SHOWING
CONCERN

Topics: Caring; Compassion; God as Father; God’s Love

References: John 3:16; Romans 8:31–32; 1 Peter 5:7

While Patrick, the two-day-old son of President John F. Kennedy, was fighting for his life because of a lung condition, Kennedy went to see him on the hospital’s fifth floor, which had been cleared of all visitors.

On his way to the room, President Kennedy passed by an open door and saw two girls, three or four years old, playing in bed. They were both terribly burned and bandaged.

Kennedy learned one of the children would probably lose one of her hands. The president wrote a note to each girl. After several minutes he went to his own son’s room. Patrick died the next day.

If a mere man—even a president—can show love and concern to two unknown children while his own son is suffering and dying, how much more will our infinite Father in heaven take concern in us?

—Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (Little, Brown, 1997)