Parenting. Jeremy was raised in a single parent home, with no siblings. John's father drank and smoked. Maybe the other's families didn't pay enough attention to them.
Society. We are raised in a culture that almost demands instant gratification. Drugs are a quick fix to make you happy, to erase pain. Robbery is a fast way to get money, with little work involved. Violence and drugs are everywhere, in tv, movies, advertising, video games. Alcohol is acceptable for the majority of the population. It helps you "relax." We are also told we need to be strong on our own. We don't need any one else to help us. Find inner strength to get you anywhere.
Individual brain function. Maybe these are just dumb people who don't think like "normal" people. This is the most absurd of all. We are all born with the same potential.
The truth is, there is no one factor that sends a man (male or female) to prison. Choice. Hope. Love. In every man there is a gift called agency. No matter what your situation, no matter who you are, how you were raised, where you live, what family you were born into. People have a choice. Circumstance has much to do with choices, but in that circumstance, you have a choice of action. No one is forcing you to do wrong. We are all dealt a hand of cards in life, and some we are guaranteed to despise. We have a choice in what we do with that card. We can get mad, blame others, sulk, and sink into the bad situation. Or, we can take it as it is. Somethings we have absolutely no control over. That is what the Savior is for. He is there when we don't know what to do. He is there to succor us, to love us. What these men needed, but couldn't find was hope. They were driven to an alternative quick fix for pain, and drugs "act fast."
Each of them admitted they had no thoughts of other people at the time they got involved in drugs. Their actions were entirely selfish. So solution two, charity. Think of someone else.
Last two points: Patience and Trust. Trust in your Heavenly Father that He loves you and is forming your life to make you the most wonderful and perfect person you can be. Have patience to wait for answers. Endure pain, and let the hope of Christ fill you while you grieve, hurt, feel lonely or whatever you may feel. This is not something you can find once. You must find it again and again. Even when life is great and easy to be happy, you must continually prepare for the hard times that are guaranteed to come. Not a single day can be taken for granted.
The most wonderful thing is, the Savior and the Father constantly have their arms outstretched when we do wrong. They will always love us. Even those men who are in prison for taking another person's life. Should we not be working to become like Them? Practice Faith, Hope and Charity. Trust. Patience. Can you imagine the world we would live in if people strived to be this way?
1 comment:
When Dan was working for a stone company this last summer, he got to be good friends with a fellow who had pornography issues. Dan talked to him about it, and the fellow admitted that he wasn't thinking about anyone else but himself when he was indulging in that behavior.
When Dan asked him how he would feel if it was his mom or sister in the picture, he admitted that he would be outraged.
I don't know if that ever changed anything for him -- unfortunately the man died in a car accident a few months after that.
I think that the primary problem with society is the perceived need for instant results.
Marriage isn't working out? Divorce. Doesn't matter that you haven't tried to work things out, you just 'know' that the person isn't 'the one' anymore.
Drugs, addictions of all kinds? As you already so eloquently stated, they didn't have the patience to stick it out.
One other huge problem society is facing is living the "American Dream" -- basically equating to aquiring large amounts of debt. That isn't the American Dream. Not the origional dream anyways. It used to be that you would be able to provide a better life for your family -- a home, a car, a yard. Now it seems to have grossly morphed into justification for buying things you don't need and can't afford. What kind of dream is that?
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