Beat Cop on Patrol

Several years ago when I accepted the assignment of self-appointed morality police, I had no idea where my assignment would take me. I once thought that living in Happy Valley would make my job obsolete, due to the excellent instruction people receive at their ward and temple houses. However, now that I have been a resident of this lovely state for twenty years, I see there is a growing need for surveillance not only in my area, but in communities all across this blessed land. Although it will be a tough assignment to fill, I am here to report that I am at your service. It's the least I can do for my friends and acquaintances. No need to thank me. It's just what I do.

It has come to my attention that many individuals have accepted complacency and mediocrity as their guiding principles for daily living. I find this completely unacceptable, as it shreds the fabric of our society and unravels the republic that Benjamin Franklin and George Washington risked life and limb to secure. Since the Founding Fathers are not here to explain their philosophies in greater detail, I am prepared to share with you the appropriate course of action to remedy this situation, complete with examples to illustrate my finer points. I will begin by sharing a story about a proactive redhead who resides in the heart of Happy Valley.

My sister Angie is a nurturer. She cares about others, their feelings and their well-being. She genuinely desires to lighten others' burdens and will lose sleep at night at thinking up ways to serve her friends and family. She is full of cheer and good will, and spreads sunshine wherever she goes. I attribute her boundless generosity and modern-day discipleship to the endless hours spent in her youth watching the Brady Bunch, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Angie has always been receptive to teenagers who dance and sing and puppets who work together to find common solutions to everyday problems. She is also a fan of make-believe and wearing fancy sweaters for all occasions, so life lessons on PBS were definitely not wasted on this girl. I, on the other hand, needed to be educated in the ways of protecting virtue and enforcing moral behavior, so I watched a lot of Wonder Woman. Between you and me, I think the truth lasso was the greatest invention of the 20th century. If I could have my own today, people would think twice about slighting their neighbor or waiting for someone else to heed the call to moral action. I realize the truth lasso's purpose was to invoke confession and compel obedience, but in my world, the truth lasso is capable of much, much more. Hence, you can see the differences between Angie and me and why we make such a great team when we unite together for the greater good. She gets people excited about service through her excellent example and merry disposition; I give people the stink eye and persuade them with my impassioned rhetoric and threat of permanent rope burn. No one has to know I don't really have a lasso, do they?

Angie has been a busy girl working tirelessly to organize a fundraiser for a local family who endured senseless tragedy this past Christmas season. Their experiences have altered my perception of human suffering, and have permanently changed the shape of my heart. I have learned from their trials, and believe more than ever that our mission in life is not to do the minimum to get by, but to strive to be better in all that we do, including loving and serving our neighbors.

I am touched by the overwhelming response of so many in our community who have expressed their desire to support Angie's friends through various donations, handcrafted creations and service projects in their own neighborhoods. Service can create a ripple effect among communities, and one life that touches another for good has the capacity to touch millions for good.

Yet as touched as I am by the support for this family, I am also disheartened by those who readily decline an opportunity to serve because they are busy, unaffected or indifferent. I see these dangers of complacency breeding among us, as many are too distracted to see that our complacency is like a tree that blooms in the spring. Each limb brings forth a new bud, and before we know it, our limbs of complacency have diverged into every area of our lives. Similarly, the tree of charity also comes forth in the spring, as a simple act of kindness has the power to decorate our lives with brightness, color and clarity.

I realize that we are all busy, busy people. No one knows better than I do how to juggle eighty tasks with the skill and precision of a chimpanzee. I am far from achieving perfection and far from balancing the scales in my life, but I find that if I focus on putting my best foot forward, the scales seem to tip in my favor. My point is that we are not expected to be everything to everybody, but we are expected to help those whom God's places in our path. Many of us (i.e., me) have checklists of the things we must accomplish and the tasks we must attend to, but are we mindful of the person sitting next to us as we write these all-encompassing lists? We may cross off every line and pat ourselves on the back for all the things we are doing correctly, yet our checklist means nothing if we are complacent in serving our neighbors.

It doesn't take much to brighten the day of another...a smile, a kind word, an act of selfless kindness. We don't have to do big things every day, but we do have to try to do something every day.

I realize that not everyone shares my standards and the call to duty impressed upon me since childhood. I appreciate that many people are happy to cruise through the pathways of life without so much as a thought to how their actions affect the lives of others. There are those who think themselves immune to the powers of my golden lasso, and I can sympathize with those who think me arrogant, intolerant, self-righteous and overly-judgmental. I have heard these words vocalized in vibrant hosts of arrangement; however, I ask you to forget my exhortation and think of those who have led by example. Think of the individuals in your own life who have done a great service by transcending the barriers of mediocre performance. Think of the leaders of our nation who were not rooted in complacency, but rooted in a desire to do good. Think of Abraham Lincoln and where we would be if he had esteemed one man above another. Where would we be if the Founding Fathers cared more for their personal wealth and security than sacrificing all to create a government by the people, of the people and for the people? Where would I be if the Lord withheld His charity from me as I withhold my charity from another?

Friends, the call to be an influence for good is not a new one. We each have our talents and strengths to bless the lives of others. We won't be good at the same things and we won't excel in the same areas, but if we join our talents together, there is no limit to what we can accomplish; there will be no end to the effects of our influence. I wholeheartedly believe that now is the time to act. Don't wait for the day when are you less busy, less tired or less consumed. Remove yourself from the shadows of complacency and share your light with the world. I know you can do it and you know you can do it. My golden lasso knows you can do it, too, and it will be softly cracking in the background to prove it.