Penn State & Joe Paterno

A scandal involving this premier educational institution broke out last week. A former Assistant Coach was arrested on multiple accounts of child abuse and two administrators were arrested for covering up the incidents. People were shocked and alarmed that something like this could happen and worse, it went back to 1998 and involved at least 16 children.Then we find out that it was a well-known secret around the campus. Many knew about it and decided to not act. The beloved coach, Joe Paterno was said to have been told by a witness in 1998 that a 10-year old boy was molested in the locker room by the Assistant Coach. Joe did the “legal” thing by passing it on to the Athletic Director. He did not inquire about it with his employee. He did not follow up and find out about the boy. He just passed it on and out of his mind. According to him, he did what was legally required. Awhile later, the assistant coach was allowed to retire but was given full access to all the facilities, including the locker room where the incidents occurred. Many times he was seen on the sideline at games. And even though Joe Paterno testified about this to a grand jury in February, he still allowed this guy access to the facilities after his testimony and he was seen in the locker room as late as a week ago. When the arrests were made last week, he did the honorable thing and resigned - effective at the end of the football season. He’s a grandparent, by the way, and in his mid-eighties.

We have been told by authorities that this Assistant Coach/pervert/disgusting low-life was allowed to retire in exchange for his silence on the matter. Huh? Worse, he was allowed access to all the sports facilities to run a charity program for youth. Huh? Did you catch that – a youth charity program! And it was at the facilities and with youth in the program that were being molested and at the place where the abuse occurred. What planet do these people live on?

It then came out that it was so widely known that this pervert had appetites of this nature that there was a lot of winking and nodding about it amongst the facility and student body. For example, an ice cream shop located on campus had different dishes named after famous Penn State Alumni. They had a dish named after this jerk (the Sandusky) that was highly suggestive of his proclivities. Oh, and when this all came out, it was immediately pulled from the menu. I wonder why? How after-the-fact noble. The guy wrote an autobiography that is still on sale in the book store. I guess they figure a few more dollars can be made while the issue is hot. It is after all about money. Penn State makes about $116 million on their athletic programs annually; $72 million coming from football. Paterno’s salary is in the millions and he is a major property owner in the area. Sandusky raked in a half a million from his youth charity program.

Yesterday the University Board met and fired the University President and Joe Paterno effective immediately. The students at the school went nuts and rioted loudly and even overturned a news van. They shouted chants of encouragement in support of Joe Paterno and even mobbed his house in support. Today, many were on the news saying that they love him and he was an institution and should be allowed to at least coach the last home game on Saturday so they can honor him because of his illustrious and brilliant football coaching career spanning forty-six years. His coaching career? Really? There are people that shallow; people that don’t get why he is getting fired? They don’t get that one single instance of ignoring child abuse really does undo forty-six years of football coaching and any other successes or honors? They don’t get that
with the number of victims and the widespread cover-up of University Officials it could actually bankrupt and destroy the University? Do they not remember that the same scandal involving Catholics Priests awhile back threatened to bring down the 2 billion-member Catholic Church?

But that is beside the point. Young lives were ruined. One incident would be atrocious. Two would be heinous. But many, many more than this is so evil and disgusting it is beyond the human mind to grasp. And if one single person who knew about it, actually did something about when they first heard about it in 1998, at least 15 young boys would have been spared the nightmare and the ruined life. How do you not follow up on an allegation of someone who said they saw it? How do you not smack the living crap out of the person who told you they saw it and did not stop it or in the very least call the police when they were seeing it? In fact, the person who said they witnessed it is still employed by Mr. Paterno as an assistant coach and will be coaching
the team in the interim. Huh again? Passing it on to your supervisor and then forgetting about it? Who is that detached from humanity?Was he too caught up in this sport to be bothered by things of this nature? Was he so focused on winning football games and protecting the reputation of his program and school that he did the exact legal thing as he thought appropriate – which really just amounted to kicking the problem up the chain of command and hoping someone else dealt with it? Could this football hero not be bothered with it for some reason?

He was a god at this place and de facto ran the school. But was this too awkward for him to spare a little time and energy on? Was it a little too messy and maybe might reflect poorly on him and his legacy? Or was he just so detached and incompetent in the area of the social and moral consideration about fellow human beings that he simply got the hot potato off his hands and put it on some else’s so he could go win some more games? Not good enough! Sometimes even being an eighty-five year old legend doesn’t undo either gross incompetence or gross negligence. There
are times when people can play the clueless card in life but this isn’t one of them. It makes me sad that most tragic of all was that he is a grandfather! How could a grandfather let this happen to somebody’s grandkid when it would have been so easy to stop at the time? It makes me
cry to think of these innocent little boys.

Should Joe Paterno have been fired like he was – with a phone call and a “see ya”? Absolutely! He’s lucky if he gets off that easy. His legacy probably keeps him from being prosecuted but we have to always keep in mind that some things, even in our day of scandal, some things trump long successful careers.

One wrong like this really does undo a life of right!

I'mmmm Bacccckkkk!

I havn't updated for awhile but as little Carol Ann said in Poltergeist II while staring at the signed-off TV snow: "They're back."

I hope to update this more often and add the fascinating things going on in Patty's and my life. For now you can see from my picture, I'm having a blast. Consulting and Researching is the life.

I'm teaching sunday school again so I will post some highlights of the lessons or maybe what ended up on the cutting room floor. A couple of weeks ago I did the part two on the Sermon on the Mount and I got in one scripture, is all.

I also run across an amazing amount of obersavations and insights about everything and they need documentation or I'll forget them. With Iphone and time I can do a much better job.

For example: I noticed the other day while surfing the cable late at night that the main geek on Big Bang Theory (or whatever the name of it is), was the younger daughter's boyfriend on Roseanne. And for a few episodes on the Big Bang Theory, the younger daughter on Roseanne was on the Big Bang Theory as a lab partner and then girlfriend to the guy. Wierd. Maybe everyone knew that but me.

Stay tuned ...

On Reading

One of my family once noticed a book I was reading that was about reading. They thought it was ironic I guess. I'll admit it though: I read books about reading. Many of them are brilliant. One I recently read a book about reading that mentioned Harold Bloom (a book reviewer and author of many books, a few about reading) read 1,000 pages an hour. That's 15 pages a minute. And apparently he remembers everything he reads. I want to be that guy but all the highlighting and marginalia I engage in keeps it much slower than that. Much.

But it got me thinking about reading. why do some get it and some don't? And how do you get someone to get it?

I found some interesting things if you want to pick through my sometimes random notes.

Young babies are very interested in voices; also people. It is important to talk to babies; sing to them. But books are not going to be that interesting immediately. They can't focus that far yet and their eyes are still developing; less likely to reach and grasp and enjoy an object like a book before they are able to do all that.

About the time they are able to sit up by themselves and develop a distinctive social personality - around 6 months - you then give them books with what they call, extra-textual features. These are books built for small hands that can be chewed; engineered for babies who haven't developed their pincer grasp. Until about 9 months, when they grab, they use the whole hand so if you give them a regular book the pages will not all separate and so they'll tear them. Been there.

If you get the extra-textual ones - cardboard, plastic, only several thick pages, maybe some visual or things that can be felt built in - the baby will smile when you hold it out for them and they will reach for it and usually vocalize something. You will see a reaction. Then, of course, the baby will grab the book and start chewing on it. But it is all very deliberate. Continue to give them these types of books and more important, read aloud to them. After they can grasp, get them other books and read to them until they are able to read themselves (at least.)

With little training anyone can go to the first day of school of a child and look around and easily spot those who never handled books. These kids don't know how to handle them; they don't know what it is for; why it is appealing; how to listen to a story; or understand the narrative arc of the story. Think about it, how does a baby learn to tell the difference between two people talking to each other and a person reading out loud. What is it that signals a person and tells them the difference between talking and reading? How do you know when you are listening to a talk whether the person speaking is talking from notes or reading their talk? Children who are read to, understand the difference at a very early age and you can tell they understand it because there's soemthing they do called "book babble."

Book babble is a wordless language but it's syllabic and it has the cadences of reading aloud. It sounds like reading aloud and that's why it is so fun when you hear it come out of a baby. It's got that adda-dadda-dadda-radda-adda feel to it. Not unlike when all of my grandchildren learned to "phone babbly" mimicing their mother on the phone. What they've learned is there is something about the particular rise and fall of the voice, the rhythm, and it means reading aloud to them.

If it were just a sound, book babble would be little more than amusing but the important thing is what is happening. The child is acquring a skill that humans alone are capable of mastering. In addition to the actual work of decoding spoken language, the brain is somehow taking in and responding to the question,

"What does this word mean?"

As a child you have to learn to decode all kinds of things.

"What is the emotional context of this or that?"
"Is this information?"
"Is this a 'no, no' that I'm hearing?"
"Why am I hearing this?"

By the time a child gets to school, you want your kids to know, "O good, someone is reading a story to us. This will be fun." "I am going to get up close to the teacher so I can see the pictures, and I'm going to listen, and know what happens.

Children who have not been read to this is all new to them and will be a much harder job for the teacher to teach them.

By 2 years old a child should have a vocabulary of 200 words and when they speak, fifty percent of their language should be intelligible to people other than their parents. Quiz a child on a book given to them 6-months earlier and you can answer a lot of developmental questions:

Can they make animals sounds from the pictures in the book?
Do they know more words than mama & dada and can other understand them?
Can they answer whether they like the book or not?
Can they answer what their favorite part of the book is?

There is nothing as satifying as a book - not even computers - to a child, going back even to a 6-month old who seemingly only chews it and turns the pages and manipulates it. At 1 year old you start getting them bigger and heavier books - you still want indestructable ones - but they have more conceptual things in them; animals or maybe a simple story. And allow them to handle them because that is very important to a child: handling the book, controlling it, manipulating it, and doing it in your home and owning it.

One of the most exciting things that happen when a child turns two-ish is they can turn pages over without ripping the crap out of them. They have their pincer grasp developed by then. A lot of this depends on whether the child has been read to or not. A child who has grown up in a home with books learns how to handle them and to be careful with them. The feel of a book is very important.

For babies, part of the appeal is that if you wave the book at mom, she is going to read it to you. That means you are going to be on mom's lap, you get to hear mom's voice, and you get mom's attention one-on-one, which is very much what babies always want. A six-month old, one-year old, or two-year old probably would rather have that than anything else. So what the baby gets is the tactile feel of the book, the physical contact of the parent, the parent looking at you, looking with you at the book, holding you, and I suspect that is where the positive associations with books come from. Though you have no recollection later on in life, this is your first repeated exposure to the sound of someone reading aloud, words on a page or the object of the book, in this most safe, most important, most familiar and from the most important person in the world, the most important voice in the world, and some of the most important words in the world, if you read the correct things to them.

The book, it is learned very early, is the best way to get that person all to yourself.

Come To Zion

(Based on Elder D. Todd Christofferson's 2008 Semi-annual Conference Talk)

I recently heard the story of a man in the hospital – 86 years old – sick, dying, and his wife was with him. He said, “Ethel, I remember when we got married; I lost my job and you stayed with me. Then I went into the service and you joined the nurse’s core so you could be with me. You were right there with me when I was wounded. Then I went into business – 4 times – and they all failed – but you were always with me. Here I am in the hospital – 86 years old – sick, dying – and you’re still with me. I want you to know I’ve come to the conclusion: You’re bad luck!

Today I am going to talk to you about something that has nothing to do with luck – good or bad. It seems its human nature to blame or attribute things to some sort of luck - and many things are frequently someone else’s fault. Not today. Not with the principles I will be speaking about.

The State of the World

I don’t think I’m going to shock anyone by observing that our world has a few problems!

Whatever it was we were hoping to collectively create down here on earth and whatever life we were thinking we wanted for ourselves and our posterity, it seems like we are witnessing it crashing down around us in spite of a lot of good works.

How many “once-or-twice-in-a-century” unpleasant events have occurred or are currently occurring in just the 8 years of the 21st Century?

Right before our very eyes, played out, day-in and day-out on the news, in the papers, on the Internet, and in the lives and behaviors of those around us, we are seeing something that has been prophesied and predicted by many finally happening.

After years and years of speculation and philosophy and debate, some things are finally working themselves out and taking on definite form and shape. If you are like me, you’ve suspected “it” might be coming – though you hoped “it” would not. If you are like me, you sensed “something” was just around the corner but we just didn’t know what it would exactly look like and in what form it would take shape and manifest “itself.”

Many thought on 9/11 that was “it.” That “it” had finally arrived. But that wasn’t “it” was it? On 9/12 most of us thought as a country and a world we had finally arrived at the low point; at the point that will finally test us as a nation and as people and as individuals and families and it looked like maybe we’d pass the test, improve things, and avoid something much worse. But shortly everyone got back to business and now it’s just a footnote in the history books for most. There are some important changes in our collective mentality as a nation but they aren’t very positive.

For a long time, we have heard about the “big one” and how we need to be prepared for “it” because “it” is going to be the big thing that will test us and see what we are make of. We’re still waiting and hopefully preparing but by and large we remain very unprepared.
And now, seemingly almost without much fanfare, and seemingly from out of nowhere, a different “big one” seems to have hit. It’s taking a little while longer to reach us here in Utah; down into our individual lives and affect our lifestyle and our security and test us as people. But everyone seems to know “it” is just around the corner and is coming and we need to get prepared for it as much as we can.

What is the “it?” What is “it” that is just around the corner that’s coming to our neighborhood and to our families and to our personal lives shortly – if “it” hasn’t already arrived?
At the risk of being far too clever by half, “It’s” not exactly what you think.
If you’re thinking of the collapse of many of our financial institutions in our country and around the world, you’re partly right.

If you’re thinking about the collapse of the housing market and the enormity of those who are losing homes in this country and that is hitting our state and is projected to hit even harder in the days to come, you’re partly right.

If you think it’s the rising rate of unemployment and the daily news that tens of thousands and maybe even millions more are losing their jobs, you’re partly right.

If you think it’s the wickedness of the world or the divisiveness of people in general in solving our problems or the seemingly imminent changes in the core nature of government and family – sacred institutions that have eternal meanings to each of us - you’re partly correct.

Babylon

But you’re not exactly correct in any of one of these things. The “it” was given to us in the October General Conference by the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles – Elder D. Todd Christofferson. And what he told us about “it” is that what we are seeing before our very eyes is something he and others for centuries have called Babylon.

Babylon was the ancient City of Babel, of the Tower of Babel fame. It was the capital of the Babylonian Empire where a temple was built to worship the idol-god Baal. This idol and the worship in the temple were referred to by Old Testament Prophets as “The Shame” because of the sexual perversions that were associated with their worship. Since then Babylon has come to represent worldliness in all its forms as well as the worship of evil and the mistreatment of the righteous and their principles.

Said Elder Christofferson:
It is with this backdrop that the Lord said to the members of His Church, D&C 133:7 "Go ye out of Babylon; gather ye out from among the nations, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other".

Whenever I hear the term Babylon I think of the great Priesthood song: Ye Elders of Israel (Hymn 319). We sang it last week in the leadership session of Stake Conference so it is fresh on my mind. The words are instructive in regards to this Babylon and the Lord’s instruction in D&C 133:7, so as you listen to the words, try and pick out the things we are encouraged to do as Latter-day Saints:

Ye elders of Israel, come join now with me
And seek out the righteous, where'er they may be
In desert, on mountain, on land, or on sea
And bring them to Zion, the pure and the free.

O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell;
We're going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.

The harvest is great, and the lab'rers are few;
But if we're united, we all things can do.
We'll gather the wheat from the midst of the tares
And bring them from bondage, from sorrows and snares.

O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell;
We're going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.

We'll go to the poor, like our Captain of old,
And visit the weary, the hungry, and cold;
We'll cheer up their hearts with the news that he bore
And point them to Zion and life evermore.

O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell;
We're going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.

When I hear these words sung I often think the upbeat nature of the music masks the true feelings of actually leaving Babylon and when we sing, “O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell” there ought to be some dissonant chords played on the organ or some booing and hissing from the bass part, rather than just: “We bid thee farewell.”

It reminds me of what Elder Maxwell said when speaking immediately after this song was sung. He expressed the thought that one of the challenges of bidding Babylon farewell is that many of us like to keep a summer cottage there. (Neal Maxwell Quote Book, page 25.)

What do you make of the actions we need to take to get out of Babylon and to assist others in doing so, as the song said?

Seek out the righteous
Bring them to Zion
If we're united
Bring them from bondage,
from sorrows and snares
Visit the weary, the hungry, and cold
Point them to Zion

In addition to these great action statements and maybe because of the blessings of fulfilling them, there are several references in the song to Zion as the place where we are to go.
Elder Christofferson reminded us that Zion is the exact opposite of Babylon. He reminded us of what Joseph Smith said about Zion – the “it” that we should be creating and seeing come about and not the “it” we are seeing.

Listen to the great descriptive words the Prophet Joseph used in talking about Zion:

"The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society course of study, 2007], 186).

Does the thought of Zion give you peculiar delight?
Do you look forward to Zion with joyful anticipation?
Are you fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations about building up the cause of Zion?

Of course we know that Zion is both a place and a state of being but Elder Christofferson made it crystal-clear that the state of being needs to occur - in our lives - and in our hearts - and in our Wards - and in our Stake - before the place of Zion can be a reality.

Said he:

Zion is Zion because of the character, attributes, and faithfulness of her citizens. Remember, Moses 7:18 The Lord called his people Zion, because they were of [1] one heart and one mind, and [2] dwelt in righteousness; and there was [3] no poor among them.

Remember these 3 things:

[1] One heart and one mind
[2] Dwelt in righteousness
[3] No poor among them

So … what can we do – what is our duty - as Latter-day Saints to establish Zion?

A key to our role we heard in the words of “Ye Elders of Israel”:
Seek out the righteous
Bring them to Zion
Point them to Zion

Seek! - Bring! - Point!

Elder Christofferson uses a term that sums it all up and perfectly describes our unique role as Latter-day Saints in establishing Zion.

Said he:
The Lord calls upon us to be beacons of righteousness to guide those who seek the safety and blessings of Zion:

We are guides! I’d never seriously thought of my role in this great work as a guide but that really and truly gives a wonderful perspective to what we ought to be about.
Of course as guides, we have to know where to bring people to, where it is we need to point others to; and what they need to do to be a seeker of righteousness.

Thankfully, Elder Chrisofferson tells us that there are 3 things we absolutely have to do to establish Zion in our hearts and in our lives which will then qualify us to guide others to it.

1. Unity

The first thing we need to do is – remember Moses 7:18 - (1) to become unified in one heart and one mind.

Elder Christofferson elaborated thusly:
We will become of one heart and one mind as we individually place the Savior at the center of our lives and follow those He has commissioned to lead us.

He then told a simple story that illustrates the Zion characteristic of unity.

Young adult from several countries in Europe met in Budapest, Hungary for a conference.
Among the group were 20 young men from Moldova. (mahl DOH va)
They had spent days getting passports/visas and then travelled 30 hours by bus to get there.
The conference provided 15 workshops and each person could only attend 2 or 3 of them.

Rather than selfishly picking the workshops that most interested these 20 young men and hanging out in the safety of their own group and travelling in a pack, they got together and laid out a plan where at least one person in each group would be in each workshop where they would take good notes that they would then share with the rest of the group.

And then further they could take the notes and messages from each workshop back to the young adults in Moldova who were not able to attend.

Elder Christofferson’s summed up the this way:

In its simplest form, this exemplifies the unity and love for one another that, multiplied thousands of times in different ways, will "bring again Zion" (Isaiah 52:8).
Do we have that same attitude of putting others ahead of our own desires and wants even in simple things like this conference?

I imagine if we all took the time, in everything we did, to think about whom else might benefit from whatever it is we are going to do, and think of how we might share it with someone else, we’d all be better “Zion guides” for doing it.

2. Holiness

The second defining characteristic of Zion is – remember Moses 7:18 said they “dwelt in righteousness” – Elder Christofferson phrased it (2) to become, individually and collectively, a holy people.

Said he:
The Savior was critical of some of the early Saints for their "lustful . . . desires" (D&C 101:6; see also D&C 88:121). These were people who lived in a non-television, non-film, non-Internet, non-iPod world. In a world now awash in sexualized images and music, are we free from lustful desires and their attendant evils? Far from pushing the limits of modest dress or indulging in the vicarious immorality of pornography, we are to hunger and thirst after righteousness.
To come to Zion, it is not enough for you or me to be somewhat less wicked than others. We are to become not only good but holy men and women.

And let me add from Joseph Smith that we do it with peculiar delight and joyful anticipation. We are happy and thrilled to avoid Babylon and to guide others to the holiness of Zion even though it is never going to be a popular thing to do.

A month ago at your Ward Conference, the choir sang the song: “Take Time To Be Holy.” I enjoyed it very much and thought the message was so powerful I looked up the words so I could remember them.

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.Make friends of God’s children [one heart and one mind], help those who are weak,Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see [righteousness – holiness].

Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide [the concept of guiding again];And run not before Him, whatever betide.In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,Each thought and each motive beneath His control.Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
What a great message. It encompasses all of the characteristics Elder Christofferson said we needed to have to be a “Zion Guide”. Plus …

I think maybe it is the best key in our day and age to creating the Zion society – simply taking the time. So many things take us away from the important things. They are distractions because they keep us even from knowing or being aware of what needs to be done or where we could help or where we are even at in become Zionlike. They also keep us from ever having to think about the deep things of the kingdom or study it out in our minds and our hearts.

3. Caring For The Poor

The previous song hinted at the third thing we need to do when it mentioned we should take time to “help those who are weak” – remember again, Moses 7:18 when it stated, “there was no poor among them.” – Elder Christofferson stated it this way: (3) to care for the poor and needy with such effectiveness that we eliminate poverty among us.

Elder Christofferson then told us by what means the Lord measures our worthiness to establish Zion.

Said he:
Throughout history, the Lord has measured societies and individuals by how well they cared for the poor.

Then this scripture:
D&C 104:17
For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.

Elder Christofferon summed up our need to provide for the poor by asking this question:
We might ask ourselves, living as many of us do in societies that worship possessions and pleasures, whether we are remaining aloof from covetousness and the lust to acquire more and more of this world's goods. Materialism is just one more manifestation of the idolatry and pride that characterize Babylon. Perhaps we can learn to be content with what is sufficient for our needs.

The Stake President, independent of Elder Christofferson’s talk, has been inspired to council us in this Stake to put aside everything that is not a necessity at this time as the effects of our economic system – wrecked by Babylonian greed and selfishness - turns around and improves.
One reason for sacrificing our personal wants is so that we may be self sufficient and independent in case tough times hit us or our family. But another reason, a Zion reason, is so that we may learn to live within our means so that if we have additional, we may feel inspired to give liberally to assist the poor and those who stand in need.

It’s not complicated to provide for the poor. It just requires us to sacrifice, be more self-disciplined, bump up our fast offerings, and participate in welfare assignments when they come our way. Remember, it’s how the Lord measures us.

It is my prayer that we may all with peculiar delight and with joyful anticipation take time to do our part in bringing about Zion and guiding others from Babylon to Zion by our unity, our holiness, and our charity, in the name …

Mr. Lincoln

I mentioned before this was to be the year of Lincoln. Little did I know how true that would be. I dragged all my Lincoln books I hadn't read yet up to my den and made a "wall of Lincoln" in front of my chair. There are 51 books. I vowed to read them all year until I've read them all. I've never undertaken a specific reading project this big. I worried I'd lose interest and move on. I haven't. I'm completely taken over by Brother Lincoln. I say Brother Lincoln because he was baptized by proxy in the St. George Temple by Wilford Woodruff when he, Washington, Franklin, and many of the other signers of the Declaration of Independance came and "waited up him" to ascertain why they had been ignored in the great work of redeeming the dead. So Lincoln's work was done and he and Washington were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood and made High Priests though the reast were made Elders. So it's Brother Lincoln; as well it should be.

The biggest project is Abraham Lincoln: A Life, vols. 1 & 2 containing about 2.000 pages. I'm am progressing but have to read other things in between since it is so huge and comprehensive. I'm at page 235 in first volume but am loving it.

I just finished two books that are exceptional. A. Lincoln by Ronald White is the best Lincoln biography since Carl Sandberg's back at the turn of the century. It is very well written and contains very new and fresh material. A must read for all.

The other that I could not put down was Lincoln, The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan. Wow. Great insight into this aspect of Lincoln's life and really how he became Lincoln; by his voracious reading and then ability to write brilliantly. I am haunted and can't get the words out of my mind from his second inagural address. They are imbedded and play through every time I have a moment when my mind isn't focussed on anything else. And when I'm thinking of other things they are faintly repeating in the background. Some day I want to just take the words and turn them into a book. I think I could do it because of there power and the myriad thoughts and feelings they invoke. They are really poetry at there essence. They are:

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living hearth and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of out nature."

Lincoln provided orchestration to the bare notes of the words. And by invoking the "better angels of our nature" he rejected the 19th century secterian notions of guardian angels doing for us what we can and should do for ourselves.

Now I am plowing into The Age of Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Great Historians On Our 16th President, The Best American History Essays on Lincoln, The Lincoln Anthology, and Lincoln: President-Elect, to name a few.

Good luck with whatever terrestrial project you are working on whomever is reading this. For myself I will continue to dabble the celestial.

2008 In Review: Books

As I reflect on the past year my mind turns to books.

Another great year. Quality history books have cranked out regularly even though other genres are a bit weak.

Before I get into last year, let me say a few things about next year. 2009 is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. I plan on reading everything I have on him that I haven't already read. (dozens of books) My children got me some great Lincoln books for Christmas and I've already started. In addition, there is a two volume, 2,000 page comprehensive biography that has come out to celebrate his birthday and I will tackle this monster set as well.

I read 60books this year which is equal to the number from last year. Here they are by category (listed in order of best to worst as near as possible):

Scriptures

The Book of Mormon; Mormon
Living the Book of Mormon & Abiding It's Precepts Sperry; Symposium
Digging Deeper: Applying Life-Changing Doctrines of Book of Mormon; Eaton, Robert

General Conference

2008 Annual Conference
2008 Semiannual Conference

Biography

Heroes; Johnson, Paul
Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions & How They Were Made; Axelrod, Alan
Profiles in Folley: History's Worst Decisions & Why; Axelrod, Alan

Fiction

The Last Patriot; Thor, Brad
Invisible Prey; Sandford, John
Sixth Target; Patterson, James
The Last Van Gogh; Zerries, A.J.
Testament; Lustbader, Eric
Fablehaven; Mull, Brandon
Beach Road; Patterson, James
The Appeal; Grisham, John
The Innocent Man; Grisham, John
Golden Compass; Pullman, Phillip
Twilight; Meyer, Stephanie
New Moon; Meyer, Stephanie

Health

The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life; Armstrong, Thomas
Against Medical Advise; Patterson, James

History
Great Tales From English History, Vol. 1; Lacey, Robert
Charlemagne and France; Morrissey, Robert
It's About Time: How Long History Took; lanagan, Mike
The Man Who Made Lists; Kendall, Joshua

American History

The Forgotten Man; Shlaes, Amity
The Summer of 1787; Stewart, David
American Creation; Ellis, Joseph
Winning the Future: 21st Century Contract With America; Gingrich, Newt
Deadly Inferno: Battle of the Wilderness; Abnett, John
The Battle of the Wilderness: Grant & Lee Below the Rapidan River; Various
The Battle of the Wilderness: May 5-6, 1864; Rhea, Gordon
The Wilderness Campaign; Gallagher, Gary
The Wilderness Campaign, May 1864; Cannan, John
Freedom Just Around the Corner; McDougal, Walter
Hard Call; McCain, John
Kill Bin Laden; Fury, Dalton
Liberty's Blueprint; Meyerson, Michael
The Really Inconvenient Truths; Murray, Lain
FairTax: The Truth; Boortz, Neal

Jesus

The Day Christ Was Born; Bishop, Jim

LDS Biography

Joseph Smith, Praise to the Man; Black, Susan
Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness; Welch, John
Mormon Scientist: Life & Faith of Henry Eyring; Eyring, Henry

LDS Doctrine

That All May Be Edified; Packer, Boyd
Don't Leap With the Sheep; Wilcox, Michael
Hearing the Voice of the Lord; Lund, Gerald
House of Glory; Wilcox, Michael
The Song of Redeeming Love; Condie, Spencer
The Holy Secret; Ferrell, James

LDS History
Utah Trivia; Powell, Allan

Literature

Great Literature & the Good Life; Sill, Sterling

Religion

Acedia and Me; Norris, Kathleen

American Presidency

The Age of Reagan: 1974-2008; Wilenz, Sean
The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values; O'Leary, Brad
Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage; Wallace, Chris
1920: The Year of the Six Presidents; Pietruzza, David

Writing

Words That Work; Lunz, Frank
Politics & the English Language; Orwell, George

Last 6 Month's High Council Talk

This one I changed each time but the following composites them all with an alternate one I gave in a Ward.

President Uchtdorf’s talk in the Priesthood session was titled: “A Matter of a Few Degrees.”

Story of the Plane Crashing Into the Mountain
It was a great message he began by telling the story of a passenger jet with 257 people that left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to the Antarctica. The pilots had not made this trip before and didn’t realize that somebody had programmed their flight coordinates 2 degrees off. By the time they reached their destination they were 28 miles east of where they should have been.
This doesn’t seem like it would have not been too bad of a mistake (you’ll have to ask Curtis how bad) except that as the pilots descended to a lower altitude so the passengers could get a better look at the landscape there was a mountain in their way. As bad as that sounds it seems like even it could have been overcome except that the snow covered mountain peeks blended with the white clouds above and the pilots thought they were traveling over flat ground until they crashed into the side of the mountain killing everyone aboard.

The point of President Uchtdorf’s story was that this was a very terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error – as he put it – “a matter of a few degrees.” He then made the point:

“Through years of serving the Lord and in countless interviews, I have learned that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in marriages, and families often comes down to an error of only a few degrees.”

I’ve thought about this many times since listening to it in conference and even more since my assignment to speak about it and I’ve remembered many times in my life where this principle rings true.

Trillion to Billion – a few zero’s off
One example I thought of that puts the concept into perspective happened many years ago when I was doing an analysis of a water utility. In that study I needed to represent the total value of all the utility assets.

The financial people gave me the value of $1 Trillion. This was 20+ years ago and the number startled me. Back then the total estimated value of everyone in America’s possessions, savings and investments was only $20 Trillion. So I questioned them about it.

The answer I received was revealing. They explained that they had an amazing amount of infrastructure that all added up but the big thing was water rights. To them they were priceless so they put a very large value on them. But as I pushed them to backup their number with detail, they could see I wasn’t quite buying the $1 Trillion so they told me to just drop a few zero’s and make it $1 Billion; still a big number.

That floored me even more. I asked them if they understood the impact of what they just did and they said they did and it was only a matter of subtracting a couple of zero’s at the end of their first number. So I did a few quick calculations and to demonstrate the reality of what just happened I gave them – and I give you – this analogy:

Let’s say you were waiting for something very, very, important. The person sending it to you told you it would take 1 million seconds for it to get to you. (I don’t know why anyone would do that but let’s say they were an accountant and so it meant something to them to do it this way.) Do you know how long you will have to wait?

11½ days.

Not too bad, though if it was really, really important, it may seem like forever.
But let’s say the 11½ days came and went and you didn’t get this very valuable thing you were waiting for and the person sending it said they goofed up and instead of a million seconds they needed to take a couple of zero’s on the end and it was going to take 1 billion seconds instead. How long would you wait now?

32 years.

That’s a little while longer isn’t it? You might not be too happy about that.
Now let’s say that the person sending this extremely valuable item to you said instead of a billion seconds it was going to take 1 trillion seconds to get to you. Just a few extra zero’s mind you. How long do you sit by the door waiting now?

31,700 years.

Kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it? If you were waiting for something extremely important and the sender kept adding just a couple zero’s to the time it would take to get to you, I’m not sure if any of us would be all that happy about it.

If we liken this cavalier attitude of a few zero’s to the gospel message of President Uchtdorf’s, his words make more and more sense when he said:
Small errors and minor drifts away from the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring sorrowful consequences into our lives. It is therefore of critical importance that we become self-disciplined enough to make early and decisive corrections to get back on the right track and not wait or hope that errors will somehow correct themselves.

Lehonti & the Mountain
There are many great examples of this principle in the Book of Mormon. In Alma 47 we read about the experience of Amalickiah and Lehonti (Lee-hon-tie.)
Both were commanders of Lamanite armies but Lehonti commanded a group of Lamanites who were tired of fighting and refused to obey their King when he ordered them to battle again. The King was angry and told Amalickiah to take the rest of the Lamanite armies and compel Lehonti and the others to fight.
Amalickiah was described as “being a very subtle man to do evil” (47:4) (ever known anyone like that?) and determined to take advantage of this situation and use treachery to become King himself.

He had a problem though. Lehonti had gathered all the conscientious objectors “upon the top of the mount which he called Antipas.” (47:7)

Here they were determined to make a stand and never go to war again. Since they were up on this mount, they had the high ground – the good defensive ground – and were well dug in and supplied, and chances were they could hold out and prevail against anyone trying to force them back into a battle they refused to fight.

Alma 47:6 described them as “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites.” (47:6) Notice the lengths Mormon uses to show how set in their minds and heart that they would not fight anymore. He could have just said they really, really didn’t want to fight anymore but instead he said they were: fixed, determined, and resolute. Nothing was going to drag them back into this fight.

Now let’s pause and ask ourselves this question?

Are we camped up on the top of our spiritual mountain with our families; fixed and determined and resolved to not play Satan’s games anymore?

Are we confident that we will be safe in this very good place in life; having taken every precaution and put up very good defenses?

You know what’s going to happen, right? You know if it wouldn’t be too disruptive I’d pull out my Ipod and play some dissonant background music at this point because you know that inevitably Satan will try to invite us down from our good defensive place so that he can put us in his bondage, right? You know that Amalickiah is going to try to get Lehonti to come down from his safe place on the mountain because he knows he can’t get to him up on the high ground, right?

Amalickiah sent word three times to Lehonti to “come down and converse with him.” And three times Lehonti said, “No Way!” I’m sure Amalickiah badgered him the second and third time: “What’s wrong with talking? That’s just statesmanlike and friendly.” “All I want to do is have a little lunch and chat.” “So could you please come – down the mountain of course – because that would be very neighborly and Christian.”

But remember, Lehonti was fixed and resolute. He would not come down for any reason. (47:11) Lehonti was a righteous and determined man along with the others.

Since that was not working, Amalachiah went up the mountain a ways and then told Lehonti if he would just come down part of the way, and bring his guards with him so he would be safe and in control of the situation, he had a proposition he just had to hear.

Can you hear it? “You’re still in control. I only want to talk. You will have your guards with you and you only have to now come just a little ways down the mountain; only a few yard; only a few degrees.”

Lehonti, feeling secure in this situation now made a fatal mistake – and it was a doozy. One we can all easily make if we are not diligent and self-disciplined at all times.

Lehonti, who was so safe and secure on the impenetrable mountain, descended a little ways down from the heights of his spiritual defenses, taking every caution possible to ensure safety, and did it because he knew he maintained control the entire time.

As the two leaders talked, a deal was reached between them that if Lehonti could bring all of his soldiers down from the mountain at nighttime and Amalickiah would allow him to surround his men and then Amalichiah would surrender them up.

What were we taught at Stake Conference a couple of weeks ago – if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is?

In exchange for surrendering his armies, all Amalickiah wanted was to humbly be put second in command to Lehonti of all the Lamanaite. What a great deal! Lehonti keeps control, is in command of all the Lamanite armies and Amalickiah, wins the day and doesn’t have to even stay up on the mountain anymore.

So he came down from the mountain and carried out this plan in textbook fashion.

Isn’t this the way Satan always works against us - when we are at the top of our spiritual mountains and in safety that cannot be reached - he needs us down with him and his minions and will stop at nothing to get us there.
And the fatal fallacy every single time is when we give in to this the very first time and decide that we can go down the mountain just a little ways - if only to talk- then we make the biggest mistake by giving up our fixed and determined resolution to stay safe and never give in, by going just a little ways further down the mountain because, after all, you are totally confident in the situation, and you are in control and in a situation that you cannot foresee any way you might possibly lose control.

But you don’t realize you already have lost control because you already gave in and moved just a few degrees away from where you should be. You’ve already dropped a couple of zero’s off from the time you spend on the important things you should be doing.

It was only a short time in the Book of Mormon until we all see the full tragedy of Lehonti’s costly mistake.

Once down the mountain and assimilated with all the other soldiers, Amalickiah “caused that one of his servants should administer poisen by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.” (47:18)

Here again is another moral of that story: that once we are off our mountain, it is a simple matter for our enemy to use this same exact concept to bring us down: to poison us just a little – just a few degrees – so slowly that you don’t even notice and are unaware of your decline.

Lehonti died thinking he was still in control and could not be harmed or forced to do something against his will. Remember he was fixed, determined, and resolute to the end. All he ever did was go a few yards down the mountain and take a meeting. Then he won what he thought was a bloodless and easy victory by going a few yards more down the mountain – a victory that was too good to pass up.

It is in the scriptures that we are introduced to the concept of “dwindling” in unbelief. Not jumping in wholeheartedly and giving up all we have been taught and know to be true to become evil. The devil leads us down to destruction little by little, a few degrees here and a adding a zero or two there. Truly a “dwindling” of our time and resources – and the good, safe ground we are on.

So the question is, what can we do to stay “fixed and determined” to remain true to our predetermined convictions?

President Uchtdorf gives us 4 things we can do to stay the course:
1. Minor Decisions Lead to Major Consequences
“Be cautious… The Lord will help you to recognize and avoid … evils. It is the early recognition of danger and a clear course correction that will keep you in the light of the gospel. Minor decisions can lead to major consequences.

2. Responsibility of Self-Direction
“We … have the responsibility and the power of self-direction: “It is not meet that I should command in all things,” saith the Lord. “Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.” (D&C 58:26–28)

3. Treasure the Words of Prophets
“The more we treasure the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will recognize when we are drifting off course—even if only by a matter of a few degrees.”

4. The Way Back is Certain & Clear
“No matter how terribly off course you are, no matter how far you have strayed, the way back is certain and clear… If we confess and repent of our sins.”
Never give up Brothers and Sisters. Never give in regardless of the distance or the time or the confidence you feel you have in the situation. Get up to your spiritual mountain just like Lehonti did but on the fourth time you are tempted – stay fixed and determined. On the fifth time when you are presented a deal that is too good to be true – stay fixed and determined. Do not listen to Satan or his army when they persistently nag at you to come down from your spiritual defenses.

Spiritual Disaster
As President Uchtdorf reminded us:
No one wants his life to end in tragedy. But all too often, like the pilots and passengers of the sightseeing flight, we set out on what we hope will be an exciting journey only to realize too late that an error of a few degrees has set us on a course for spiritual disaster.

The gospel is true. There is safety in listening to the Prophet and your church leaders. The scriptures are true. There is safety in following the teachings found in the scriptures of our Heavenly Father especially those written for us in the latter days. And I bear you this testimony and do it in the name…

Alternate Version

One Vote Matters
Since this is an election year, and we vote in a couple of weeks, I’m sure you’ve heard the admonition that every vote counts. Someone was telling me yesterday they saw a movie that is out and the plot is about how the vote for the Presidency of the United States comes down to one man. The plot seamed a bit of a stretch as the movie was explained to me but consider a man named Henry Shoemaker and how the small thing of his one vote – a matter of a few degrees you could say - produced powerful results.

On a sweltering summer afternoon in 1842, Henry was out on his farm in Indiana laboring. All of the sudden the thought popped into his mind that it was Election Day. He’d forgotten all about it.

Town was quite a distance away from his farm and to get there he’d need to go clear back to his house (also a bit of a distance), clean up, saddle his horse, and make the several hour ride quickly in order to get to the polling place before it closed. For a minute Henry thought he could justify bagging it.

But he’d promised one of the candidates that he’d vote for him for state representative. It was a man named Madison Marsh. When Henry got to the polling place they had run out of printed ballots that listed all the candidates and weren’t very helpful with him as to what he should do. I guess they suggested he just take a partial ballot and vote for those on it. But the State Representative he promised wasn’t on any of those ballets. Henry had gone to all this effort to vote for this man and he was determined to follow through. So he took out his pocket knife and did an 1842 version of cut and paste and cut out the names of those he wanted to vote for from partial ballots and hooked them somehow on his ballot and caste his vote.

I guess he was a little disruptive as he did this so it was quite memorable for the poll workers. Later when counting the ballots, the voting inspector declared his improvised ballot as invalid and tossed it out. Without Henry’s ballot, the election for state representative ended in a tie vote. That in turn resulted in numerous court proceedings and hearings and lengthy testimony until it was ruled that Henry’s vote was valid and counted. The tie was broken and Madison Marsh was elected state representative for Indiana.

Bid deal, huh? Every vote counts, so what? Indiana State Representative, who cares?

Well, back then, state legislators elected the United State Senators and in January of 1843 when Madison Marsh and his fellow representatives met to elect the U.S. Senator from Indiana, they were deadlocked. How this worked is they would continue to caste ballots amongst themselves until finally one candidate got the majority of votes. Finally on the sixth ballot, and after a long day of campaigning, Madison Marsh changed his vote and so by one vote Edward Hannegan was elected to the United States Senate.

Every vote counts again, right, big deal, U.S. Senator from Indiana. Big deal.

Two yeas later, though, the United States Senate was completely deadlocked on the decision to declare war on Mexico. They couldn’t break the tie no matter what was said or how ever many times the issue was brought up for vote. But for some reason, Edward Hannegan was away on other business and hadn’t been able to vote on the issue. He was eventually tracked down, came to the Capital and caste his vote for war. So by one vote, the United States went to war with Mexico in 1846.

Again, big deal.

But if it were not for this war, we here in this congregation today would have sang the hymns in Spanish and paid our tithing in Pesos. It was this war with Mexico that resulted in Utah, and our neighbors in Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to be included in the United States of America.
Henry Shoemaker had no idea what the effect of his vote was going to mean. Who knows how history would have turned out had Henry just stayed home that day and worked his farm? Or when he was hassled at the poll, had he given up and not cut and paste his votes on the ballot?

In just a matter of a few degrees, history changed, and that is why is it so important for us to be and stay on the right side of the gospel and to be in tune with our Church Leaders. When they tell us to get involved in the community and encourage us to be informed and participate in the government process by voting, they are just making it up. And if we haven’t seen it in the past, we will see it in the future that just a matter of a few degrees in our society, it can be the difference between freedom or slavery, great economic progress or crisis, morals and virtue or immorality and decadence. Decide today to make a small difference.

President Uchtdorf said many of things to bring home his point but specifically he tells us 4 things about “a few degrees” that are worth remembering:

1. Minor Decisions Lead to Major Consequences
“Be cautious… The Lord will help you to recognize and avoid … evils. It is the early recognition of danger and a clear course correction that will keep you in the light of the gospel. Minor decisions can lead to major consequences.

2. Responsibility of Self-Direction
“We … have the responsibility and the power of self-direction: “It is not meet that I should command in all things,” saith the Lord. “Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.” (D&C 58:26–28)

3. Treasure the Words of Prophets
“The more we treasure the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will recognize when we are drifting off course—even if only by a matter of a few degrees.”

4. The Way Back is Certain & Clear
“No matter how terribly off course you are, no matter how far you have strayed, the way back is certain and clear… If we confess and repent of our sins.”
Never give up Brothers and Sisters. Never give in regardless of the distance or the time or the confidence you feel you have in the situation. Get up to your spiritual mountain just like Lehonti did but on the fourth time you are tempted – stay fixed and determined. On the fifth time when you are presented a deal that is too good to be true – stay fixed and determined. Do not listen to Satan or his army when they persistently nag at you to come down from your spiritual defenses.

Spiritual Disaster
As President Uchtdorf reminded us:

No one wants his life to end in tragedy. But all too often, like the pilots and passengers of the sightseeing flight, we set out on what we hope will be an exciting journey only to realize too late that an error of a few degrees has set us on a course for spiritual disaster.

On Any Given Sunday
I want to end by repeating some words given by a fictional football coach to his team. Apparently this coaches personal life had been somewhat of a disaster and he was paying the price for recklessness. At the same time his team had some serious challenges on and off the field. So he spoke to them to try and get them motivated to become a better team and better people. I find them most fitting to the challenge that lies ahead.

On Any Given Sunday Football Speech

I don’t know what to say really.
Three minutes
Until the biggest battle
Of our professional lives.

And it all comes down to today!

Either we heal as a team
Or we’re gonna crumble.
Inch by inch; play by play;
‘Til we’re finished.

We’re in bad shape gentlemen – believe me!

And we can stay here.
Get the stuffing kicked out of us.
Or we can fight
Our way back into the light.

WE CAN CLIMB OUT OF OUR SITUATION ONE INCH AT A TIME!

Now I can’t do it for you – I’m too old.

You know when you get old in life

You find out life’s this game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game - life or football-
The margin for error is so small.

One half a step too late or too early
And you don’t quite make it.
One half a second too slow or too fast
And you don’t quite catch it.

The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They’re in every break of the game
Every minute; every second.
On this team we fight for that inch!

On this team we tear ourselves
And everyone else around us
To pieces for that inch.
We claw with our fingernails for that inch.

Because we know when we add up all those inches.
That’s gonna make the difference between
Winning and losing;
Between living and dying.

In any fight
It’s the guy who’s willing to die for that inch
Who’s gonna win that inch.

And I know if I’m going to have any life anymore
It’s because I’m still willing to
Fight and die for that inch.

Because that’s what living is:
The six inches in front of your face.

I can’t make you do it!

You gotta look at the person next to you;
Look into their eyes.
I think you’re gonna see a person
Who will go that inch with you.

You’re gonna see a person who will sacrifice their self for the team.
Because they know when it comes down to it
You’re gonna do the same for them.

That’s a team!

And either we heal now as a team
Or we will die as individuals

That’s all it is.

Now what are you gonna do?

What are YOU gonna do?

As we seek to live the gospel in these perilous times, may we all remember the message of how little things – as President Uchtdorf said, a matter of a few degrees – can have a profound on our lives.

May we all work together so that inch by inch, we may, as a team and as individuals, claw our way back to our Father in Heaven. In the name …