Who to discover a Curtius is able?"

Is it a matter of "can't" or "won't"? God doesn't put us in situations that we can't handle. He gives us issues that we can't handle without Him, but the truth of the matter is that we are capable of dealing with any kind of injustice if we but set our minds to it, as long as we know who our strength is.

The real issue most of the time is that we won't. We won't humble ourselves. We won't forgive. We won't be the "bigger man". We won't allow personal affronts to go unpunished. We won't take responsibility. We won't take advantage of our circumstances, and allow them to become an opportunity for growth.


From "Lucile", by Owen Meredith

"In Rome, - in the Forum, - there open'd one night
A gulf. All the augurs turn'd pale at the sight.
In this omen the anger of Heaven they read.
Men consulted the gods: then the oracle said: -
'Ever open this gulf shall endure, till at last
That which Rome hast most precious within it be cast.'
The Romans threw in it their corn and their stuff,
But the gulf yawn'd as wide. Rome seem'd likely enough
To be ruin'd ere this rent in her heart she could choke.
Then Curtius, revering the oracle, spoke:
'O Quirites! to this Heaven's questions is come:
What to Rome is most precious? The manhood of Rome.'
He plunged, and the gulf closed.
The tale is not new;
But the moral applies many ways, and is true.
How, for hearts rent in twain, shall the curse be destroyed?
'Tis a warm human one that must fill up the void.
Through many a heart runs the rent in the fable,
But who to discover a Curtius is able?"