Let Your Light So Shine

One of the little angels killed in last Friday's awful shooting in Newtown, CT, was 6-year old Emilie Parker. To the left is her picture.

She was an artist who always carried around her crayons and paper, just in case there was some artistic inspiration that hit her. She had two younger sisters, and from what I heard her grief-stricken father say, they always turned to her for comfort. Her dad was teaching her Portuguese and one of the last things she said to him was, "Eu te amo", which means, I love you. She and her family moved from Ogden, UT to CT less than a year ago when her dad accepted a new job. They're going to take her body back to UT for burial.

There are a lot of other stories about these beautiful children. One could write a book about the heroes who tried to save them. I weep for them. I literally weep when I read about them or hear a story on the television about them.

I also hear of those who have dropped everything to go to CT to be with these suffering people. I heard last night about "comfort dogs" who were taken to Newtown so that grieving families could pet them and hug them. I heard about three people who drove 1000 miles just to give hugs to the survivors.

I also watched as the good people of this country came together to support those who lost loved ones in the shooting in CO some time ago. I have watched members of my own ward and stake go to New Jersey and New York to help those who lost so much to Hurricane Sandy. My heart has been warmed as I watched the nation band and rally together to give aid, comfort, money, time and effort to those in need.

I've even read stories about how NFL players this past weekend wrote the names of the CT victims on their shoes, and how the normally stringent uniform police of the NFL have looked the other way. Yes, there is a lot of good in this world, if you watch for it.

But now it's time to stop watching. The time has come to put the doctrine of Christ to the test, to put my beliefs to action. How can I help these families? How can I be more like the Savior and show Him how much I love Him? By doing something!

I don't propose driving all the way to CT, but I do propose donating to some of these causes and by being active in my own community. For instance, Emilie's parents are going to take her back to UT for burial this week. They are short on money to do so. A fund has been started in her name on Facebook to which I can donate. It's called the Emilie Parker Fund and is located here.

And there are others. Some of them are:

• Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Memorial Fund, CT Teachers Credit Union, P.O. Box 2121, Waterbury, Conn. 06722
• Friends of the Engel Family Fund
• Noah's Ark of Hope Fund
• If you really do want to drive to CT and volunteer, you can call (800) 203-1234. That number will get you in touch with someone who can help.
• Sandy Hook School Support Fund, c/o Newtown Savings Bank, 39 Main St., Newtown, Conn. 06470.
• Newtown Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 596, Botsford, Conn. 06404

There are others, too I'm sure, but the point is this: it's time to let our light so shine, to put the Spirit of Christ and Christmas to action. Let your influence be felt in this world. After all, it's our responsibility to leave this world a better place than it was when we got here!

Emilie sure did.

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Put The Man Back Together

I learned of last Friday's killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School as I was walking back to my desk after a nice lunch out. A vendor friend of mine told me about it as he received an alert on his phone. As were you, I'm sure, I was deeply affected by it. I even shed tears on several occasions.

I feel the worst, though, for those who are left behind to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. I don't worry about the kids who died as much as I do about their parents and families. The kids are fine, nestled safely in the arms of Him who loves us all. But the families must now make sense of this whole sordid thing, and many children who were not shot will be scarred for the rest of their lives. Who knows what terrible thoughts were bred by this one person's actions?

Early on I thought, "Only a coward would do such things and then take his own life. Only a coward." To some extent I still feel that way. A coward will do things and then fail to stick around to face the music, the consequences of those actions.

But over the weekend I've reflected on this again and again. I've watched the pundits and their words of "wisdom" and have listened to all of their arguments for this and for that. I've heard them argue about gun control. I've heard the President say that "we can't tolerate this anymore." I've heard that it's the media's fault. I've heard it from 101 different angles.

But after sitting in our High Priest Group meeting yesterday and listening to the lesson, I've come to my own conclusions. Take it for what it is, my opinion.

First, this is NOT a gun control issue. YES, get assault rifles and such out of the hands of the average citizen. I can see that. No one needs those for hunting or anything else. They were made for war, and last time I checked there isn't one going on in the United States.

I'm not a gun rights zealot by any stretch, (though I do possess my conceal permit) but I do believe in the Constitution. I believe it was a God-inspired document that unfortunately has seen much better days. But though it may have been weakened drastically in the last 30 years, the 2nd amendment is part of that document. Though it may have been meant for simpler time, the right to bear arms is still necessary...and MAY be even more necessary in years to come. But that's another issue altogether.

Second, this is not solely a media problem, though I do think that if it weren't all over your tv screen this kind of person might think twice before doing something so heinous. Having been in the media and having seen what goes on behind the scenes, I can empathize with those who believe the media glorify those who perpetrate such foul deeds. We have to know everything about them. We scrutinize their upbringing, the meds they were taking, the courses they took in high school and the fact that they wet the bed at night. Like John Wilkes Booth, those who do such things think they'll become famous and will be known forever, maybe even revered. I can see this, but still don't believe it's the media's fault.

Third, this is not only a mental health issue. Sure, there is something wrong with these people. How else could you go into an elementary school and start killing innocent children? Some screw somewhere is seriously too tight.

Fourth, this is not solely an education problem, either. Yes, we need to teach our children better. Yes, we need to help them understand the consequences of their actions. Yes, they need to know that they are responsible and NOT entitled to ANYTHING.

Nope. All of those are just symptoms. What this is is a LOVE problem, a turning to the Lord problem, a listening more to the adversary than obeying the commandments of the Lord problem.

Listen to what a prophet of God said regarding this.

"By following the teachings of the Lord, by turning unto Him and repenting of sin, by going about doing good, we may have peace and happiness and prosperity. If mankind will love one another, the hatred and the unkindness that have existed so much in the world will pass away." George Albert Smith

Did you just read what I did? Hatred and unkindness would pass away IF we will love one another. And how do we do that? Listen to the same man.

“This world is in a critical condition. War will not cease and the strife in this world will not end until the children of men repent of their sins and turn to God and serve Him and keep His commandments.”

So there's the answer to all of the unbelievably insane and sickening things that are happening now in our world.

• Repent of our sins
• turn to God
• serve Him
• keep His commandments

Sound like anything you've heard before?

Sound like something the Savior tried to teach 2000+ years ago and has been teaching through His prophets ever since? And people ask me why we could possibly need a prophet today. I guess this answers that question.

Listen to one more quote from President Smith.

“We are all under the obligation of making this world a happier place for our having lived in it."

You know what that tells me?

This Connecticut thing is MY problem.

The reason these things are happening is partially because of me. I need to get closer to my God. I need to serve Him better. I need to keep His commandments a little bit better. I need to make my influence felt in this world. Once I do that, at least part of the world will be a better place.

Years ago I heard a story about a man who was doing some work for his job from his home. His son was playing with his toys nearby and making a lot of noise, causing the dad to not be able to concentrate very well. Quickly flipping through a magazine he saw lying nearby, he tore out a page containing a picture of the earth taken from the moon. He tore it up into many small pieces and giving it to his son said, "I'd like you to put this puzzle of the world back together. When you do that, I'll stop working and will play with you." The son, anxious to have his dad play with him, accepted the "puzzle" and started working on it. The dad, thinking he'd have a good hour of quiet time ahead, settled back down to his work.

After five minutes the boy came back with the picture all put back together, and said to his dad, "I've got it all done, dad!" The father was greatly surprised and said, "Son, how did you do this so quickly?"

The son replied, "Well, I knew that putting the world back together would take me a long, long time, so I turned the page over and saw the picture of a man. I just put the man back together and the world took care of itself."

So it is in this situation. If I can put the man back together correctly, this world will heal itself, and all of the hatred and unkindness will pass away.

You see, it's not gun control.

It's not education control.

It's not media control.

It's self control.

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An Evening With John Fascenda

From distant kingdoms folk beat long
To beam their visage dark and black.
Wrought cages 'round their crowns they bore,
And armor to defend their back.

A pleasing land of tundra numb,
Of dreams before the half-shut eye
Of booty since collected, n'er
For several years, now glorify.

Still beat the feet of one so proud.
Four times the prize had ridden home,
Just to be grabbed and born from thence.
For this the chieftan lord did roam.

The verdant green of pastures lay
Athwart his back and fore his breast.
The missile settled in his grip,
A grimaced face by priests long blessed.

The lines were drawn, the battle raged
And lo, a battered colonnade.
One chieftan fell and carted off
Beneath the tattered flags they made.

Their blood upon the pitch was spilt,
And sweat and tears the trenches filled.
The honored mud from ages past
Laid dripping from their iron will.

Until the hour when bomb was hurled
Through air and space and downy flake,
No man could choose the victor there,
Nor battered pawn their hope forsake.

But once the fell advance was won,
Just one could wear the laurel crown.
The epic contest now complete,
Glist'ning spoils on sprinkled ground.

Disciples gazed, gripped with delight.
Guerdon prize raised above the rest.
With cracking voice the chieftan praised,
"The Forty-Niners are the best!"