The Talk With No Name

Perhaps you’ve heard the common colloquial phrase: “There are two types of people in the world.” It is usually followed by two categorical labelers, such as “there are those who do, and there are those who do not.” The specifics of the phrase vary, depending on your source. For example, ask a mathematician how many types of people there are in this world, and they might tell you there are 10: those who understand binary, and those who do not. Or ask a Harry Potter nerd like me, and I might tell you there are only four types: brave, smart, evil, and miscellaneous.

This statement – “there are two types of people in the world” – is not new. It has been used as an anecdotal starter for centuries, surviving the conversational shift of time with the introduction of social media and memes, and it will likely continue to be a favorite of ours, because honestly, we love placing people into categories. We like to label things, because if we can label something, that means we understand it.

Labeling something isn’t inherently bad. Labels can prove quite useful when baking. If, for instance, you have two identical bins filled with white powder, you might not know which one to add to your batch of sugar cookies. But if they are labeled, then you can avoid the mistake of adding one cup of pancake mix to your cookie dough batter, instead of the actual required one cup of flour. This is obviously a hypothetical example, but hypothetically speaking – those cookies tasted really really gross. I don’t suggest you repeat my mistake.

Other societal labels can help us build associations or networks – such as when you join a political party, or identify with a specific group or religious organization. Yes, labeling can be grand, but there is also a foundational danger in building your understanding of someone or something off such superficial qualifiers as “he’s a Democrat” or “she’s a Mormon.” This can instill in us a natural tendency to begin judging others based entirely on their “qualifiers.”

As your average, fallen, daughter of Eve, I am especially good at this. As a matter of fact, I’m what you might call a hobbyist heckler. I take great joy in adding my own personal commentary to things, especially from the back of the room, and often with a ridiculing tenor to my voice. But when left unchecked, this fun and entertaining activity can turn into a grouchy and unforgiving way of life. Dr. Craig L. Oliver, senior pastor of a Baptist church once taught that “the initial danger of the unforgiving heart, is its potent ability to tether its victim to the past. The unforgiving heart is masterfully adept at impeding forward progression…it immobilizes the individual by chaining them to past hurts, experiences, and situations.”

There are, of course, so many wide and varying circumstances to consider here. It is easy, to say, forgive your older brother for stealing your bike, riding it to school, and thus forcing you to walk alone in the 100-degree heat. I’m clearly not holding a grudge over that. But the harm sustained from abuse is understandably harder to forgive. Those who have been emotionally or physically abused should not be judged further for finding it difficult to forgive those who have done them wrong. Feelings of anger, fear, and rage are not a sign of weakness, rather a natural, human response to such horrific events.

It is important to note that, though hard, these emotions can be changed. Perhaps the difference between a forgiving and unforgiving heart is that the forgiving heart recognizes a need for help. A forgiving heart turns to the Lord, giving him the control, allowing him to take the lead.

Consider this: Most grievances take from us a level of energy and attention that goes unnoticed, and is often not reciprocated. We can end up spending years dedicated to being angry and hostile toward someone who has moved on with their lives: someone who rarely, if at all, gives the situation that *you* can’t get past a second thought.

Forgiveness is at the very heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. It is a label the Lord has asked us to take upon ourselves. He said, “by this shall men know, ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” It is a personal attribute, not simply a decision we make from time to time, or when we feel like we should. It illuminates in our hearts the truth of God’s love for others. Bishop Roderick J. Linton once said that to have a forgiving heart is “to forsake the tendency to judge, condemn, exclude, or hate any human soul. A forgiving heart seeks to love and to be patient with imperfection…it understands that we are all in need of the atonement of Jesus Christ.”

While it is natural to feel hurt when someone has wronged you, the harsh and scary truth is that refusing to forgive another can be a sin greater than any original offense, for you are, in effect, attempting to deny the blessing of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to a child of God. You are denying them the right to repent, denying them the right to the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and in so doing, you risk losing his presence in your life as well. Forgiving means you trust in the Lord’s ability to work through his Spirit in healing the hearts of others. The Spirit of God can be like a fire in your life. When you forgive, you fan the flame, causing it to grow, providing warmth to you and to all those around you. But an unforgiving heart puts out the flame, dousing one’s ability to feel the warmth of the Savior’s love.

There are not seven or ten or even just two types of people. There is one: those with a human heart, and a human heart can forgive.

As my good friend, Will Smith once said, “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” And I leave that with you as my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Imperfect Perfection

Years ago, the comedy duo of Abbott and Costello delivered a routine that I’m sure most of you here have heard called “Who’s on first?” In quick summation of this: one friend asks another for the names of the ballplayers on the St. Louis baseball team. In response, his friend says – quite seriously – that “Who” is on first, “What’s” on second, and “I Don’t Know” is on third…this of course leads his friend to ask “Well, do you know the names of the players on the team?” to which his friend replies, “that’s what I’m telling you! Who’s on first, what’s on second, I Don’t Know” is on third…” etc. etc.

This playful banter goes on for another few minutes or so before the friend finally realizes that “Who” is the guy’s actual name.

Now, there is a term for this in the study of logic: it’s called ‘equivocation’ – and it’s a fallacy that results when you call two different things by the same name.

Equivocation is something we struggle with a lot in the English language. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the number of words we have that only comprise of a single meaning.

Keeping that in mind, I’ve chosen to focus today on a very specific classification of the word “Grace” – fully aware that this is not the only possible definition for such an extensive term. Today, I focus on Grace as a noun: a noun which I would define, in its most simplistic terms, as “the enabling power of God to become perfect.”

It is important to point out that I do not mean “the Atonement.” Sometimes in the church, we arbitrarily interchange these words as if they were the same thing. This is yet another logical fallacy I hope to avoid today: the use of false synonyms. The Atonement itself was an act – a moment in our eternal history that reintroduced the power of grace to the earth. For the purpose of this talk, I ask that you simply separate the two terms in your mind.

Considering Grace as a noun will help both you and me to better understand the topic I was asked to speak on: How the requirement for grace is not perfection, but rather to simply desire grace, turning towards Christ.

Sound great, right? But if there’s one thing you’ve learned about me in the last five minutes, I hope it’s that I overanalyze everything I read, and the statement above is no exception. When I first read it, I was conflicted because this idea presupposes two things: first, that there is a requirement for grace – something I, at the time, completely disagreed with; and second, that this requirement is often misunderstood or incorrectly defined.

Now, that second assumption I can totally get behind. As I’ve already stated – I think we all suffer from a bad case of ‘misunderstanding’ when it comes to words defined. But that first assumption – that there would be a requirement for grace – took me days to appreciate. I mean, wasn’t it Moroni who says that grace is a gift we have all received, regardless of our worthiness for such a thing?

Of course, there could be multiple answers to this – considering there are multiple definitions of the word grace – which is why, as I mentioned before, I have decided to focus entirely on grace as a noun – an actual thing: the very real power of God that allows us to become perfect.

                Let’s suppose for a moment we just accept this idea to be true: There is a requirement for grace – perhaps even more than one. If we accept this, then the next logical step is to try and define those requirements. Perhaps it is that we can only receive grace after we have done all that we can do, as 2 Nephi 25 would suggest. Or maybe, as stated in Moroni 10, we can only receive grace after we have denied ourselves of all ungodliness.

                I certainly do not doubt the divinity or the actuality of these statements. But we could easily misinterpret the both of them to mean that in order to receive grace, we ourselves must become perfect. But this answer doesn’t work with the definition of Grace as stated before: if Grace is the power to become perfect, but ‘perfection’ itself is the requirement to receive this power, then we find ourselves facing a paradox.

                In order to better understand why this concept cannot possibly be true, let’s talk about the Plan of Salvation.

                As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that every soul existed in Heaven with God before we were sent here to earth. It was there that we believe we were presented with a plan – God’s plan – that we would come down here to earth to receive our bodies, to learn and to grow, and eventually to die and return to live with him.

                Satan, however, presented another plan: a plan that would ensure that every soul would return in the end. In essence, he was basically suggesting a plan of “perfection.” We would leave our Heavenly home as untarnished beings, and then we would return in just the same, “perfect” condition.

                So why didn’t we choose that plan? If becoming “perfect” is the very purpose of life, then why would we not choose the tactic with a 100% guaranteed “perfect” outcome?

                That seems illogical.

                Yet, all of us here chose God’s plan: we chose to be sent to an earth which would fall – making it impossible for us to return to his presence without redemption.

                It is my belief that we chose this plan because, at the time, we understood the concept I have spent all week trying to re-understand: We understood that the requirement to receive God’s grace is not perfection, but rather imperfection.

                Think again to the dilemma we faced before – if perfection were the requirement for grace, how could we ever hope to achieve it? It was in understanding this that our Heavenly Father presented his plan. He knew that imperfection was, in fact, a prerequisite for grace. Thus, he knew that in order to receive this grace, we would first need to inhabit an earth in which we could become imperfect beings – for it is a law of Heaven that unclean things cannot dwell there.

                Christ himself was imperfect when he received the full grace of God. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am certainly not suggesting that Christ was a sinner. It is entirely possible to be free from sin and still be imperfect. Part of the “perfection” process (and part of God’s plan) was for us to receive a body, die, and then be resurrected in glory after receiving God’s grace. This was only made possible because Christ himself went through the process first. His atoning sacrifice – made in a sinless, yet imperfect, un-resurrected body – is what allowed for us to receive God’s grace too.

                Satan’s plan did not allow for this. His plan completely eliminates even the hope to receive God’s grace.

                Now, let’s talk for a moment about the term ‘oxymoron.’ An oxymoron is when two apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction with each other. “Bitter sweet,” “civil war,” “crash landing,” “even odds,” “ill health…” these are all pretty common examples of an oxymoron.

                I’m reminded of another one – presented to us by the villain of the Incredibles, and I quote:

“I’ll sell my inventions so that everyone can be superheroes. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone’s super…*no one* will be.”

                In the scriptures there is a particular oxymoron that has troubled me for years: we’re told in the doctrine and covenants that “the worth of a soul is great,” and yet just a couple of books over we’re told that “man is nothing.” How can these two oxymoronic statements both be true?

                It is with this question in mind that I bring up another fallacy we’re often guilty of - this one called “a false dilemma.” In the past, I read these two verses of scripture and assumed it was an “either/or” situation: either a soul is great, or it is nothing. The “false dilemma” fallacy has taught me that this is not true: that there is at least one other possibility. It is entirely possible that man is both great and nothing.

                Adapting this to my topic – I believe that the requirement for grace is imperfection because to be perfect is to fully understand the effects of both good and evil. It is as the great Sirius Black once said: “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”

                It is on this "call to act" that I end my talk:

                Choose to be good. Choose to accept the light. But more importantly than all, choose to accept both the light and the dark in others.

                No one is perfect: this seems simple enough to accept when we are talking about the sins or mistakes of others, or when it means justifying our own sins as something “natural” that “cannot be helped.”

                But the road to grace is not paved in the black of sin. It is a road paved in every spectrum of light – from the darkest moments of humanity to bright and celestial glow of the Gospel.

                I pray today for the strength to accept my weaknesses, but more importantly, I pray for the opportunity to see and love the strengths and weaknesses of others. I am grateful to be a part of this imperfect world, and these things I leave you, in the name of Jesus Christ – Amen.

               

To my friends who are currently in emotional joy or pain:

May I offer a suggestion?

I promise it’s not mean.

I’ll even do it in Harry Potter metaphor for you - because honestly, how could I not?

Dear Muggles…many of you are hurting: many of you feel fear.
Those are very strong and powerful emotions.

Many of you right now are rejoicing: you feel you have won a great fight.

That is also a powerful emotion.

But emotions are good: Emotions are healthy.

Pixar has taught us that Disgust, Anger, Joy, Fear, and even Sadness have an important role and place in our lives.

Emotions left unchecked, however, can lead to horrible or even harmful actions.

Now…here comes the Potter analogy – as promised:

Harry’s 4^th year at Hogwarts was crazy, right? (Note: spoilers ahead for those few who haven’t read the books/seen the movies.)

After a highly stressful (and emotionally charged) competition, Harry was not only forced to watch the man who left him an orphan come back to corporal form, but also forced to duel with him - on an injured leg and after watching a fellow classmate die.
If he was feeling anything that night after landing back on the Quidditch field, it was emotion.

Lots and lots of strong and charged emotion.

But did those who cared about him simply leave him to cry about it? Did they just “give him his time” to mope?
No, not exactly.

The first thing that occurred (after he was rescued from yet another life-threatening scare) was his talk with Dumbledore. The headmaster, wise in his years, understood that “numbing the pain,” even just for a while, will only “make it worse when you finally feel it” (Goblet of Fire). Albus Dumbledore – someone who Harry both cared for and trusted – allowed him, even forced him to talk about it: privately and in the presence of his emotional buffer and confidant (Sirius Black).

And he did not interrupt – except when he needed further explanation for a better understanding of emotions/events.

It was only after Harry had spoken that he was allowed to sleep: and sleep he did! Though he had been injured that night physically as well, his stay in the hospital wing was purely for his emotional well-being. Those wounds that had been caused physically were cured instantly by magic, but he still needed to take the important time to recover inside as well.

Then, once he was a little more himself, he was able to make a more logically based plan with others who also felt threatened by the change that was about to happen (even those who might not be directly threatened – like pureblood Neville Longbottom – fought by the sides of those who were targeted by Voldemort’s hate-crime campaign).

Now, this suggestion of “healing” events is meant to be for those who are feeling any type of emotion right now – be it joy or fear, hatred or disgust, or especially sadness.

Sitting around and sulking in too much of any emotion (especially one heightened in moments of adrenaline or depression) can lead us down a spiral of regret. If we are not careful during this time, we can not only destroy a lot of really valuable relationships that many of us have had a long time, but we are also in danger of causing contention to rip through our nation – even enough contention to result in another war.

If you are in need of someone to talk to about how you feel – please seek out someone you care for, trust, and love – someone you know will listen.

Talk to them: spill your guts. Get it all out. But then allow yourself the time you need to recover before you make any rash decisions.
I understand that life doesn’t stop happening. I get that you can’t just take days off work to get back on your feet again – but being emotionally healthy is just as, if not more important than being physically healthy, and there is no shame in taking any free days you get (or in making the time yourself) to seek help. Do whatever necessary to talk to those who can help heal you – help to move you along life’s path enough to take the next step yourself (be it enjoying the race you feel you’ve won or fighting for those causes you feel to be threatened).

Please don’t use the internet as your outlet.

Social media has a way of amplifying the underlying emotions and spreading them like wildfire among the trees. Notice that Harry didn’t report everything that happened to the entire school – he just told Sirius and Dumbledore, followed by a select few family members and friends.

Emotional situations are much better handled when discussed one on one.

Now, if you don’t have anyone you feel you can turn to – please feel free to private message me. I will listen to anything you have to say, and I will always do my best to respect your feelings and your privacy.

There are also many professionals you can turn to – people who are literally paid to just sit and listen and help you sort out your mind. I am (obviously) a firm believer in this type of treatment, and there is absolutely no shame in ever admitting that you need it – especially to those of you who feel threatened right now.

Finally, I would just like to say to those who are feeling immense happiness and joy right now – please remember that some of your friends are not. Even if you don’t understand it, just be aware of it.

I’m not saying you have to go around and hug every single one of them. I’m not saying you have to be “careful” and watch everything you say. But be aware. If you cause offense, even unintentionally, be aware enough of their emotions to apologize. This was obviously more than just your usual election: this has been a very heated and extremely emotional year for all of us, and no matter what outcome would or could have happened Tuesday night, we were going to have scared and broken hearts on either side.

There has never been, nor will there ever be a president up for election who has not threatened the security and happiness of at least one citizen in their country: that’s just the truth of it. But the correct way to respond to that has never been to lash out at the citizens who voted for him (or her – had Hillary won), but rather to use those freedoms the constitution of this country protects – the freedoms that allow us to peacefully and yes, even publicly fight for our rights (or the rights of others).

If you decide to step across the lines of respect and turn to hate, violence, or any other crime that infringes on the constitutional or basic human rights of another, then you must expect to be punished by the law: politicians included.

Yes, I know this doesn’t always happen. Guilty people get away with crimes (especially hate crimes) every day. That is why we have the right to step out and speak against it, and the right to accuse those of crimes for which they stand guilty. We do NOT, however, have the authority to punish them ourselves. We can help alert the authorities to crimes, and we can even alert them to miscarriages of justice, but punishing others ourselves only ends with self-incrimination.

I’ll just end with this:

Right now, Obama is still our president.
Right now, we must continue to pray for and support him in his duty to protect and serve the American nation.

Come January, that duty will fall on Donald Trump.
I wish him all the help in the world. He will be the one standing at the helm of this ship – along with the members of congress and the supreme court who currently serve as well.

Wishing him ill is wishing ourselves ill.

If Donald Trump does, however, deliver on some of his promises (which up to this point are just a bunch of hateful words) then he should and hopefully will be punished by the law, same as anyone else, and I invite you all to exercise your constitutional rights to fight against such things happening.

This is why things like Impeachment exist.

This is why the system is set up the way it is: because humans are all imperfect, and thus we elect imperfect people to the presidency…and sometimes they cross a line.

And with that, I wish you all a good (and safe) night.

An open letter to the President of the United States of America

To President Barack Obama,

                I did not vote for you. During your initial campaign, I was still in high school and thus too young to vote; when you ran for re-election, I found that the change I wanted to see in this country wasn’t exactly the change you were promising to take with you to the presidential seat – so once again, I did not add my voice to those in your support.

                But never once, in the past 8 years, have I questioned your devotion to this nation. You have done your best to honor and serve the position you have held, and I have faith in your ability to continue to do so throughout the remainder of your days in office.

                We may agree on many issues, we may disagree on more – but my voice isn’t the only voice in this place I call home, and you have done your best to listen to the ones that are struggling far more than I. You have heard the cries of those in oppression and taken strides many would not take to bring them out of obscurity. I have a deep admiration for your ability to calm the crowd, to stand tall in affliction, and above all – to love, without prejudice.

                You stand where many, and yet few men have stood before – at the end of your road as our nation’s president. While few understand the burdens you’ve held, and even fewer the steps you’re about to take, I want you to know that you are not alone. We may be different – so very different – in our personal and our political beliefs; nevertheless – I am honored to have known a nation under you.

                You are not leaving behind a legacy of war. 

                Thank you. 

                You have not dislodged the important freedoms I hold most dear. 

                Thank you. 

                You have not cast people out, nor closed the doors to this nation of second chances. 

                Thank you. 

                You have striven to stand behind the Constitution of the United States – upholding its principles and laws to the best of your understanding and ability. 

                Thank you. 

                Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, you have stood by your family through thick and thin. You have understood that – be it blood, bond, or borders that bring us together – family, above all, comes first.

                There has been a sad legacy of infidelity with some leaders in our past – one that the stress of your job might, to some, excuse – but you have stood by your children and your wife, putting them first in all. Never once have I, nor the public, seen you neglect that role of father and husband: one that stands of much greater and eternal purpose than the role you will retire at the start of next year.

   You have always put us second, and your blood first, and for that, I am extremely grateful. You have shown a remarkable ability of devotion under the scrutiny of a public media eye looking for disgrace; for that I applaud you.

   Thank you for your limits – for being human, and accepting your faults.

   Thank you for showing your willingness to stand – accepting your role as a leader during difficult times.

   Thank you for sticking to those goals you cared about most – even, and especially when they were goals that were not met with universal approval.

   Disagreement is what makes this nation strong. The choice to even have a voice – in approval or dissent – is a freedom not all nations share; and that my voice can be heard without fear of imprisonment is something for which I will always be grateful.

   Perhaps I will never find my “perfect and ideal” president until I am the one walking through those oval office doors; Even then, I’m afraid I would greatly disappoint my expectations.

   For this, I am also grateful.

   I am grateful to live in a world where imperfect people are willing and able to serve those just as imperfect as they. I am grateful for change – for the chance to learn and grow from others, of a different race, culture, and belief. I am grateful to be a citizen of these United States.

Thank you, President Obama, for your years of service.

Thank you, President Obama, for the months that will come.

I am proud to have you in my country’s history.

Sincerely,

  A citizen of the United States of America

P.S.

             Don’t worry about Tuesday. It will come and go.

             No matter what happens, you have at least one voice here ready to support whoever fills your seat, regardless of whether or not they got my vote. 

Happy birthday, Harry

Blaise: I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me. But I can't help it that I'm popular.

Hat: Watch out Slytherin! Fresh meat coming through!

Neville: What do we even talk about?

Hat: Ashton Kutcher.

Neville: Is that a band?

Hat: HUFFLEPUFF! (...jk - Gryffindor).

Hat: Nice wig, blondie. What's it made of?

Draco: Your mom's chest hair!

Hat: SLYTHERIN!

Patil girl not in Gryffindor: Yeah, I like math.

Hat: Why?

PP: Because it's the same in every country.

Hat: That's beautiful. This girl is deep. RAVENCLAW!

Umbridge: *sit in chair*

Hat: You go sit with the Slytherlastics. On Wednesdays they wear green.

Harry: So if you can talk...why are you a hat?

Dumbledore: Omg, Harry, you can't just ask people why they're hats!

Hat: Ravenclaw?

Two for you.

Gryffindor?

Four for you Gryffindor, you go Gryffindor!

And Ravenclue?

Do we have a Ravenclue here?

Bird that's not a raven: It's RavenCLAW.

Hat: Oh, "claw," here you go.

One for you.

And none for Hufflepuff. Bye.

#happybirthdayharry

"It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to."

I would like to take a moment to talk about Sadness.

Yes, the character from Inside Out. But also just the emotion in general. Sadness - the emotion - is something we are all very familiar with.


Terrible things have happened in our world, especially of late, and if Inside Out taught us anything it's that it's okay to be sad. It's okay to feel grief and to cry from time to time.


Grief can be a powerful tool in leading us to recognize the true joy in our lives; but C.S. Lewis taught us something very important about using grief in his discourse "A Grief Observed."

"I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process...For in grief nothing 'stays put.' One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral? But if a spiral, am I going up or down it?"

Grief can be used to take us in either direction - up or down. Think of it as the spiral itself, the gear moving us the direction we want to go.







When the world witnesses a bombing, a shooting, a war, etc. do we use our grief to tear others down for the harm their actions have caused, or do we allow it to raise us up - causing us to stand again on our own two feet, and reach down to help those others who have fallen as well?

I have heard a lot recently that our nation is getting worse - that we are spiraling down into a rut from which there is no salvation - a rut that "back in my day we never would have fallen into!"

"The same leg is cut off time after time." - C.S. Lewis

"It was safer back then!"

"We're better off before guns!"

"We would NEVER have treated others that way!"







Truth alert: You did, and you still do. We all do. The world is not getting worse. "The world" is doing nothing, actually, but keeping us all alive. It is the humans who inhabit it who are making mistakes, and we are all of us just as capable of making those mistakes as our brother.

There is a lot of negativity in the world - and we are often the cause of it, but there is also a lot of good - and we can be the cause of it as well.

Satan would have you focus on the bad. Focusing on the bad makes you forget that God is there - that he cares and is guiding us toward the light every day. Focusing on the terror makes us believe that terror is all there is, but just as Joy learned (when she had literally fallen to the "bottom of the pit" and was ready to give up) - bad things often lead to good.

Focusing on the bad doesn't make it go away, but forgetting about it doesn't either.




Focusing on the light until we can no longer see the bad - no longer see it because we are no longer creating it ourselves - that is our real defense against the horrors of our times.




Let's take a moment to realize how far we have come!

Other races - on the whole - are being treated with less hatred and contempt than they were before, and great strides are achieved every day in furthering education for ALL children all over the world.
Women are being offered work in areas they were never allowed in before - just look at our government!
I don't care if you're voting for her or not: We have a woman nominee up for the Presidency, and that is an amazing thing.

America has come far. The world has come far.

But we will only continue to change for the better if we choose to spiral up instead of down.
Please don't use politics to bring others down - to point out their "faults," to tear them to the ground.
Use it to inspire others to fight for what we all want - to stand up for the good, to continue to change the world.

Bad times will come, and often we will be the bringers of it - but good times are there as well, and we hold the power to acknowledge them in our very hands.

A Muggle-born Nation

Today is a holiday in the Mormon world, called "Pioneer Day."

If you hear that word and immediately think of women in long skirts and bonnets and men with amazing beards pulling handcarts and wagons, then congrats - you've probably met a Relief Society president at some point in your life.

This is the day we choose to honor our ancestors - those who crossed the American plains with nothing but their faith to carry them on: on to a land where they would be free to worship God without fear of persecution. It was the day in which they arrived in the soon to be established Salt Lake Valley.

But enough history lesson - many of you probably don't even believe in or have particularly strong feelings toward a God, the Mormons, or religious freedom at all. Many of you might not care about a history that happened to a people with whom you don't relate, and who lived so long ago. You are not a bad person for feeling so - it is simply not a concern on your mind, and who can blame you? There are so many other things to be worried about that are happening right now.

a Pioneer for our, and all, nations.

Since the word "pioneer" itself might also be a foreign concept to you or even a concept that you feel some disconnect from, I would like to take this opportunity to bring up a different image of the word - one I hope all of us will stake personal claim to in years to come.

In the early 1520s, the word "pioneer" was recorded as "a foot soldier who prepares the way for the army." They were the scouts who cleared the path for the battalion to come - scouts who pledge their faith and their loyalty to their brothers-in-arms. Sometimes they were viewed as "pawns" in the game (which is the root of the original French word) - like the pawn pieces in a chess match: easier to sacrifice than the others; but to the true chess master, they were recognizably just as important as every other piece on the field.

Now imagine it in the wizarding world - I know you're all secretly (or not so secretly) Harry Potter fans. Just imagine that you're a muggle-born, receiving your letter to join the magical world - a day you couldn't be "waiting" for, because it was a day you didn't know would arrive.

It's easy to place yourself in those shoes if you are an American. We are still relatively new to this world as a nation. We still have pioneering to do. We're like the muggle born wizards entering the world of magic for the first time: a new generation of wand-waving, inexperienced lunatics who have some ground to make up, but also have a lot to offer this already "established" world. We might not know as much about politics, economics, or establishing world order as the rest of our compatriots, but we have all been offered the same opportunity: to live here on this earth.

It's important to remember that our different heritage/upbringing/race, etc. does not make us of any greater or less worth than those who have likewise inherited this planet. Each human life is of equal importance. Muggleborns, half-bloods, and purebloods are all created equal: but equality does not equal frivolity. We cannot sit back and do nothing, allowing those of like-minded potential do all the work. If we want "change", we have to contribute to the act of "change."

Whether you believe in a God/the Mormon Pioneers/religious freedom or not, I invite you to look at today as an invitation to "Pioneer" in whatever you do believe in most. If you believe in education, be a foot soldier in establishing schools all over the world. If you believe in gender equality, be a foot soldier in removing the wage gap in the world of business and work. If you believe in magic, be a foot soldier in the battle against illiteracy and ignorance and teach children how to read...Harry Potter! Just kidding. Teach them to read other books too.
(but Harry Potter's a good place to start...)

If you are unhappy with the politics of today, prepare and start paving the way for a new generation of politics that you and your children can be proud of.

Being a Pioneer does not ensure that you will see the fruits of your labors - many have died in the pursuit of what they believe - but it does ensure that someone, someday will; and pioneers fight for the someone, the anyone, the everyone.

I believe in an eternal salvation for every man, woman, and child on this earth - EVERY one. That is why I served a mission, and that is why I strive to continually serve all mankind. If I am failing in this task, I apologize. Like those pioneers who came before me, I am not perfect and am prone to mistakes, but I am also driven by my faith, and I have faith in humanity. I believe that we can rise up to the challenge that has been presented in these latter days - the challenge to be better to our fellow men than we have in the past: to better ourselves and to help others become better as well.

While standing up for what you believe in, look at the ground on which you stand, for it was fought for and won by those who came before - the earlier foot soldiers, the pioneers of your heritage. Recognize that there is good in this world worth fighting for as you defend the ground that's already been won.

Join the Resistance, the Fellowship, the Order of the Phoenix, whatever you want: be a foot soldier for the nation - do whatever you can to make this world, our world, a better place to call home.

And, Happy Pioneer Day all!