Life is not always fair.

After the Great Chicago Fire, a reporter named Michael Ahern blamed Mrs. O’Leary and her cow for this famous conflagration in 1871. Years later in 1893, Ahern confessed he had made up the story, but the damage to Mrs. O’Leary remained. To this day, many blame Mrs. O’Leary and her cow for that famous fire that killed 300, left 100,000 homeless, and devastated Chicago.

Mrs. O’Leary, a wife and mother of three, is remembered for something she did not do. Life is not always fair.

Towards the end of World War I, a British soldier in France drew a bead with his rifle on a wounded and unarmed Corporal Adolf Hitler of the German army. For some reason, the British soldier did not pull the trigger. It is tempting to think how different the 20th Century might have been if he had pulled the trigger.

Some believe this merciful British soldier was Private Henry Tandey, who was the second most decorated British soldier of World War I. It is ironic that a hero’s mercy in one war may have led to the deaths of millions in the next war. Life is not always fair.

Congressman James Enos Clyburn has been serving his district of South Carolina since 1993. He has been House Majority Whip twice. As a conservative, I doubt I share any of his political views, but I do concede he has worked his way up the power pyramid in Democrat politics and has been a “mover and a shaker” on that side of the aisle.

Image: James Clyburn and Joe Biden (edited). YouTube screengrab.

With all of Clyburn’s political successes, many may remember and blame him as the man who rescued Joe Biden. In 2020, Joe Biden was making his third bid for the presidency. In a crowded field, Joe was getting nowhere fast. His showings in Iowa, the Nevada caucuses, and the New Hampshire primary indicated he was heading for a third failure in the presidential sweepstakes.

It was not Biden’s brilliance that led Congressman Clyburn of South Carolina to endorse Joe three days before that state’s presidential primary. As an elder in Democrat politics, Clyburn knew that Senator Bernie Sanders, who was the Democrat frontrunner at the time, was unelectable. The Democrats wanted their best chance to defeat Donald Trump, and they settled on Joe Biden.

It may not have been Clyburn who came up with Biden, but it was his endorsement that reversed the downward trajectory of Biden’s third bid.

I recall watching a video of former President George W. Bush congratulating Clyburn for his role in getting Biden elected at the 2021 inaugural festivities in Washington. I’m sure many others patted Clyburn on the back as well.

Eighteen months into the worst presidency in anyone’s memory, I don’t see anyone high-fiving Congressman Clyburn now. I am sure his endorsement of Biden seemed like a good idea at the time. Life is not always fair.

Ned Cosby, a regular contributor to American Thinker, is a pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and a retired career public high school teacher. His newest novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.