When I was a youth, every Sunday in my church I would rise with the other young women when asked to Stand For Truth and Righteousness, and we would recite our Young Women’s theme. Here is part of that theme: “WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9, The Book of Mormon)...”
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means these days to stand for truth and righteousness. I’ve decided that it means I can no longer sit quietly and wait for things to blow over because I’m afraid of offending someone or because I don’t think what I have to say will make any difference. I asked myself, what if no one ever took a stand? What if both Martin Luthers, Thomas Jefferson, Galileo, or even Jesus Christ had stayed silent because they we’re afraid? Not that I group myself in with these significant examples, but how can I know the difference I can make if I never try? Now that doesn’t mean that I want to offend anyone, and I’m going to be very mindful of that. What I ask of those who may not feel the same way as I do, but know me and know my heart and all I strive for, and even those who do not know me to please read this with an open heart and mind...and perhaps with a prayer in your heart that you will hear truth when it is spoken.
Anne Frank, this is for you.
The divide in this country, I would argue, deepened during the turn of this century with the formation of certain polarizing parties within the existing parties. I don’t blame President Bush. I believe he was doing the best he could with what he had, and I believe he honestly believed he was doing for his country what he thought was best. I believe the same of President Obama. Both men are good men, who love their wives and their children and their country. Just because I see the good in them, doesn’t mean I agreed with all of their policies and choices. I don’t. However, I believe that it is more important that the person who represents this country is a good and kind hearted person with intelligence and an understanding of how to work with others than what their political beliefs are.
When I vote for someone to represent me, I never look at his or her political viewpoints first. That is always the last thing I look at. First, I look at what kind of person they are. I observe their countenance and listen to how they speak and how they treat others, their closest friends and their deepest enemies.
I know there are many who believe what a President does in his private life is no concern of theirs. Well, I don’t agree with this because of one of the most important beliefs I hold regarding this great country: I believe that God watches over and guides this country and he cannot inspire someone whose heart dwells in darkness, or whose heart thinks of no one but his own. And even without that belief, I cannot trust someone that cannot hold trust with even those he supposedly loves.
Two years ago, I had friends who said they voted for Trump because they felt he was their only option, but that they didn’t agree with who he was and that they didn’t like him. I asked after the election that those who voted for him, who did it for these reasons, that they stand up against any tyranny and disrespect that may come from him. I have not seen these stands. What I’ve observed is that many (not all, but too many) of those who voted for him and Republicans who were adamant that he was a terrible person and voted 3rd party, are now defending his every move and every statement. It is unfathomable to me that anyone would defend any politician on every issue, whether they voted for him or not. I cannot believe that everyone who voted agree 100% with everything their candidate stands for. It is almost as though the voter feels regret in their choice and is now trying to deny it by saying their candidate is of course perfect, because they voted for him. The voter should be holding the candidate to their standard and not the other way around.
This is not an attack on Republicans, I’m just as irritated with the way many Democrats have been acting, especially within Congress. They have continued the cycle of revenge when the opposing party is in office. Let me just say, “An eye for an eye, just makes the whole world blind”. And currently, within our political parties, that is exactly what we are: blind. Our current President knows this and is cashing in on America’s inability to forgive and be the better person...or party. He is driving the wedge even deeper between us, because it benefits him. He is feeding our easily influenced egos with the lie that we are better than everyone else. And his words have festered in the hearts of far too many. Remember that time when a group of people believed they were better than another and millions and millions of innocent people were murdered? I thought it was impossible to forget.
The media has shot itself in the foot the last couple of decades and they are paying for it now. But far worse, is when our leader asks the people to distrust the only sources we have to find the truth. I have always been able to find the truth, even mingled within biases and distracted discourses. The truth is the part that connects every perspective. If we stop trusting the news completely, then we are in danger of following all other nations that have fallen under fascist rule and dictatorship.
Tyranny also comes if we continue to put any group of people into a box of degradation and trample it with hatred. History repeats itself every time a new group of people has tried to become American, or when an indigenous people has attacked us, or someone’s beliefs do not fully jive with the majority, or whose minority group has sought for equal rights. The American Japanese were put in concentration camps during WWII, people fought to keep Catholics out of our country, people enslaved other humans and continue to do so in many respects, women are suppressed, good and pious Muslims are slandered. Persecuted people, including Jews, Christians, Muslims and many others who are suffering have been barred from seeking refuge within our borders. My own ancestors in the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were met with the same callous and heartless refusals, meanwhile men, women and children were torn apart, murdered and their homes destroyed.
We need order and we need protection, but putting walls, either figurative or physical, between us will only isolate us and make us more susceptible to those who would love nothing more than to see us fall. Sometimes walls are necessary, but it is important to remember that they do not solve problems, they only hide them. Look at the countries that are hard pressed to let anyone in who isn’t their own...they are communist, dictator ruled, and fascist countries, whose people are oppressed and live daily in fear and in want of what we have.
I have faith in my country, because I have faith in He who inspired it. But I know that mankind does a very good job of destroying gifts that God has given us and I don’t want my country coming so close to destruction that we never really get back what we have or that we never grow to be what we truly could be.
America is and has always been about opportunity, second chances, open minds and open doors, freedom from the horrors of this world, and simply hope. I can no longer stand idly by and allow anyone to turn America into a land of ignorance, hatred, ego, and fear.
Please stand with me and fight to close the cavernous gaps that enchain us. If we don’t stand together now, then we may never be given another chance because “a house divided against itself cannot stand”.
