In Honor of Those who Paved the Way

     Yesterday I was baking cakes for my husband's birthday and a big family dinner. Waiting for a cake to come out of the oven, I checked my email, and noticed a message from FamilySearch. It said, “You have a pioneer ancestor!” Honestly, my first thought was “Duh!” 

     But then I clicked on the link, because the ancestor they named was John Foster Bennett, my great-grandfather. I was so surprised, and a little curious. I thought he was way too young to be a pioneer. It turned out he was just one year old when he crossed the plains, following a sea voyage from England. It took him and his family 66 days to make the journey. I thought of the empire he eventually built in the Salt Lake Valley, and wondered if his surviving all that hardship as a baby contributed to his later success.

     I scrolled to review the details on his parents, and instead was taken to another pioneer ancestor, Oscar Winters. He is my dad’s great-grandpa. He had gone ahead to build a house for his mother in the Salt Lake Valley, but she died of cholera along the way, and was buried in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska.  Can you imagine Oscar's heartache when he found out his mother didn't survive the journey? Oscar made a second trek a few years later when he went to aid in the rescue of a perishing handcart company.

     I kept scrolling and they kept showing me more and more pioneer ancestors. Many I knew about, and knew their stories well. Others I hadn’t even heard of. 

     The final tally? (Which may not be final at all) I have 20 pioneer ancestors, at least one from every single bloodline. As I read each name, looked at each face, and reviewed the dates, along with some details of their journey, I was overcome with emotion. My heart expanded with love and appreciation. So many have sacrificed so much so that we can be where we are right now. I was flooded with a powerful sense of connection and gratitude that spilled into tears and sobs. 

     I imagine these amazing people, stalwart examples of courage and commitment, would roll their eyes a little if they saw us continuing to don pioneer bonnets and march around in celebration of their hardships and journeys. Instead, I find it most fitting to walk in the company of others and find joy in the journey, to notice others in distress and run to their aid, to practice tolerance of those with differing views and beliefs rather than turn them away. 
     I think it's important to add that whether you came from this sort of pioneer stock doesn't matter at all. If your ancestors fled a foreign country to escape persecution, they are pioneers. If they immigrated here or anywhere with hope for the future, and more faith than fear, they are pioneers. If they were the first to join the church in their family, their town or their country, they are pioneers. If you yourself did any of these things, you are a pioneer.  And I salute you.

Neal A. Maxwell on Patriotism

When I was a young girl, I grew up about a block away from this amazing man. And I can't begin to describe the amount of influence this genuine disciple had on my growing intellect, as well as my young heart and fledgling faith. It was an extraordinary opportunity to experience the way he lived in the day-to-day, not just at the pulpit. He walked the walked, served with deep, deliberate compassion, and inspired as much through his simplest actions as he did through his eloquent sermons.

For example, I heard how gently and affably he responded when a zealous troop of scouts found his suits freshly delivered from the dry cleaners on his front porch, and assumed they were placed there for the neighborhood Deseret Industries Drive (basically the Utah version of Goodwill) and hauled them away! (Yes, he eventually got them back.)  I saw him jog over with a plate of brownies on a Saturday morning for a missionary farewell, just like any other good neighbor might have done. I watched as he and his wife, Colleen, reached out to a family on the fringes of the ward and invite them over to dinner to form a friendship. I received kindly personal letters from him on my mission, simply signed, "Neal." I often observed tears streaming down his cheeks as he sang the sacrament hymns about our wounded Savior. All had an enormous impact on me. I think I can honestly say that I see the image of Christ in his loving face, more than in the countenance of anyone I've ever met.

A couple of times this week (leading up to Independence Day), I took the opportunity to relisten to "Our Need for True Patriotism," a devotional he gave on July 4, 1993 — a full twenty-five years ago — and was amazed by how prescient it was and relevant it still is today.

Here are a few choice nuggets I transcribed:

 Today, we cannot seem to see beyond the political moment, let alone “beyond the years.” By contrast, James Wilson, one of our founding fathers, urged the delegates to the constitutional convention of 1787 to “look beyond their own time and constituencies to the needs of generations yet unborn.” They did it! and all succeeding generations were blessed. Patriotism which sees beyond the years leaves legacies to rising generations.... It leaves a clean turf, not the debris of a selfish society.

More than we realize, our whole society really rests on the capacity of its citizens to give what is called “obedience to the unenforceable.” We do this by complying willingly with the law, and behaving voluntarily according to time-tested standards… In contrast, widespread and sustained lack of self-control will bring either severe external controls, or anarchy.

The quality of self-control is best grown in healthy family gardens…Healthy families are the first places we learn to balance rights and responsibilities, and to take turns.

Instead of increasing brotherhood, there is increasing separatism in America. There is even rising racism. There is also a decrease in the respect among our citizens for each other.

George Washington’s biographer wrote: “In all history few men who possessed unassailable power have used that power so gently and self-effacingly for what their best instincts told them was the welfare of their neighbors and all mankind.”As one thinks about Washington and power, it reminds us that power is most safe with those…who are not in love with power.

Perhaps you can see why he remains one of my spiritual and intellectual heroes!
There is no transcription available, but you can listen to the devotional in its entirety here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/neal-a-maxwell_our-need-for-true-patriotism/
I think you too will see how timely his counsel is for today's political arena and society at large.