Elder Patrick Kearon: Avoiding the Poles

I too am very grateful to to be here

and to share this experience with my sweetheart Jen

who lives everything that she's talking about.

And I'm sure you can sense that.

I want to head in the same direction,

I suppose with my thoughts.

And certainly desire the same

outcome and outcomes.

I'm a convert.

I found the church in my mid-20s and joined the church after two years

of looking at it and wondering about it in many senses wrestling with it.

And so, anytime I approach a moment like this,

I do so with that sort of

split vision of someone who's looked in and now who is in and looks out.

And now those two elements are intertwined with me and for me.

I know this moment we're going through,

this time of pandemic is unsettling.

I know it comes at a time in your lives

when you have already had some of your plans derailed,

and you are uncertain as you look to the future.

Happily for most though,

it hasn't been devastating.

It has for a few truly devastating,

in terms of life or health or

loss of income or the ability to provide for families.

But for most of us, still for the majority,

it is something far short of that,

and I'm deeply,

deeply grateful for that

being the case.

And I'm also very

grateful

that the means to treat this disease are improving

and the means to prevent it

are certainly on the horizon and not too far away.

All of this leads me to reflect on something that the

young women were taught over and over again a few years ago.

And in fact,

that is carried forward in young women and youth teaching

generally, and some of you

were youth in this era, and it's that

we can do hard things.

And we

can do hard things and the foundation for this teaching,

of course,

was who we are.

Who we are,

where we came from,

why we're here,

and where we're going.

And the knowledge that our time here and our experience here is tiny,

sometimes,

sometimes represented,

I've seen it taught as the thin edge of a piece of paper.

And that we're just here for a moment in our great eternal existence.

So, today at the heart of my thoughts

are that context.

We can do hard things

and that we're here just for a moment and

we,

in fact, these hard things turn us into

who we're meant to become.

Some of you are just groaning as you hear this,

I know,

and thinking,

I don't want to hear that kind of thought again.

I've had enough of that.

I've had enough of this.

I want to know where I'm going,

and I want to

know

when I'm going there.

Well,

that will come.

And

not only can we do hard things,

as faithful church members,

we actually thrive on opposition.

Ever since Joseph walked into that wood that became a sacred grove,

we have had to thrive on opposition,

and it's just part of who we are.

And none of us get through life

without some opposition or sets of opposition,

and no one will go unscathed.

But one of the glorious truths when we wake up to it is we actually can thrive on it,

and that's a beautiful realization.

Now that doesn't mean that I or anybody else goes around looking for opposition.

It tends to find us

in one way or another,

and it tends to find us in terms of what we need,

at least some of it does,

and

far less so than what we want.

And I'm grateful for that realization.

I'm certainly grateful as I look back at

the opposition I've experienced and realize,

yeah,

well,

I suppose

that did do me

some good,

even though sometimes it's excruciating in its pain while we're going through it.

So,

I want that to sort of set the scene for these

thoughts that I want to share with you and then I want to

look at a few things in particular.

As I recognize and as we all should recognize who we are,

I want to share a verse with you that

caught my eye recently in the doctrine and covenants.

This was given to Joseph

for Hiram,

his brother.

And it's in the 11th section,

and it's the 12th verse, and it says,

"And now verily,

verily

I say unto thee.

Put your trust

in that spirit

which leadeth to do good.

Yeah,

to justify,

to walk humbly,

to judge righteously.

And this

is my spirit.

And this

is my spirit.

I read this in the middle of the,

of course we're here in the United States,

but I'm,

I'm,

I'm,

I'm acutely aware that I'm

speaking to students,

to you,

and you come from at least 66

countries.

I'm just delighted that this,

this is such an international

congregation and I'm very happy that at least 3 Brits,

3 Brits here,

here today as well.

With this in mind and turning to the

the turmoil that has been a part of the election process here in the United States,

it's,

it's highly apparent

that this is a pretty good example for many countries around the world in terms of,

in terms of polarization,

in terms of opposition,

in terms of

tribalism in a sense,

in,

in the negative senses of that.

clannishness and,

and,

and people finding

too much confrontation in,

in too many arenas.

And that polarization is,

is damaging.

in so many,

many ways.

And

I want to invite you.

To

Avoid the polls,

the extremes,

if you like,

of,

of,

in discourse in public life and in private life too.

It's very,

very hard for two people at opposite polls to see eye to eye,

but I just want to share a thought or two with you in relation to that.

if you use,

politics,

as an example.

One thing we could do to,

if you acknowledge that you're out near one pole or another,

one thing that you can do to move inwards from those,

from those poles.

Is that you can read

the point of view of the other people.

So if you have been,

for instance,

reading a particular

publication

or or or strands of information delivered to

you through social media or through other sources,

deliberately go and read

the point of view that some of your friends may be being delivered

through their own media channels or publications.

And and the value of doing this is greater now

than it ever has been before because as we're learning,

one of the

ways that our media gets delivered to us is it is it

constantly homes in on the things that we're already looking at,

so it gives us more and more

an ever greater diet of

of the thought

and ideology that we already adhere to

when in fact it would do us very well to turn.

And read and listen to

the ideology,

ideology,

and thoughts and concepts of those we currently may disagree with.

If we'll do that and do that with an open heart,

we'll be blessed to understand

those we don't disagree with and become

a force for peace.

and goodness knows

we need greater peace in public and private life.

It's not just reading,

it's also listening to in this world and and and viewing in this world that ever more

of what we consume is delivered

either visually or

or through audio,

we need to look at

and listen to the points of views of others and ask to be able to understand them.

Why again

to

to diminish this polarizing effect

and come to a point where we can have a chance of understanding one another.

It's been so discouraging

to find people in political parties,

pick your political party,

not one,

but in in in any of the major political parties in the countries that I've been

closely exposed to recently

describing people of the other party

as bad

or worse.

This is ridiculous because in many cases it

represents something close to half the population.

So those out on the extremes are saying that

people who adhere to this ideology

or that ideology

are bad,

and they express it worse.

I'm moderating my language for the for for for this moment

and,

and so again we need to.

Listen to we need to watch.

We need to talk to

those who don't share our ideas and come to an understanding of them

and recognize

step by step by step that above all else they are of course children of God too,

and they want happy lives and they want happy lives for their children

and their grandchildren to be.

and so on and,

and you must be

examples of this.

You have the gospel as your foundation.

You have been taught

that we must be peacemakers,

and this is a work for you to do,

and the continuation of that

perhaps while you're still studying,

but certainly beyond is I would encourage you to take your place

in

in in society in contributing to society.

In in government of,

of various different forms and government starts

with a school board.

Sitting on a school board and and helping

guide a school towards things that will better nourish

the all of the children and staff in in in in those schools,

it might lead you to

to college or university government it might lead you to city government

to county government to state government,

perhaps even to national government,

but goodness knows we need good people

to to help run our institutions.

And far fewer people just to knock them as has become a habit.

Let's get involved rather than criticize,

and that would be a natural

continuation of your exploration of other people's points of view and give

you the ability to listen and understand and then share in very temperate tones

your own point of view.

I want to return to that idea of the polls again.

If we think of the poles on the Earth,

the North Pole and the South Pole,

we think of them as freezing and largely desolate

places.

Quite a handy

image for what I've been trying to describe as as the poles being places to avoid.

Now I know and we know a few people who love to go and study there.

we have a friend who,

who goes each year to the South Pole,

but they do so

in the summer

when it,

when,

when there's little or no darkness,

and,

but I have to say it's still

freezing down there and for most of us,

it wouldn't be where we choose to go.

The poles are inhospitable

to really the vast majority of us.

Of course,

during their winters,

they have no light at all in the middle of winter.

And during the summers,

there's no

night,

no time for rest,

and the climate remains pretty wretched.

Let's move away.

From our poles.

And come together and make peace.

hatred.

And disdain have become very powerful in society,

and we have a role as a church,

as a community of believers

to change that and to become peacemakers.

With that in mind,

I want you to note,

to realize,

to acknowledge that we're led by optimists.

President Nelson has the ability

to walk into a room

and lighten the atmosphere.

Literally to walk in and through his calm

Loving

nature.

Kind questions to those there and

A sweet response to any question extended to

him has the ability to change the climate.

Of a room or any gathering,

of course he has this ability.

To

to change or create the climate in

in vast congregations too,

congregations of millions.

All

Whilst avoiding the poles.

And creating a warm,

inviting climate

for you and for me.

I'm so grateful for that.

I want to share with you in a moment a a video that

was made out of something that he said and he narrates this.

A few years ago,

and he takes again to return to our trials,

he takes some of life's greatest challenges.

And he reminds us how we deal with them,

and he starts off,

the story is set.

He's in a plane

that is crashing.

And everybody aboard

believes it's going to crash,

and he talks about how he feels.

And then he likens that to the trials of life.

And he reminds us of who we are,

and we are here today

to remind you of who you are as we remind ourselves as who we are.

Look at President Nelson here.

Whilst remembering that you can do hard things

and that in our own way

we can thrive on opposition,

once we've shared this these few minutes of

President Nelson with you,

I'll return to share some closing thoughts.

We'll share that video now.

I was in a small airplane

and all of a sudden

the engine on the wing

caught fire.

It exploded

And burning oil was poured all over the right side of

the airplane and we started to dive toward the earth.

We were spinning down to our death.

Oh,

this woman across the aisle.

I just was so sorry for her.

She was just absolutely uncontrollably hysterical.

And I was calm.

I was totally calm,

even though I knew I was going down to my death.

I was ready to meet my maker.

We didn't crash.

We didn't die.

The spiral dive extinguished the flame.

The pilot got control and started the other engine up

and we made an emergency landing up in the field,

but I thought

through that experience,

if you've got a faith,

you can handle difficulties.

Knowing that

with an eternal perspective that all will be well.

In Luke

21,

the earth shall be in distress.

Nations with perplexity,

the seas and the waves roaring.

Men's hearts failing them for fear.

What we're seeing is a prediction that in these latter days.

People will be afraid.

Men's hearts are failing,

and that includes women.

Because

they forget their identity.

And their purpose

Hearaches will come.

I've lived

through the death of a

wife and the death of a daughter.

I've seen the troubles that divorce brings.

Children or grandchildren

go astray.

Disability

Illness,

injuries.

To the individual who is

Weak in the heart

Fearful in the heart.

Be patient with yourself.

Perfection comes not in this life

but in the next life.

Don't demand

things that are unreasonable.

But

demand of yourself.

Improvement

As you let the Lord help you.

Through that he will make the difference.

I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ

that allows me that kind of strength.

In these tumultuous times.

If

if the video didn't play well for you as part of this stream,

I hope you'll return to it and watch it in your own time.

Indeed,

I hope you'll watch it again and again.

I just love it,

and it does me good every time I watch it.

It's called Men's Hearts Shall Fail them.

Men's hearts shall fail them,

and

I love it because I feel President Nelson's optimism.

I love how he,

how,

how he.

Responded to the immediacy of the crisis that that plane was in at the beginning,

and it's an example for all of us.

Think about that.

As,

as you think about adding,

subtracting,

,

multiplying,

dividing and and considering the inverse of whatever problem you are facing.

I pray that you will,

as President Nelson said,

remember

who you are,

who you really are.

Yes,

you have immediate problems.

And

yes,

you need to

hear heaven's voice.

Yes,

you need to let God prevail.

In your life,

and at times that will be demanding.

But as you remember who you are,

you will be blessed

as you become

a depolarizing voice.

As you train yourself to become such,

if you've got

over dug in

in your points of view,

and if you can't see it,

ask a friend if you've become so and then go to work.

And,

and,

and,

and

watch

your rhetoric.

And

be calm,

be considered,

be thoughtful as you consider

the ideas,

the ideologies,

the positions of others.

Come close and understand them.

You may never fully agree,

and that's OK,

but be a voice for peace and get involved

at suitable points in your life

in the leadership of.

Schools,

universities,

cities,

counties,

states,

nations.

We are in fact a people who thrive on opposition.

Again,

we don't seek it.

But we must now be a people who thrive

in union

and unison with others.

We must find others with whom we haven't always agreed and

get closer to them and find common cause with them,

find things that we can unite around

and build a better.

Town better city.

Better world

with them.

And build happier families

at the heart of all of that.

In the 111th section

of the doctrine and covenants,

there's this wonderful verse.

the 11th verse and it says,

therefore,

Be wise as serpents an interesting choice of words that

And it goes on to say,

be wiser serpents and yet without sin,

and I will order all things for your good

as fast as ye are able to receive them.

Amen

I pray that as you do your maths.

As you are as wise as you can be,

as you are a peacemaker,

as you are a

family

and community builder.

As you avoid those

dark frozen poles.

That ye may become without sin

and that you will be able to acknowledge that he will order all things for your good.

As fast as ye are able

to receive them.

I leave these thoughts with you with a testimony

of a loving Father in heaven

in His Son Jesus Christ,

who's come to do everything for all of us that we cannot do for ourselves,

putting in place profits upon the earth at critical times,

having placed.

Joseph Smith,

just in a moment

where he could do the things that he needed to do

and that the truth could be conveyed,

this healing,

comforting truth of the restoration

could be conveyed

to a weary world

at a time such as ours.

I give thanks for that restoration.

I give thanks for Joseph,

and I give thanks.

For President Russell

M.

Nelson,

now

a prophet to guide us,

and I testify that we will have prophets with us

and to guide us

until the Savior returns

in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.