We have been to two graduation ceremonies this spring. We
have also attended both high school and college graduations in the past few
years. At each of these ceremonies the announcement has been made that applause
should be reserved until all the graduates are presented. There are those
present who think that this does not apply to them. They whistle and shout in
high decibel volume and even bring air horns and blow them to herald the
graduate of their liking.
In my day they would be considered uncouth and extremely ill
mannered. We sat in front of someone at the last graduation who shouted out so
loud that it hurt my ears. Fortunately the air horn at the one previous was so
far away when it off that I only cringed.
I felt ashamed to even be present.
Recently there was a woman who yelled out three times in
general conference to draw attention to herself and cause disrespect and disrupt an
otherwise solemn meeting.
These people have no self-respect and certainly no respect
for others.
We have become calloused and insensitive to the
sensibilities of others as general rule. Not all are this way, but it seems to
be an infectious disorder.
The mood of the moment of graduation is best captured by the
Academic Festival Overture and the song in it Gaudeamus igiture. It is solemn
yet joyful.
Here is a quotation from Joseph F Smith.
“It is not safe for men or women to conclude that because
they have fulfilled carefully their public responsibilities they have done all
that is required of them. Public requirements are changeable. Public demands
vary with the times. Sometimes they are strict and sometimes they are very lax.
Public sentiment becomes fickle and it is often indifferent to the conduct of
individuals who take license from a public indifference to wrongdoing.
Individual responsibility is more concerned with the duties which men owe to
their God, whose requirements are positive and constant. When men feel that they
are ever under an All-Seeing Eye, their conduct is measured in the strictest
terms. They are not subject to lapses of public sentiment.”
Gospel Doctrine by Joseph F. Smith
We might take the words of the primary song to heart. “If
the Savior stood beside me would I do the things I do?”
No matter what others do we must live to a higher standard.
Love,
Grandpa
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