I was surprised about the direction of this talk. There seems to be a trend appearing in this general conference focused around the Constitution and what we must to do preserve it and this nation.
Before I jump into the thick of it, I had to laugh when Elder Haight was expressing his concern over the fading moral compass of the general public as evidenced by the headlines back then. If he thought it was bad then, I can't imagine how he would respond to the headlines today! I had to laugh at the thought.
Throughout this talk, Elder Haight mentioned the examples of children and how they have learned principles of honesty and virtue. As a parent of a small child, it makes me realize how many of these principles need to be taught early and consistently throughout a child's life. Sometimes being a parent is a little more than intimidating, but then I remember that if I am living my life the way I should, I won't forget any of these important principles to teach my kids.
One of my favorite lines from the talk is the following: "Only in an atmosphere of freedom and trust could values like honesty and integrity truly flourish and thus encourage others to pursue their rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It's even more interesting when you put it next Elder Haight's later message about how people need to be able to trust, "in their institutions and in their leaders. A great need today is for leadership that exemplifies truth, honesty, and decency in both public and private life." One of the most frequent commentaries I hear about our government from faithful latter day saints are "I've given up on our country. God will abandon us soon." and "what's the point? We are too broken to be able to fix our problems." I always cringe when I hear these and similar sentiments. Are we as latter day saints do everything we can to promote good citizenship in our communities? Are we making our voice heard beyond that Facebook status? Are we actively engaged with our community leaders, our congressman, our senators? I bet the answer for most people is "no, I am not." Just a few talks earlier, president Ezra Taft Benson reminded us that the Constitution will hang by a thread. Yes, I think things are bad now, but I get the feeling it has to get a whole lot worse before it will get better. We've only begun to see the unraveling of the Constitution, and sooner or later both active latter day saints and the righteous citizens of this nation must rise together and save the cornerstone of our country.
The other main point I appreciated was Elder Haight's commentary on right and wrong. Shades of grey seems to be the new black and white. It would be so easy to fall into this mindset that we can't ever know anything for certain, but rather there is only strong likelihood that something is or isn't so. Yet, there is a line, some things are black and white. As Elder Haight says, in giving the ten commandments, the Lord says "thou shalt not" instead of "thou shalt not except when thou justifies rationally thou shall." We can know things for certain, and there is a great comfort in that. I know the church is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that families are eternal. I know that the Lord loves me. I don't need to justify it, I don't need to prove how I know. As Joseph Smith said, I know it, and I know God knows it. Granted, this doesn't excuse me from going out and learning as much as I can and growing as a person. Just knowing that I can be certain of my testimony is a feeling of peace and comfort that seems to be fading in this world where everything needs to be justified and we are expected to have the answers to everything.
The concluding paragraph really had a wonderful message that stands on its own and doesn't need any additional commentary from me.
"From the beginning to the end of His ministry, Jesus asked His followers to adopt new, higher standards in contrast to their former ways. He asks nothing less of those who follow Him today."
