Examples of Righteousness

This morning I read President Monson's April 2008 talk, Examples of Righteousness. He talked about how young men in the church look up to their Priesthood leaders, and how those leaders should set a good example to the young men they influence. He also talked about parents being good examples to their children. He quoted Brigham Young: “We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.” I don't have children yet, but regardless of that, I should still be trying to be the kind of man that I want my future children to be. I have a long way to go.

As I thought about inspiring examples, I thought about Paladins. The image of a Paladin helps inspire me to be more righteous and faithful, courageous and selfless. As I've read about Paladins, I've learned that being an example of righteousness is part of their job (according to the author, Elizabeth Moon). In the fantasy world in which they live, they are meant to inspire others. I'm confident that, as a very small part in God's eternal plan, they were meant to inspire me. Pillars of truth and strength, powerful servants of the Lord, standing boldly against sin and evil wherever it is found. Fictional Paladins were meant to be an example to me, so that if I succeed in following their example, I can someday be an example to others.

As I wrote about in my last post, our actions can have a ripple effect that spreads over areas too wide for us to guess. Elizabeth Moon could never have guessed that I would eventually read The Deed of Paksenarion, and be inspired to be a more faithful soldier of God. She could never have known that, emboldened by her novel, I would become a better person and then go on to influence others. It is literally impossible for her to estimate how much good she did by writing such an epic novel. In a similar manner, I must admit that it's possible that, decades from now, someone may stumble upon this blog, and in some way become a better person because of it. I highly doubt that that will ever happen, through the sheer improbability of it, but like Elizabeth Moon, I can never know for sure.

And neither can you. Sometime today, you're going to do something that will affect someone more than you know. How do I know that? Because things like that happen all the time. Perhaps you hold the elevator door open for someone, and it makes their whole morning seem brighter. Or even if the person for whom you held the door open wasn't remarkably affected, perhaps someone down the hall saw your act of kindness and decided to follow suit. The point is that there are hundreds, if not thousands of people on which we have some small influence occasionally, and most of that influence goes beyond the range of our perception. As we do good, we inspire others to do good, who in turn inspire others, and so on. So when we do good, we have no idea how much good we are doing.

The same, unfortunately, is true in reverse. When we do things that are wrong, we accidentally lead others down the same path, whether we know it or not. That's part of the reason (along with the concern for our own personal salvation), we should be careful that we're doing good as much as we can. Paladins try to do good always, and that's part of what inspires me.

But, of course, the greatest example of personal righteousness is the Savior, the one person who, while living on the Earth, knew exactly how much good He was doing. Doing good and influencing others for good were His purpose in life. He knew that He was meant to be an example to those He taught, and that they would be an example to those they taught. He told them "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." - Matthew 5: 14-16

We may not know how much influence we have on others, but it's important for us to remember that that influence exists. We set an example for others to follow, so it's important that we follow President Monson's counsel and make sure we're being examples of righteousness. I know we can't be examples of righteousness all the time. We all fail occasionally. But those are the times when we can be examples of repentance, and then examples of righteousness. I hope that someday, for someone, I will have the courage to share my example of repentance, but for now, I'll use whatever influence I have, whatever influence this blog gives me, to try to be an example of righteousness, of learning and self-reflection, of taking the time to think about things that matter.

I'm sure this blog post has influenced you. I hope it was an influence for good. If it was, pay it forward. You never know how much good it'll do.