Wow! I can't believe it is March already. Our glorious February weather is dead and gone right now. It is pouring rain and freezing cold outside, and I'm a weather wimp now.
A few things. Two or three years ago, my lovely sister put together 365 quotes or positive thoughts and gave me a box. She didn't have time to cut them up and put them into the box, but I knew I had time. Well, I finally did cut them up yesterday. I figured that I needed a little positivity at least once a day, and I know that some of my friends could use that as well, so I've decided to post the quote here. I may or may not feel inclined to comment on it, but I hope that if you have some "good fruit" to share, you will!
Today's thought is:
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt
Wow. I hadn't read that until I was typing it. I think I needed this today. I am definitely the person that won't do something if there is a chance of failure. I'm terrified of failure.
I have to say something about the Randy Bott situation. I read the articles about what he said in class. I hesitate, because I wasn't there, don't know the context of his words, or if that was really what he said. I think people are very quick to judge, and very, very sensitive about everything. Social networking is very detrimental, in my opinion. We shouldn't care what people are doing or thinking every moment of every day. I certainly don't. We become so obsessed with other people, or what other people say about us, or to us on our walls, that we become self-centered in the most basic way. Our lives revolve around us. That sounds silly, but our leaders are constantly telling us to serve others, to get outside of ourselves. I grew up with Brother Bott in my stake presidency. He is one of the best, most decent human beings I've ever met. He cares so much about the youth and is an excellent teacher. He walks the walk and talks the talk. I stand by him. My heart aches for him right now. The truth is that we don't know why blacks couldn't hold the priesthood. Period. That's OK. We REALLY don't have to know everything. Brother Bott was expressing his opinion to his class, as all teachers do. This has been blown way out of proportion. Whatever happened to making our own decisions? Someone should be able to express their opinion without being told by the country that they are evil or a bad person. (Free speech, folks!) I would hope that we would more readily show charity and thoughtfulness, discussing civilly what we believe, making our own informed decisions, and not spread all of this bad fruit around.
I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I apologize for being so long winded.
I'm going to focus on the good today. It is raining, but that means the world will be cleaner and more healthy when it stops. I can deal. I have an amazing husband who supports me, laughs with me, and respects me. I have the cutest dog who snuggles her heart out. I have a great family and wonderful friends. I know that good wins over evil. We can do hard things. We can fail and still be ok. We can fail and still be good. We can win and still be humble. Let's walk a little more like the Savior would have us walk today, and see where He leads us.
1 comment:
Dear Melinda,
I love and miss you.
Jen
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