do we need so much salt water on this earth? The sea is God’s cleansing agent for this planet. It is his antiseptic solution to our waste that would destroy us. It cleanses and preserves our world, making it fit to live in. The rivers wash away the pollutants that we create, and the sea cleanses them. The sun heats the sea, causing only pure, clean water vapor to float up and form clouds that bring us rain. Forgiveness is that cleansing agent that clears out the emotional waste in our lives, and people who forgive are called magnanimous.

The quality of being magnanimous describes those who have a lofty spirit that enables them to bear trouble calmly. They also disdain meanness and pettiness by displaying generosity and forgiveness. It is bigness of heart versus pettiness of mind. Magnanimous people are rare because we haven’t been trained to be big-hearted. We have seen too many models that have been petty and small minded. One of my favorite magnanimous people is Abraham Lincoln.

Doris Goodwin, in an excellent book entitled Team of Rivals, tells the following story about Abraham Lincoln. In 1855 Lincoln was asked to be part of the most critical law case he had ever been involved in. He was hired to assist a very distinguished Philadelphia firm headed by George Harding, a nationally renowned patent specialist. Harding had been employed by the John Manny Company of Rockford, Illinois, to defend its mechanical reaping machine against a patent infringement charge brought by Cyrus McCormick, the original inventor of the reaper. Lincoln was glad to accept the fee and the work. Though the case was slated to be tried in Chicago, it was moved to Cincinnati. With that move, Lincoln was no longer needed, but no one bothered to inform him. He continued to prepare and showed up in Cincinnati for the trial.

When he first encountered Attorneys George Harding and Edwin Stanton, a successful patent attorney in Ohio, they treated him contemptuously. Stanton drew Harding aside and whispered, “Why did you bring that long-armed Ape here . . . he does not know any thing and can do you no good.” With that, Stanton and Harding turned from Lincoln and continued to court on their own. In the days that followed, Stanton “managed to make it plain to Lincoln” that he was expected to remove himself from the case. Lincoln did withdraw, though he remained in Cincinnati to hear the arguments. Harding never opened Lincoln’s manuscript, “so sure that it would be only trash.”[i] 

Throughout that week, Lincoln was marginalized and ignored. Though Lincoln had to feel hurt and most likely a desire to leave immediately, he didn’t. When the hearing was over, Lincoln complimented Stanton’s brilliance in the courtroom. He told Ralph Emerson (a Manny partner) that he was going home “to study law.” He wanted to be better prepared to meet these kinds of lawyers when they came west.

No one would have imagined that in just five years Lincoln would be catapulted to the presidency. When it came time to pick a Secretary of War, he chose Edwin Stanton, despite his horrible behavior toward him at their last meeting. Lincoln had a singular ability to transcend any bitterness and make friends of many of his enemies because of his magnanimous spirit. As for Stanton, despite his initial contempt for Lincoln, he accepted the offer and came to love and respect the president.

---

[i] Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (pp. 173-179). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.