We live in a time when we are surrounded by much that is
intended to entice us into paths which may lead to our destruction. To avoid
such paths requires determination and courage.
A distinguished Notre Dame sociologist led a research team recently
in conducting in-depth interviews with 230 young adults across America. I believe
we can safely assume that the results would be similar in most parts of the
world.
I
share with you just a portion of this very telling article:
“The
interviewers asked open-ended questions about right and wrong, moral dilemmas
and the meaning of life. In the rambling answers, … you see the young people
groping to say anything sensible on these matters. But they just don’t have the
categories or vocabulary to do so.
“When
asked to describe a moral dilemma they had faced, two-thirds of the young
people either couldn’t answer the question or described problems that are not
moral at all, like whether they could afford to rent a certain apartment or
whether they had enough quarters to feed the meter at a parking spot.”
The
article continues:
“The
default position, which most of them came back to again and again, is that
moral choices are just a matter of individual taste. ‘It’s personal,’ the
respondents typically said. ‘It’s up to the individual. Who am I to say?’
“Rejecting
blind deference to authority, many of the young people have gone off to the
other extreme [saying]: ‘I would do what I thought made me happy or how I felt.
I have no other way of knowing what to do but how I internally feel.’”
Those who conducted the interviews emphasized that the majority
of the young people with whom they spoke had “not been given the resources—by
schools, institutions [or] families—to cultivate their moral intuitions.”
None
of us should be in any doubt concerning what is moral and what is not, nor
should any be in doubt about what is expected of us. We have been and continue
to be taught God’s laws. Despite what you may see or hear elsewhere, these laws
are unchanging.
As we go about living from day to day, it is almost inevitable
that our faith will be challenged. We may at times find ourselves surrounded by
others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what
is acceptable and what is not. Do we have the moral courage to stand firm for
our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone? It is essential that we
are able to face—with courage—whatever challenges come our way. Remember the
words of Tennyson: “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is
pure.”
(Shared by one of my mentors,
Thomas Monson.)
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