What e’er thou art, act well
thy part.
This may be a strange title for a letter from
Grandpa. I have been meaning to write
it for a little over a month now and tonight I was watching the news on the
television and they had a story, which prompted me to write this now.
I
do not visit Facebook very often. I do
not have the time or the need to do it, but occasionally I am interested to see
what you write on your pages. I also
occasionally look at other people’s pages as well. Sometimes it is interesting, but often I am disappointed to see
the apparent lack of sensitivity that some people have when posting.
The
title of this blog is not unique with me.
When I was going to BYU after my mission I read a talk given in 1957 by
President McKay[1]. He explained: “I said to myself, or the
Spirit within me, ‘You are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. More than that, you are here as a representative of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You accepted the responsibility as a representative of the Church. Then
I thought [about] what we had done that forenoon. We had been sightseeing, we
had gained historical instruction and information, it is true, and I was
thrilled with it. … However, that was not missionary work…’ I accepted the
message given to me on that stone, [What e’er thou art, act well thy part] and
from that moment we tried to do our part as missionaries in Scotland.”
We
are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our manners, our decorum and our speech and
writings and actions should reflect that.
The
news program stated that colleges and universities and employers look at
postings on social media to judge our character. Perhaps we are only having fun with our friends, but it can, and
sometimes does turn nasty. We need to
remember that light-mindedness has no place in the gospel of Jesus Christ and
certainly not in the life of one of Christ’s disciples.
As
Thumper the rabbit[2] is quoted as
saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” If you cannot be uplifting in your
communication, it is better not to post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter or post
on your blog.
My
mother used to ask me regularly if I had cleaned my face. Now I ask you, “Have you cleaned up your
Facebook and made it presentable?” Do
you want people to judge you by your posts?
Love,
Grandpa
