Today a friend of mine told me a story that truly struck me. I write it here, because I am told repetition helps us remember things, and it is something I need to work on and remember. This is to be taken only in general, because I know things happen to us which cause sadness and frustration…but for the most part it holds true. (Please read w/o young children)
This friend was in charge of Young Women’s Camp for the stake this year. They had a special guest speaker who volunteers/works over in Africa. Over there, the speaker said, when you ask someone “how are you?” they don’t answer “fine”, or “I’m doing well”; they say “my status is negative” or “my status is positive”. This is in reference to whether or not they have AIDS. In addition it is a common held belief that if you have sex with a virgin, you’ll be cured of your AIDS. As you can imagine, a child’s purity does not hold for very long over there. One 12 year old girl in particular (whose name I forget) had an Uncle with AIDS. I’ll leave out the obvious, but when she was later tested and told her status was “positive” she simply said, “Well God has blessed me because I am still alive”.
I only tell this story because I think sometimes we tend to get into moods of self-entitlement, unaccountability, self-pity, and ingratitude…and we who live in America have no reason to. I know when it comes my time to stand before God, I will not be able to give him an excuse for any ungrateful feelings I may have had. Because I live in America I have more than any of his other children; more than anyone, anywhere in the world. We will all be held accountable one day for how grateful or ungrateful we have been. The last verse of one of my all-time favorite songs (and probably yours too) reads:
Oh beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years. Thine alabaster cities gleam, UNDIMMED BY HUMAN TEARS. I love that phrase. It is completely accurate. We who have been blessed enough to be born and raised in America have no real reason to shed tears. Because we live in America we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up; we can live wherever we want to live; we can make fun of our leaders and stand up to them and have no fear of being gunned down; we can worship as we choose; we can get the world’s best medical attention almost immediately; we can get an education. In short, we can answer the question “how are you?” with “I’m fine”. Thanks to all of those who have made this so...
