You've probably heard it or read it before.
Emerson said, "All that Shakespeare says of the king, yonder slip of a boy that reads in the corner feels to be true of himself."
In what light do we view ourselves?
Yesterday I was reading the Book of Mormon in Alma 48, where it gives a rather glittery description of Captain Moroni. Yet, as I read, I saw nothing in the description that couldn't be true of the person you passed in public yesterday. Does boy, who helped his sister after she fell off her bike, feel that the description of Captain Moroni is true of himself?
Do you feel it true of yourself?
I've been in a couple church meetings in the last mont in which we were discussing Nephi, Laman and Lemuel. Both times, the comment was made that we are really a lot more like Laman and Lemuel than like Nephi, but we like to compare ourselves more to Nephi because he was such a good example. Is that right? How should we view ourselves? It seems cynical to compare yourself to Laman and Lemuel, but on the other hand, we don't want to have a misleading perception of ourselves if we really aren't like Nephi.
We really are like Nephi.
We should view ourselves like an optimistic CEO would view his company. There is nothing more valuable in business or in spiritual progression than having a correct idea of the state of the business or individual. In business, a CEO ought to have a realistic view of the problems, predicaments and weaknesses of the business; yet, he ought to believe in the business enough to trust that it will overcome those things, and work to make it reach its potential.
Parents sometimes have distorted views of their children. They sometimes find it hard to accept that their children have a problem. That can be a problem. But, almost all parents have glittering, yet realistic, opinions of their children. They know that they are good. They know their potential and often see what they need to do to reach it. That's how it should be. What gives parents that knowledge? Is it that they know them so well? Or, could it be that it is because they too were once that "yonder slip of a boy."
2 comments:
You are very wise. I'll let you know about parents, once I decide what the answer is . . .
I definitely don't quite feel like I can compare myself to Nephi, but since there is relatively little description about him, I feel much more comfortable comparing myself to Sam. Then I figure I'm at least trying to be like Nephi!
I really like this post Shawn--very thought provoking. There's definitely no use in trying to become a better person unless you can envision yourself as actually being better than you are now, and believe it is possible.
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