The Greater Good

Dave and I watched the movie Troy over the weekend. It's one of those movies, like Romeo and Juliet, where every time I watch it, I keep saying "what if." In R & J, what if Mercutio and Tybalt had not fought, what if the priest had not agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet, what if the priest had not given Juliet the potion, what if he had not been delayed so he could have made it to Romeo in time to tell him that Juliet had taken the potion, and the big one--what if Juliet had awaken just a few seconds earlier so her love, Romeo, would not have taken the poison? I've seen that movie probably 25 times, and I still say those words every time I watch it. It never fails. If only those "what if's" could have found some other destiny. Ah, therein lies the rub. Each time I have to remind myself that good came out of such tragedy--"doth with their death bury their parents' strife"--the war between the Capulets and the Montagues ended. The way I see it, the tragedy had to happen for their families' greater good.

Troy was basically the same way. What if Achilles had not been so stubborn? What if Hector had noticed it was Achilles' cousin he was fighting? What if Paris had never "stolen" Helen? Then Hector would not have died. Perhaps Achilles and his men would have sailed back to their land. What, then, would have become of the Greeks and their "greater good"?

I wonder about Lily in the same way. There are those "what if's," but I also wonder about the Greater Good. I think it's something that many of us mothers carrying babies with T-18 wonder about. I think it gives us comfort.