The O’hare story
sig•nif•i•cance [sig-nif-i-kuhns] –noun
1. importance; consequence.
2. the quality of being significant or having a meaning.
I don’t know about you, but I have been asked many times, by the devout, the carnal and the average Joe /Joanne the same question: “what do you want in life?” Imeediately images of fancy houses, fancy cars, fancy women (hmmm perhaps i have said too much) flash past my eyes. It is indeed a tough question to answer. The funny thing is we want to answer this question in such a way that we show that we are ambitious, yet at the same time oh not so greedy.
As I was pondering the drive we all innately have to find significance, I chanced upon a story I heard long ago about the O’Hare airport in Chicago. The following story tells of the significane of a singular life in repentance, and the Divine redemption of a family name.
Millions pass through the terminals of the O’hare airport – one of the busiest airports in the world. But few know the history and the significance of the name O’hare. Here is the story as penned in wikipedia:
“Edward Henry Butch O’Hare was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Edward Joseph O’Hare and Selma O’Hare. Butch had two sisters, Patricia and Marilyn. When their parents divorced in 1927, Butch and his sisters stayed with their mother Selma in St. Louis while their father Edward moved to Chicago. Butch’s father had been a lawyer who had been working closely with Al Capone before turning against him and helping convict Al Capone for tax evasion.[3]Butch O’Hare graduated from the Western Military Academy (WMA) in 1932, and the following year went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Graduated and appointed an Ensign from 3 June 1937, he served two years on board the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40), before reporting for flight training. In 1939 he started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, learning the basics on Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 “Yellow Peril” and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, later on the advanced trainer SNJ. On the nimble Boeing F4B-4A he trained in aerobatics as well as aerial gunnery. He also flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator.[4]In November 1939, his father was shot, most likely by Al Capone’s gunmen. During Capone’s tax evasion trial in 1931 and 1932, O’Hare’s father provided incriminating evidence which helped finally put Capone away. There is speculation that this was done to ensure that Butch got into Annapolis, or to set a good example. Whatever the motivation, the elder O’Hare was shot down in his car, a week before Capone was released from incarceration.Lt. Commander Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare (13 March 1914 – 26 November 1943) was a naval aviator of the United States Navy who on 20 February 1942 became the U.S. Navy’s first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II.
Why would a man go head to head against the most ruthless and destructive crime lord of all time? It was a sure thing that turning against Al Capone would be suicidal. And to top it all of, Butch’s father was making all the money in the world.
And yet my dear friends something in him was not at peace, and he must have looked into his infant son’s eyes, and dreamt of two futures: one, where he will be known forever as the son of a crook and be himself labeled as a mere scoundrel; and another where he will live on to carry the name O’hare to a better and more honorable place. With his sacrifice, he would be able to redeem his life and perhaps even his family’s life.
Significance: The greatest mystery of the human spirit is that it defies mathematics. The value of a cleared name and the value of redemption have no relevance in the realm of dollars, cents. We are all innately created to have a drive to find meaning in our lives. A drive to see that somehow our miniscule efforts will one day win us a place in the great eternal hall, where mere mortals bound in flawed history are thrusted into the perfected presence of greatness and heroics, where His Glory ever shines and age and rust cannot ravage.
I am Jared, and I want my life to be significant. I hope yours will be too. I believe if we all do our part in His plan, we will find significance, but true significance can only be measured by the Hand of the Almighty, in the annals of Eternity.
Good night.
Link to the O’hare story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._O’Hare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O’Hare
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