Dallin H. Oaks discusses racism and other challenges. We shouldn't “open a quarrel between the past and the present” to improve the future.
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"The responsibility of an apostle of the Lord to try to be helpful to the followers of Christ is a very heavy one. I share an experience that helped develop my feelings about that subject.
Thirty-six years ago, on the day after I was called to the Quorum of the Twelve and sustained in general conference, I was alone in my home in Provo, contemplating the significance of that calling. Our youngest daughter, Jenny, then only eight years old, entered the room. As I looked at her with all the love I felt for her, I realized that she was only one of hundreds of thousands of little girls throughout the world, also children of our Heavenly Father, whom I was now responsible to try to help as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Contemplating that reality, I could not contain my feelings and did something I have rarely done in my adult years. I wept.
I. Love Is Fundamental
My brothers and sisters of the rising generation of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, I love you. I want to help you. Since I cannot meet with you individually as I would love to do, I must try to help you through teaching correct principles and trying to help you follow them.
Love is fundamental. When President Kevin J Worthen spoke to this student body seven weeks ago, he expressed an important hope, which I share:
I hope that in the coming year each of you can feel in greater measure God’s love for you individually. At those times when you wonder if there is any reason to hope, when you wonder if anyone cares-or if anyone should care-I invite you to ask God what He thinks of you-what He really thinks of you.1
I remind you that the love of God for His children and the love of His Son-the Savior who atoned for our sins-are incomprehensible. Joseph Smith helped us understand and apply this love in our own lives. He taught:
While one portion of the human race [is] judging and condemning the other without mercy, the great parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; he views them as his offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men.2
That teaching, together with the Lord’s commandment to “love your enemies . . . and pray for them which despitefully use you,”3 has application in all political campaigns. I will say no more of elections, except to reaffirm the political neutrality described in our recent letter. I urge you to treat others with civility and respect-and to vote!
II. Dealing with Anxiety and Racism
These are times when we all need love and its accompanying concern for others. How are you BYU students and your peers elsewhere handling the many challenges you face?
How are you handling the COVID-19 pandemic, including the legal restrictions and the counsel of your leaders? I know from personal reports and what I read in the press that some of you have been confined to your living quarters. Many of you have been profoundly affected in your programs, classes, and social activities. You have even been limited in your home evening groups and the circumstances of your worship. Some of you have experienced delays in graduation, have had job offers withdrawn, and have altered plans for graduate school and other future endeavors. Please do your part in what is required in these unusual circumstances. And remember that some of the burdensome restrictions, including even the wearing of masks, are not only for your immediate protection but also for the well-being of those around you.
The personal threats and educational and economic effects of COVID-19 surely heighten everyone’s anxiety, and, as you know, anxiety on other subjects is also comparatively high among young people. This is another challenge with which I would like to be helpful.
Just a year ago I gave a talk on that subject at BYU-Hawaii, reviewing national and our own experiences with anxiety among college-age students.4 For example, here at BYU and elsewhere in our Church Educational System higher-education institutions, there are large increases in the numbers seeking counseling or mental health services.
Our professional counselors observe that anxiety often leads to doubt and despair."