Crossing A Rubicon

According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase alea iacta est ("the die is cast"). The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any individual or group committing itself irrevocably to a risky or revolutionary course of action, similar to the modern phrase "passing the point of no return." Caesar's decision for swift action forced Pompey, the consuls and a large part of the Roman Senate to flee Rome in fear. Caesar's subsequent victory in Caesar's civil war ensured that punishment for the infraction would never be rendered. This took place during the time of the Roman Republic. - Wikipedia

From an email concerning Money Management (which deserves its own separate post, but the phrase is explained within its context):

We were broke!

How could this be possible? We weren't living extravagantly (at least it didn't seem that way). But, numbers don't lie.

I realized that we needed to do something - and do it quickly - if we were to avoid disaster.

Larry and I discussed our situation. We were out of time - out of money - and out of options.

We were heartbroken and we felt like failures.

That day, we vowed that we would learn how to handle money, figure out how to budget, and live within our means.

We had crossed our Rubicon.

If you've never heard that phrase, it refers to a day in 49 BC.

Julius Caesar was making the Senate in Rome mighty nervous. He had been sent to keep order in a a far off post of the Empire. Julius had apparently been quite popular and had amassed a collection of soldiers, dedicated to serving him (and not necessarily Rome).

The Senate quickly called Julius back to home base. He was told not to cross the Rubicon River with his new band of fighting warriors in tact. He had a choice to make. Would he follow the directives of Rome or cross the river, thus beginning a war with the Senate (and the mightiest empire on the face of the earth)?

He chose to cross the river - with his men.

Thus, to this day, making a decision from which you will not retreat is referred to as, "Crossing your Rubicon".

from Hope, Under the Median

What's my most recent Rubicon or point of no return?  I am committed to moving forward in Life; and lessening my dependence, longing, or bondage to the Past. Too much time and energy looking back  has brought me nothing but tears, anger, malice and guilt, sigh  😕😢😒 

God help me!

 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4

Gaius Julius Caesar 

Ides of March

Under the Median

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George Washington: His Last Day on Earth

Remembering President George Washington on his birthday (February 22, 1732).  Last  December 14, 2017 was the 218th Anniversary of his death. Here is an account of his excruciating last hours, via The Federalist Papers Project:

Most Americans know that the Father of our Country was also a military general without which the United States never would have gained independence, and those who remember their social studies classes will hopefully recall that his tenure as president set the standard for chief executives being understood as public servants rather than monarchs.

There’s much more to Washington’s life and example, of course, and even history buffs and political junkies might not be aware of the grim, remarkable details of the very end of his time on earth.

In 2014, Dr. Howard Markel of the University of Michigan wrote a piece for PBS NewsHour detailing the rapid onset of the illness that claimed Washington’s life, as well as the “excruciating” nature of the attempts to treat him.

It all started the day before at his Mount Vernon estate, when the retired general and president began to experience coughing, a runny nose, and hoarseness in his voice as a result of spending the day in harsh winter weather and declining to change into dry clothes for dinner for fear of being tardy.

At 2 AM the next morning, Washington’s condition had woken him up with “profound shortness of breath” with a “pronounced fever” following a few hours later, leading to the fetching of his 40-year physician, Dr. James Craik.

The details of Washington’s treatment are not for the faint of heart; they involve the uneasy, obsolete medical practice of bloodletting:

At 7:30 a.m., [Mount Vernon overseer George] Rawlins removed 12 to 14 ounces of blood, after which Washington requested that he remove still more. Following the procedure, Col. Lear gave the patient a tonic of molasses, butter and vinegar, which nearly choked Washington to death, so inflamed were the beefy-red tissues of his infected throat […]

Dr. Craik entered Washington’s bedchamber at 9 a.m. After taking the medical history, he applied a painful “blister of cantharides,” better known as “Spanish fly,” to Washington’s throat. The idea behind this tortuous treatment was based on a humoral notion of medicine dating back to antiquity called “counter-irritation.” The blisters raised by this toxic stuff would supposedly draw out the deadly humors causing the General’s throat inflammation.

At 9:30 a.m., another bloodletting of 18 ounces was performed followed by a similar withdrawal at 11 a.m. At noon, an enema was administered. Attempts at gargling with a sage tea, laced with vinegar were unsuccessful but Washington was still strong enough to walk about his bedroom for a bit and to sit upright in an easy chair for a few hours. His real challenge was breathing once he returned to lying flat on his back in bed.

Two more rounds of bloodletting were attempted afterward, with the fourth helping him a bit — but it didn’t last. Incredibly, to the agonizing end, Washington was the personification of dignity:

He told Dr. Craik: “Doctor, I die hard; but I am not afraid to go; I believed from my first attack that I should not survive it; my breath can not last long.” Ever the gentleman, even in extremis, the General made a point of thanking all three doctors for their help […]

At 10 p.m., Washington murmured some last words about burial instructions to Col. Lear. Twenty minutes later, Col. Lears’ notes record, the former president settled back in his bed and calmly took his pulse. At the very end, Washington’s fingers dropped off his wrist and the first president of our great Republic took his final breath.

Multiple physicians intensely debated Washington’s cause of death at the time, and whether alternative procedures could have saved his life, and in fact modern medicine isn’t even entirely sure today, though according to Markel, “acute bacterial epiglottitis seems most likely.”

It’s definitely ugly to think about how painful and harrowing that death must have been, but it’s comforting to think that if anyone went on to claim his heavenly reward of eternal peace, it would be the man to whom we owe so much.

George Washington, US President

Washington's Excruciating Last Hours

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