Anyways, another belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the constitution of the United States of America and the founding fathers who penned it were inspired by God. A prophet of the Book of Mormon named Nephi saw a lot of this in a vision and Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the Church, actually did temple work for the likes of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and many others. We are a very patriotic church, to say the least. So much so that the American version of the hymnbook contains a number of patriotic songs, including The Star Spangled Banner. We rarely sing it in church, usually just on the 4th of July, but for whatever reason the person conducting the hymns on temple square two weeks ago decided that it was one of the hymns we were going to sing. Never in my life have I considered not singing our national anthem. I have family members who have served faithfully in the armed forces, including my great grandfather who I love dearly. I've always held the upmost respect for our nation and many of the principles it was founded upon, but that day I found no desire to sing that song. I stood silently as everyone around me sang, letting all the emotions from the events concerning the NFL and our president's remarks towards them flow through my thoughts. To be frank, I was embarrassed to sing that song.
I got over it quickly and went on to enjoy a great session of General Conference and very fun night with friends afterwards. It was a fantastic weekend! The next day, however, the Las Vegas shooting happened, and all of those feelings and emotions returned. I was angry. I saw nothing good in anything, especially not with this country. I was on edge all week, and I allowed myself to be quite unhappy. A good number of my conversations seemed to be directed towards gun control or racism. It was as if I couldn't allow myself to talk about anything good.
I'm not trying to have any political debates here, or even advocate any specific views. So sorry if that's what you're looking for.
At the end of the week following the Vegas shooting, I was sitting on the grounds of the Tucson Temple. The temple is a good place to take stock of your life and see if there's anything you need to change. There usually is! On this particular morning, however, I was very hard on myself. After listing at least ten things I was doing wrong, I had the very clear thought that "taking stock" of my life also meant recognizing the GOOD things that I was doing. I realized how unhappily I had been leading my life because I was constantly telling myself I needed to be better at things, but I wasn't stopping to appreciate the progress I had already made. I had literally convinced myself that I wasn't that great of a person and that I was always falling short, when in reality God had been working with me and through me for a long time and he continued to do so everyday. He could see my potential, so could I see mine? I realized I needed to change the way I thought.
Update: I've been much happier since then! I recognize my imperfections and always make goals to improve, but not before I recognize and appreciate how great I already am. I wonder if we can't apply that same principle to the bad things happening in the country and around the world? I believe that we will learn and grow more from magnifying the good in things, than by simply focusing on what needs to change. I don't mean to sound naïve or imply that we can just sit and expect the world to fix itself, but I do believe we shouldn't give up the ground we've already won. What is America's potential? Are we going to let that be completely destroyed by the imperfections of men?
I also saw that principle highlighted in a movie I went and saw last night called Goodbye Christopher Robin. It was about the author of Winnie the Pooh and how he gained inspiration from his son Christopher Robin. Initially, the books were a great source of happiness for his young son, but that soon changed as Christopher Robin became a household name throughout much of the world. His childhood was taken away from him as he spent day after day and hour after hour doing interviews and reading fanmail. His father soon realized this, and stopped writing about Winnie the Pooh, but the damage was already done. Christopher held resentment all through his childhood towards his parents, and wanted nothing to with the stories. In his mind, they had caused much of his pain growing up. He wouldn't even allow himself to be called Christopher. After a life-changing event in his adulthood, however, Christopher realized the good that had come from the books. He recognized that his Dad, who suffered from severe PTSD, was simply doing the best he could. He decided to remember the good that came from the books, and his whole outlook on life changed. He lived happily and actually went by Christopher the rest of his life. Today Winnie the Pooh continues to bring happiness to many children. That was a very brief review, but it was a great movie, like seriously. Everyone should go and see it! I'm grateful for the reminder it gave me to always search for the good in things, and that continuously focusing only on the negative won't change anything but will instead hinder our progress.
Winnie the Pooh might seem like a strange connection to make here to America and the problems we face, but I can see the parallels. There are good things to remember and highlight about our country. We don't have to ignore the bad, in fact we have a responsibility to fight against it and make change when necessary. I simply believe we can do so in a happy manner. Light will always chase darkness.
God bless this country. He already has. America is a choice land and it is by divine design that it is here. Without it and its unique religious freedom in the 1820's, Joseph Smith never would have been able to establish the Church. As soon as he attempted to break from the Catholic Church he would have been branded as a heretic and put to death just as were the reformers who came before him. Without the foundation of our country, the restored truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may not have had place to take root, at least not at that time. I love this country and the opportunities it gives me. It's up to us to make it better, but we can't lose sight of what this country was meant to stand for from the beginning. We can agree to disagree and we can love each other. We can help each other change and, more often than not, make changes ourselves. We are better than the hateful rhetoric we've allowed to flow in our communication for too long. Evil will always be here, but we don't have to join it or give it more fuel to run on. Together we can heal.
God bless America. Even if that's tough for me to say sometimes.
"And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these."
- Mormon 8:12
