The Thin Blue Line / Lloyd

the thin blue line

I was interested to learn the following statistics about the hazards of law enforcement at the website of The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

"Today, in the United States, some 900,000 law enforcement officers put their lives on the line for the safety and protection of others. They serve with valor and distinction – and with great success. Federal statistics show that violent and property crime rates in the United States are at historic lows, thanks in large measure to the dedicated service of the men and women of law enforcement.

"That protection comes at a price, however. Each year, there are approximately 60,000 assaults on law enforcement officers, resulting in nearly 16,000 injuries. Sadly, over the last decade, an average of 150 officers a year have been killed in the line of duty. And throughout U.S. history, more than 20,000 law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice."

a lawless society

We are quickly becoming like the society described in Helaman 5:2-3.

"For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted.

"Yea, and this was not all; they were a stiffnecked people, insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction."

For the most part this  particular society documented in the Book of Mormon could not live within established law except to be judged in violation.

We recognize  this condition whenever we experience long observed laws ignored or written off because there are now so many violators it’s argued they are unenforceable and therefore irrelevant for our day.

Not all laws are of equal weight.  But when those meant to secure to individuals the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life are ignored or written off, the result is felt as a transition from peace and harmony to greater anarchy and terror.

In this environment we are called upon to minister to the fundamental needs of family, friends, neighbors, associates, and community; to teach God’s standard of behavior in word and example; and to point the penitent to Christ’s atonement for relief.

Christ’s law of love: kindly but firmly

So what was Nephi’s course of action, to call up a greater constabulary to enforce laws or build more prisons?  Can any number of police be expected to bring law and order to a lawless society (no matter the reason attributed to this lawless behavior) except by inflicting equal terror and lawlessness themselves?  No, and so Nephi embarked on a mission to call citizens to repentance.

"And it came to pass that Nephi had become weary because of their iniquity; and he yielded up the judgment-seat, and took it upon him to preach the word of God all the remainder of his days, and his brother Lehi also, all the remainder of his days . . ." (Helaman 5:4)

But how is this to be done safely and effectively? Jesus gave his disciples guidance in the Sermon on the Mount that would keep them as safe as possible until He called them home from their efforts to represent Christian principles to a lawless society, one that “could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction.”

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

"And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:43-48)

I understand this to mean perfect in love for our fellow men, concerned enough for their welfare that we are willing to put ourselves at risk in kindly but firmly representing God’s standard of behavior to them. 

Today Judy and I have two grandsons on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints engaged full time in this very work. And among our 40 current grandchildren, many more grandsons and likely granddaughters are preparing to be called on missions.

In the end force will never be effective in changing the souls of men and women for good -- never has.

There HAS to be an America / Judy

There is nothing special about this country

Apart from our willingness to stand alone for virtue

        

       "A real patriot is the fellow who gets a speeding ticket and rejoices that the system works."

        At the time of America's Bi-Centennial in 1976, we were living in Europe as part of the 8th Med Battalion, assigned to Mannheim, Germany. The Fourth of July that year was, appropriately, on a Sunday. Usually, the men wore civilian clothes at church, but that day there had been early-morning parades on post and they all came in their uniforms. The opening song was The Star Spangled Banner, and we stood to sing it in that congregation of servicemen and women. My heart swelled to be there and it was a defining moment of my life.

        Along with our personal love for her, we know America also has a great destiny. God has revealed and repeated over and over again: “For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God.” (Ether 2:10)

        To quote Marion G. Romney: "God gave us victory in the Revolutionary War. We are indebted to him for our nation’s independence. He has prospered us in every righteous endeavor. He established the Constitution of the United States 'by the hands of wise men whom [he] raised up unto this very purpose.' (D&C 101:80)

       "He himself with his Beloved Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith to open a new dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ here. He has established his Church here and has sent and is sending representatives thereof into every nook and corner of the land—and as far as possible to all the earth—to declare and teach the laws of Jesus Christ, the God of this land."

        So according to the Book of Mormon, we have both a promise and a curse—be righteous and remain free or become wicked and "be swept off." Knowing this, sometimes it's scary when we see things happening around us. But I have to say I still have faith in the United States of America and in the goodness of her people. And I'm not the only one. I once heard a new citizen from Asia say, "There has to be an America. What would the rest of the world do without her?"

Fourth of July...Lest We Forget / Judy

I recently saw an amazing film called "Taking Chance." It was an HBO film on DVD starring Kevin Bacon as a Lt. Col. who volunteers to be an escort to take a fallen marine home. It's based on the true story that the real escort wrote from notes about his trip taking the remains of the dead marine back to his hometown. The film is quiet and VERY moving as it shows the reactions of all the ordinary people he encounters along the way.

Here is the site to go to for the trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi113247001/

Hope you can see it because even the trailer is wonderful and really gives you a sense of this movie, which seems appropriate today.

Ben is Lysander, Jewish Wisdom / Lloyd

BEN IS LYSANDER

I really enjoyed watching Ben in A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Saturday night. During the intermission I overheard a young woman say, “I really like Lysander. I’ve only seen him do small parts up to now. He’s really good.”  Many have told me that Ben is so natural, even doing Shakespeare.  After watching the production I believe that means he becomes his character without the “acting look” or “theatrical façade.”  

This talent Ben has allows him greater flexibility in the part and develops opportunities for what many call his “natural comedic timing.” The play continues through March 1. For times & tickets & promotional shots go to www.pcpa.org.

JEWISH WISDOM

I attended Yeshiva University and greatly value that experience and the Jewish world it bade me enter. Consider this clear-eyed, pragmatic perspective of today’s events that benefits from almost 5770 years of Jewish survival:

. . . “the possibilities in America” are being subjected to a time of testing due to a series of financial shock waves whose reverberations are being felt worldwide. But the breathless tendency to imagine that we are on the verge of civilizational collapse, that we have it worse than anyone has had it in 75 years, and that democratic capitalism itself has been invalidated, is an example of the self-same ahistorical narcissism that leads so many today to believe they are possessors of a wisdom inaccessible to their forbears.

Booms are followed by busts. Bubbles burst. Crooks go to jail. A period of laxity is followed by a period of excessive control, the irritations of which help produce the conditions for the loosening that will, in turn allow bust to turn to boom once again. It stands to reason that the higher the altitude the bubble achieves, the more vertiginous and disorienting will be its fall to ground. Thus it is with us at this moment, and thus has it ever been. This is the way of a free society, which will, by definition, exhibit all the virtues and flaws of the hundreds of millions of free people who constitute it—the creative energy that must, in some sense, be coupled with at least a measure of foolhardiness.  (John Podhoretz, Editor, Commentary, “A Magazine and Its Mission,” February 2009)