Conscientious of Imperfection

In the last General Conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk about the importance of fathers and fatherhood. This must have been a difficult talk to give, as there are many people in situations that don't match the ideal through no fault of their own. Their are children that don't have good fathers, or that don't have fathers at all. There are fathers who, because of disabilities or their work situation, are not able to fill all of the traditional roles of a good father. And, of course, all people fall short of the ideals they know they should strive for. Elder Christofferson did an excellent job of addressing these less-than-ideal situations, even while his main message was that it's important for fathers to be the best fathers they can be.

Nobody is perfect, and there are always going to be people in situations that are painfully less-than-perfect as well, so we must be conscious of such situations, even while we encourage everyone to strive for the ideals. There are no perfect families or fathers any more than there are any perfect people, and it's not any person's fault if they or their familial circumstance are not perfect. We all have shortcomings to work on, and sometimes, there is nothing to be done. Those people do not need to be urged to do the impossible, but we all need occasional reminders to do what we can.

Many fathers can be better than they are, and the bulk of Elder Christofferson's message was directed to them, but there are some people who are already doing the best they can and cannot do any better. Those people should be congratulated heartily, no matter how far they fall short of the perfect ideal. No one achieves perfection in this life, anyway. Rather than worrying about how imperfect we are, we should all try to do what we can with the limited power and energy we were given. And when we give talks or talk to anyone, we should follow Elder Christofferson's example and try to be aware of the situations and hardships of others so we can avoid accidentally pressuring them to do more than they actually can. Some people are already doing the best they can do in their difficult situation. We shouldn't make their situation even more difficult by telling them that they're not doing enough.