The Words of People Much Smarter than Me: Freedom

“The volition of [humanity] is free; this is a law of their existence, and the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be God. … This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice.”

-Brigham Young

The Sanctity of Life

Today is a serious day and we’re going to have a serious discussion. Yesterday I was reading the comments written about a news article when I came across this statement, “Sarah Palin is a lunatic. She claims to believe in the sanctity of life, but she loves to go hunting. It doesn’t make any sense.”

You may not see it yet, but this statement is the evidence of the worst evil I can imagine. People everywhere are perplexed by the fact that some people are against abortion because they don’t approve of killing but those same people are not lobbying for wild animals to be put on trial for eating each other. Now, most of us see this as common sense, but I’ll state this very clearly for anyone who doesn’t: humans are different from animals. Shocked? Confused? Disgusted?

From a spiritual perspective this concept is very easy to understand. Humans are children of God. Animals are his creations. If I drew a beautiful picture, I would protect it and treat it with care. But I would torch that picture gladly to save my child from harm. We should respect animals because we are rational, moral people. We should not revere them as humans. I find it absolutely shocking that anyone could think a statement that equates the worth of an animal’s life with the worth of a child’s is anything but nonsense.

I am disgusted by how quickly the value human life is being destroyed. Let me tell you what I know. Each human being is a unique being with an infinite worth. There is no value that ought to be held above that of the human life, soul and mind. I do not believe that any person has the potential to see their own worth. But, I truly wish that I could see you the way God does. Perhaps I would treat you better. Perhaps I would treat myself better. If only the world understood exactly what it's devaluing. If it did, I doubt we'd have to discuss any problems at all. If it did, I'd have nothing to write about, because no one would want to threaten personal liberty.

The Words of People Much Smarter than Me: Motherhood

"After observing and empathizing with three generations of mothers and thinking of my own dear mother, I surely know that there is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

-M. Russell Ballard

Another Miracle in Bethlehem

I found an amazing story that I would like to share with you. I know all anyone wants to talk about is the swine flu. So, at the end of today's post I'm going to share a video from Glenn Beck's television program. But right now, I am going to keep my promise to make this blog empowering and uplifting.

Two millennia ago, in a town called Bethlehem, Jesus Christ was born. Since that time (and before), the Middle East has been torn by hatred and war. The Christians attacked the Muslims, the Muslims and Jews tried to kill each other, and the world tried to eliminate the Jews. Everyone wanted to keep their own "Holy Land" through blood and hate.

The current Mayor of Bethlehem is a Christian. In preparation for the arrival of the Pope, he decided to have a gift made: a copy of the Gospel of Luke written in ornate Arabic script. For those of you that don't know, this is the traditional form in which the Qur'an is written. I had the opportunity to once visit a traveling museum exhibit that featured many of these gorgeous, hand-drawn scriptures.

Necessarily, then, the artist had to be a Muslim. Abu Saymeh, a 51-year-old man, was chosen for the project. He had never before read Christian scripture. During the process of making the book, however, he said, "I found that many of the things emphasized in Christianity exist in our religion."

I loved this story because it crosses so many lines in peace and understanding that were once considered impassible barriers. You can read the news story on it here. This is a small gesture in the face of what the Middle East continues to face today, but it shows that cooperation is possible. It gives me hope.

As promised, here's Glenn Beck...

The Words of People Much Smarter than Me: Happy Easter!!!

The words of people much smarter than me

"No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse."

-Jeffery R. Holland

Note from Amy: "The words of people much smarter than me," will be a regular Sunday column from now on.

Words of Wisdom from Marion G. Romney

This article is quoted from Marion G. Romney (1897–1988). His words in their entirety are featured in this month's Ensign Magazine. The online version is available here.

"I clipped the following article from the Reader’s Digest some time ago. It reads:

"'In our friendly neighbor city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don’t know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved. …

"'The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the … sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets.

"'Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave in to the ‘something for nothing’ lure! They sacrificed their independence for a handout.

"'A lot of people are like that, too. They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government’s ‘shrimp fleet.’ But what will happen when the Government runs out of goods? What about our children of generations to come?

"'Let’s not be gullible gulls. We … must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence.'

"The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of wealth, possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit. Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds. This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens. (emphasis added)

"We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even if we have a legal right to do so. It requires too great a sacrifice of self-respect and political, temporal, and spiritual independence.

"In some countries it is extremely difficult to separate earned from unearned benefits. However, the principle is the same in all countries: We should strive to become self-reliant and not depend on others for our existence.

"Governments are not the only guilty parties. We fear many parents are making 'gullible gulls' out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources. In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program."