"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isaiah 52:10)."
--Life of John Quincy Adams, p. 248.
3 comments:
You likely have a beautiful family. I say that in hope that life will bring joy to them. I'm like you a Us History buff but without the idealism that you must have. With still 5 years to go to retire I question whether or not I can face my students and optimistically and honestly portray American Democracy as anything sacred other than a guise for the wealthy class to accumulate wealth & power. Even on a grassroots level I see the same kind of abusive deception. I serve on my small towns city council. I see such disregard for what the founding fathers stood for in our current leadership. I find that here in Utah that the church has been hijacked by the Republican Party. Our church seems to take little position against this cruel war when it glaringly rebukes any notion of Christian conduct. I say all this to prepare you for the day you see the injustices hinder your own family. A father like mine who can't afford teeth. A daughter like mine who can't go to college because she suffers with OCD and our institutions build golf courses instead of investing in our young. Another daughter of mine is at BYU but is struggling. This is a 4.0 sterling scholar all state softball & prom Queen who can't find the resources to stay in school. My son couldn't qualify for a home at $110,000 and both he & his wife work full time. We and I include the church in this...we need to be more sensitive to injustice in our so called democratic society. We need less capitalism and more cooperativism to meet the challenges of the future < global warming, alternative energies, ethnic cleansing, Darfur, etc.> All this is well documented in the Doctrine & Covenants. Young Gays in our church are committing suicide or leaving the church in droves. Kind of scary that they can't find a place in Christ's Church. I long for the Days when Huge B. Brown and LeGrand Richards taught us tolerance and compassion for all mankind. I see many of my history friends dare not print the truth about our own history without putting their membership in jeopardy. I see openness fleeting in church classes and complacent boredom instilled. Now this all sound pretty depressing. What do you see for your own kids future if they are not among the privilaged? What would you say to kids today in a US History? class in the face of injustice & excessive opulance?
Hmmm.... Maybe that it's sad that there are so many whining Americans that expect life to be smooth and easy -- that expect that everything will line up so that they can have what they want without putting out what is necessary to make that happen.
Every single exercise in communalism in modern history has resulted in stifled innovation and more poverty for all involved (except for the ruling class).
I have a relative that likewise became disenchanted with the church and now lives in a cooperative community. They are enabled to survive mainly due to welfare fraud, but they have little good to say about the American taxpayers that are actually working and footing the bill.
While we will always have the poor with us, let's be honest about the fact that America's poor enjoy a better standard of living than the upper middle class in most of this world's nations. No class of 'poor' has ever had it so good in the history of this world.
Capitalism is far from perfect, especially when it is mixed with incentives for businesses to appeal to the government to stifle competition. But it beats communalism.
I can only hope that my kids survive the doctrines of socialistic and pessimistic teachers.
Yeti, thanks for the comment. You ask me what I see for my kids' future if they are not among the wealthy.
I suppose the same treatment I got.
My father is an elementary school teacher. I was taught to do well in school and go to college and find a career I would enjoy and be successful at. So I did.
And that's the key. You can do anything you want to in this country. I've seen real economic oppression - countries that no matter how hard you work there are simply no jobs to be had. Corrupt governments that kill innovation and entrepreneurship.
I will teach my kids that they too can do anything they want to do.
I just hope my voice is strong enough to overcome the "no you can't" voices flooding their world.
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