More unforeseen consequences

Edward Jenner moved to rural Gloucester and heard a local saying “If you want a wife unscarred by smallpox, marry a milkmaid!” Smallpox was then a killer with around 400,000 a year dying in Europe alone and leaving survivors horribly scarred. Milkmaids were exposed to cowpox, a related disease and in May 1796 he took some of the product of a dairymaid’s fresh lesions and inoculated an 8 year old boy. This was the world’s first vaccine, so called because of the Latin word vacca meaning cow. By 1977 small pox was erradiated.

Sometimes good things can come out of seemingly bad events. Literally millions of lives were saved as a result of this one girl’s disease. You never know what the consequences of today’s problems maybe. As I have mentioned before, the Universe is very economical with its inputs and a single event can spawn many outcomes. When we fight and rail against what is going on, we cause all manner of turbulence in our lives. Sometimes fighting may be appropriate, but often it is more fruitful to look for the positive outcome or avenue to explore.

So today, if things are not going smoothly for you, perhaps you might ask “What is this trying to tell me?” You might be surprised by how eloquent the Universe can be…

“The moment you commit and quit holding back, all sorts of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance will rise up to help you”

Resources:

1. History of smallpox

Tags: lessons, positive outcomes, unforeseen consequences

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 07:28 and is filed under Hints, Tips & Techniques, Personal Change, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.