President Eyring's Pamphlet

I was about to skip President Henry B. Eyring's Saturday Morning message, A Priceless Heritage of Hope, because I couldn't remember what was so good about it, but then I checked my notes and was reminded that he had said this:

Whoever you are and wherever you may be, you hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can now imagine. ... Wherever you are on the path to inherit the gift of eternal life, you have the opportunity to show many people the way to greater happiness.

Then President Eyring told a story about how his great grandfather became a penniless orphan, moved to St. Louis, found a pamphlet written by Parley P. Pratt, and became a Mormon. This blessed not only the life of President Eyring's great grandfather, whose name was Heinrich Eyring, but also the lives of his family members, including President Eyring. President Eyring went on to become an Apostle, giving many talks in many General Conferences, improving thousands (if not millions) of people's lives, including mine. As a penniless orphan, Heinrich Eyring could never have known that his life would go on to bless the lives of millions.

There is, I believe, a sort of ripple effect. Whenever we do something, it never only affects just us. Just as Heinrich Eyring never knew how many people he'd end up influencing, the same could be said of whoever left Elder Pratt's pamphlet wherever Heinrich found it, whether that was in a garbage can or on a pedestal in a library. Over the past year, I've left hundreds of blog posts scattered across the archives of the internet. Could it be that even one person might convert to Mormonism as a result of having read one of my posts? Could one of my blog posts later be read and taken to heart by a future Apostle? (Somehow, that makes me even more subconscious about my frequent typographical errors, not to mention my desire to write blog posts that are inspiring.)

And bloggers and pamphlet writers aren't the only people who have immeasurable influence on the world. Think of mothers, for crying out loud! They each raise a handful of children (some, multiple hands full) which then go on to influence their friends, classmates, coworkers, and children, who the go on to influence their friends, classmates, coworkers, and children, and it never stops! Granted, the amount of influence a person has on their classmates and coworkers tends to be limited. Their influence on their friends is usually greater. But the influence a person has on their children is usually very strong. I think mothers deserve most of the credit for almost all of the good in the world.

What's important is that we remember to use our influence (once we've acknowledged that we actually have an influence) to improve the happiness of others.

I could write sad poetry. I could write depressing stories. I could rant for days about the apparent meaninglessness of life, or forward the semi-logical arguments of atheists who make youtube videos. In all honesty, I've seen a few atheistic youtube videos that I've been tempted to blog about. But I don't. I don't try to spread misery or plant doubts, especially not on my blog. Why not? Because I'd rather spread happiness and plant faith, especially in myself. If I'm going to have any influence on others, I'd want it to be an influence for good.

President Eyring said that we hold the happiness of an unimaginable number of people in our hands, and I believe him. If that's true, then we each have an unimaginable amount of influence for good in the world. Let's not let it go to waste. Let's not pass up opportunities to enrich other peoples' lives, and let's especially try not to spread misery and pain. (Though, if you do have pain, it might still be good to talk about it. Healing is a very beneficial thing, for both those who are healed and for the healers.)

We can all do our part to make the world a better place. And who knows? Maybe one of us will share the pamphlet that inspires the next President Eyring.

P.S. I'm so glad I chose not to skip this talk.