Why America is Great

Yesterday, a man in my ward gave a talk about family history, with the theme of his talk being that we are the sum of our parts. While I'm not sure how true it is that who our ancestors were determine who we are, I agree that we have many inherited traits which make up large portions of who we are, so I'm not going to argue with it. Instead, I'm going to take that idea and run with it, applying it to our country rather than to any individual.

This continent has a history that goes back farther than the pilgrims or even the native americans supposed. (Though, I must warn you now that my 'History' of this continent will not be comprehensive.) Through modern revelation, we've learned that the garden of Eden was on this continent. It all started here. From the very beginning, North America developed a tradition for choice and accountability, followed by hard work.

Following the days of Adam and Eve came the days of Noah, in which the people of this continent, and everywhere else (if there were people anywhere else), were so wicked that they needed to be wiped out. Thus, this continent set the precedent that wickedness led to destruction.

Later, led by the Lord, at least three separate groups of people were brought here, to what the Lord told them was a promised land. As long as they served God, they prospered and triumphed over all their enemies, but when they were wicked, God allowed them to be destroyed. When the Jaredites grew wicked, they fought among themselves until they were all destroyed except for one man, who died some months later. When the Nephites grew wicked, they were wiped out by the Lamanites, all except for the Nephites who dissented and became Lamanites. And the Lamanites were wicked more often than not, and they were eventually nearly destroyed by the coming of the pilgrims and cowboys.

Though unrighteousness carries heavy penalties here, righteousness yields incredible blessings, mostly in the form of victory over more powerful foes. The Lamanites often outnumbered the Nephites two to one, but as long as the Nephites were righteous, they succeeded, despite the odds.

At the time of the American Revolution, the colonists made a hard choice, which was followed by a great deal of hard work. They now faced a powerful opponent, but because they had put their trust in God, they won the revolutionary war and won us our freedom. Their victory was miraculous, but such victories come rarely without cost. In war, hundreds and thousands of people die, many of whom were as righteous and devout as any of us could hope to be. We lost a great deal of good men in that war and those that followed, and today is a day we've set apart to honor those men. Today, I'd like to also set aside some time to honor what they fought and died for.

Mostly, they fought for freedom - freedom of religion, freedom from oppression and slavery, and freedom of choice. Those are a few of the many things that make America what it is today. Here, we have more freedom than can be found in most other places of the world (as far as I understand it. I haven't actually been to most other places in the world to check). But with our freedom comes responsibility and accountability. Given the freedom to choose, we must choose wisely, or face the heavy consequences that the previous inhabitants of this continent have faced. Remember that those who lived here only prospered when they obeyed the word of the Lord.

Because our founding fathers were as strongly Christian as they were, America has very strong roots. Sometimes I worry that its branches aren't quite as strong. Given freedom, some have chosen poorly, and others now worry about the future of this great continent, or at least our place on it.

Today is a good day to remember those who died in the wars America has won, to thank God that we've won every war we've taken part in, and to remember what quality has allowed us, and every other victorious people on this continent, to win despite any odds - righteousness (or, in the case of the Lamanites who destroyed the Nephites, lesser unrighteousness).

Most of America's blessings have been given as a result of righteousness. America is great because she has been righteous. If we want to continue to be great and to prosper, we must continue to be righteous as well.