I want to start by telling a story from the Book of Mormon which I've been thinking a lot about recently. It takes place in Chapter 1 of Helaman, where a "serious difficulty" has begun among the Nephites. Pahoran, their Chief-Judge, has just died and the matter of succession has become a hotly contested issue.So the Nephites held an election - fair and democratic - and their were two different groups of people on the losing side. One one hand you have Pacumenti and his followers, who "when [they] saw that he could not obtain the judgement-seat ... did unite with the voice of the people.", and then there was Paanchi, who was "wroth". So wroth, it seems, that he whipped his supporters into such a frenzy that they staged a revolt. It failed, and he was executed, but his shenanegans had done their work and a deep rift formed between the two political groups of Nephites.
Now we cut-away to the secret lair of Tubaloth, the Lamanite King, who's cackling and rubbing his hands together with malicious glee. See, the Lamanites have some bones to pick with the Nephites, but until now the Nephites have been too strong to take on. But now they're fractured and squabbling. Enter Coriantumr - Nephite Dissenter, Lamanite General, "mighty man". Channeling the essence of Hurrican Sandy, he sweeps into Zarahemla like a boss.
I'll let Mormon tell you what happened next. "Because of so much contention and so much difficulty in the government, that they had not kept sufficient guards in the land of Zarahemla... Coriantumr... did take possession of the whole city." Boom roasted.
Okay, so cool story Rusden. Lets all laugh and point at the foolish Nephites. Poor scrubs totally set themselves up by being divisive and stuff. ... I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.
What kind of society do we live in today? Divided. Seriously divided We are bisected in a number of ways, but the obvious one that's been on many of our minds throughout the election season is politics. There is a widening gap - bitter and rancorous - between people who label themselves Democrats or Republicans. It's not enough for us anymore to disagree with a president or policy; we seem to genuinely hate the other side and anyone who roots for them and will do almost anything to bring them down.
Case in point: the poopstorm that was our reaction to the election. I'm not privy to any assassination plots just yet, but I have seen people openly wish death on those with whom they disagree; and there are scores of people who are now "so totally moving to freaking Canada", which by the way is so totally what a bunch of Nephite dissenters did (also, I've really got to point out the thick irony of the plan of escaping Obama's socialism by moving to the most socialist country out there, where even the most conservative politicians are easily three times as socialist as Obama).
In the past couple hours I've seen a steady stream of hateful, vitriolic, sometimes even overtly racist posts on FB. Declarations of sedition, violence, and insubordination have come from people I love and respect, and whom I know are good people and many good, faithful Mormons to boot.
Folks, that just doesn't jive. Not with respect for this country, not with common decency, and certainly not with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bruce R. McKonkie said, "Disputations, debates, dissentions, arguments, controversies, quarrels, and strife or contention of any sort have no part in the gospel, they are of the devil. The gospel is one of peace, harmony, and agreement."
Elder Ezra Taft Benson said, "There are some who ... are members of the Church but not in harmony with it. These people have a temporary membership and influence in the Church; but unless they repent, they will be missing when the final membership records are recorded."
Free societies need differing viewpoints and discussion. Shouting down opponents on FB or in real life with labels and innuendo, and playing up your own loyalty and patriotism is effective in silencing the opposition, but that spells disaster to republics and democracies, since the genius of free societies is the wisdom that comes from compromise and discussion. We often forget that our own constitution – a document we consider inspired – was hammered out in just this way.
Lets go back to Helaman 1 for a moment. Mormon's point in the book is to show the goodness of God and the foolishness of humankind. As he unmasks the problems with Nephite society, it's easy to see how we're making the same mistakes today. We just had an election. One person won, others did not. Some of the losing party are now upset and defiant, seeking to widen the divide instead of closing the distance. And while we engage in these disputes our enemies take note of our weakness. Are we perfectly secure? The Nephites certainly thought so until they got zerg-rushed by Coriantumr.
It's okay for us to take some time to sulk a little, to lick our wounds; but when that time has passed, it's our responsibility to reach across the aisle, shake hands with the fellow Americans and human beings whom we still disagree with, and commit to working together to built this great nation. If Romney had won, I hope that Obama's supporters would have done the same. It was Christ who said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. If both legs are trying to kick the other in the butt we end up on the floor.
Are you going to be a Pacumenti now or a Paanchi? Time to choose up.
I hope this makes sense to the two of you who read this all the way through, and I hope I don't come off as too "soap-boxy". I care an awful lot about the future of this country, and even more about the future of the people who live here. I leave you with the sage advice of Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure: Be excellent to each other.
