This past week has been busy to say the least. As the semester winds down, I have more and more things to do with less time. I guess that's life and I should learn to deal with it - and I am. One subject on which I would like to talk is the responsibility that we have as members of the Church to be civically engaged in the world. No matter what our personal opinions are we have the responsibility to be engaged politically and know what is going on. When I was in high school and even today, many people make fun of me, be it in jest or not about the level of my seriousness when it comes to politics. People, active members have even discouraged me from participating in my community politics because "it is below us."
Perhaps they are right. Perhaps when everyone was making fun of Nephi, and telling him that he was wasting his time, perhaps he should never have done anything at all. Better yet, perhaps Abinidi should have never challenged the wicked King Benjamin, or even better, why didn't Samuel just abandon doing the right thing after all that wall must have been dangerous?! Ammon? What a loser?! Why did he waste his perfectly good time serving people, why? Because he loved that people.
I swear the next time who makes fun of my life choices to pursue a career in public service, or my decisions to not party on the weekends so that I can go and do political campaigns just to find that they label my efforts as WASTE, should listen to this: I am doing this for you, and for me, and for our families. Civic duty is missing in the Church today!! We are too passive, too afraid to challenge the status quo. I can't tell you how many mothers knowingly send their kids to crumby schools, who know that things aren't going well in the school system, yet cry, whine, and complain when you ask them to help their children! It is a flat out JOKE! In the Doctrine and Covenants we can learn a good lesson that addresses this problem. They didn't stand around when the government asked them to travel miles and miles to contribute to the U.S. military. No! The Mormon Battalion had a sense of what CIVIC DUTY meant! The members of the Church similarly understood why they needed to be civically minded. My greatest fear is that we have great potential in the Church. There are many great men and women, but these people don't do anything.
Some the world's greatest leaders have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have a lot to offer this world, and we can do better. It isn't easy, but nothing ever worth doing is. Civic Duty isn't just something that losers engage in, it is something that only concerned people do. People who care about their country.
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