Primary Purpose

Many years ago, there was a lighthouse keeper who was given sufficient fuel to keep the light going for a month until further supplies would be delivered.

On the first night of his watch, a mother with young children asked if could he spare her some fuel as her family were frozen and they had no money until her husband came back from sea. He helped her out with a small ration of fuel.

One week later he had a similar request from another family.

The same thing happened with a different family the following week and each time the lighthouse keeper helped with a small donation of fuel.

At the end of the third week he ran out of fuel for the light.

The following night there was a storm and in the darkness a ship ran aground killing all of the twenty crew on board - including the husbands and fathers of the families he had helped.

At his trial the well intentioned lighthouse keeper was found guilty of manslaughter.

He'd made the mistake of taking his eye of his primary objective, with tragic consequences that caused devastating harm to the very people he'd tried to help.