Welfare
Speech
I’m a bit superstitious – Saturday morning, I awoke a
bit before five and mulled over this opportunity to speak to you in my
head. I got up in the cold, still dark
and grabbed a shirt and tee shirt out of the closet. I couldn’t see which ones
I had grabbed, it didn’t matter. Our
family has worked at Boy Scout camps every summer for forty-two years. Scout troops often give us tee shirts, they are all
nice. After my shower, I slipped on
the tee shirt and got my inspiration.
The tee shirt shows some boys summiting a mountain peak. In big letters below the art it says, “I can
and will do hard things”. This works on
so many levels. It could have be an
admonition to me to get this talk ready, it could by one to you – to tough out
listening to it, or it could be the message I have been tasked to share
distilled into one sentence.
My hope is that, as you listen this morning, my
words will get you to think about your own lives – your own work – the
difficult things you do because you can.
When not at Boy Scout Camp, I am a high school
History teacher; I have been honored to teach at Layton High School for thirty
years! Every year, at this time, I
lecture about the Romans. In these years
of teaching, I have “gone through” five different text books; [my thanks to you tax
payers] all have asked the students to consider a similar question – “what
caused the fall of the Roman Republic?”
There are, of course many factors – but one of the most potent is the
fact that too many people became dependent on the State, on the labor of
others, for their support. The greatness
of Rome was built by people who sought to work for their own success and that
of their city, a people who valued personal and family honor and duty to
country above all. When too of them many came to
feel they did not need to work, but rather could live on the labor of others,
the economy crumbled, evils and dangers multiplied, and their freedom was
lost.
This morning, I have been asked to speak on the
Welfare Program of the Church, taking my direction from:
The 1st Presidency message – September
1986, delivered by President Thomas Monson. In his message, Pres. Monson states
– that these “basic principles do not change.
They will not change. They are
reviled truths.” He explains:
On April 5, 1936 the Welfare Plan of the Church was
established by President Heber Grant, 1st Counselor Reuben Clark and
2nd Counselor David McKay. In
October Conference 1936, President Grant said, “Our primary purpose was to set
up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away
with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and
self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people
to help themselves. Work is to be
re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church
membership”
President Monson presents these reviled truths as
six principles 1) work, 2) self-reliance, 3) sound financial management, 4) a
year’s supply, 5) caring for the extended family, and 6) wise use of Church
resources.
Our ward is full of living examples of these
principles, of men and women who live honorably and do their duty!
Before I go through President Monson’s six
principles point by point, let me remind you for the great lie. In the council in heaven, Lucifer proposed
that he would do all the work and give all of God’s children salvation. His plan was rejected not because of his
impudent pride – but because IT WOULD NOT HAVE WORKED. We must work out our own salvation – we must
learn to find joy by doing it ourselves!!!
Of course we will fall short – and then the Savior will do his part –
but we cannot learn to love if we do not pass through sorrow.
Now, to President Monson’s principles:
1.
Work is basic to all we do. – Gen. 3:19: “In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. And in 1939 President Stephen Richards
explained “We have always dignified work and reproved idleness . . . The busy
hive of the honeybee Deseret – has been our emblem. Work with faith is a cardinal point of our
theological doctrine, and our future state – our heaven – is envisioned in
terms of eternal progression through constant labor.”
Even God has work to do: “This is my work and my
glory, to bring about the eternal life of man.” A big job!
When I was a little boy, we lived in a tiny house in
Anchorage, Alaska. Every morning, I
could hear my dad get up at five and get ready to head off to work. He would have to drive six miles through the
forest to Fort Richardson – sometimes it was forty below zero or even colder. It never occurred to me that he would not go
out and take care of me.
I saw in my father a living example of King
Benjamin, who in Mosiah 2:14 explains that he has “labored with [his] own hands
that [he] might serve” the people, even though he was their king.
A hundred
and fifty years later [160 BC], Marcus Aurelius, was emperor of Rome. Marcus Aurelius was probably the most
powerful man who ever lived. He was absolute
master of an empire that stretched from Britain to Bagdad, from the Rhine to
the cataracts of the Nile. He could have spent his life in luxury in a
palace in Rome – but he chose rather to spend his life camped out in a tent and fighting on
battlefields in the defense of his country.
That was his work, he didn’t have to do it – he chose to serve. He put it this way:
“At dawn,
when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to
work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I
was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I
was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
He chose to
get up and go to work, like my dad, like all dads and moms who choose to do
what they should, not only for the benefit of their children material needs,
but to set the example for how those children should live their own lives.
2.
Self-reliance is a product of our work and
under-girds all other welfare practices.
President Marion Romney said in 1976:
“Let us work for what we need.
Let us be self-reliant and independent.
Salvation can be obtained on no other principle. Salvation is an individual matter, and we
must work out our own salvation in temporal as well as in spiritual
things.” And a year later, President
Spencer Kimball taught, “The responsibility for each person’s social,
emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon
himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.”
In my classes at Layton High, I require my students
to take notes on everything I tell them, on the reading we do together, on the
material they read in their test book.
We work together to prepare for the final test. I provide them with a study outline and once
we have covered the material in class, I
help them fill in the appropriate information on their study guide. I have posted a completely filled in study guide on the
class webpage so they can check their work and make sure they have taken down
everything they will be expected to know.
The other day, as most of my students were
frantically writing in an effort to get down all the information before we moved on to
the next point, I saw a boy sitting smugly in his seat doing nothing. I look on his desk and saw he had printed out
my completely filled in outline from the web page. He had
done nothing but pushed a button but, since he had the filled out sheet in
front of him, he believed he had done his work.
I was disappointed. However, it gave me an opportunity to explain to the
class that having the paper filled in is not the goal – the goal is to learn
the material and more importantly it is to learn how to learn material. I do not have a problem with providing
information to my students – but I expect them to do the work necessary to
learn for themselves – otherwise it does them no good at all. President Monson
continues:
3.
Sound Financial Management – Too many in the
Church have failed to avoid unnecessary debt.
They have little, if any, financial reserve. The solution is to budget, to live within our
means, and to save some for the future.
Reuben Clark said in 1938, “Once in debt interest is you companion every
minute . . . and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to
meet its demands, it crushes you.”
Our country is 20 trillion dollars in debt. What an example for a nation to set – “bread and
circuses” barrowed from the future of our children and their children’s
children. Years ago, Janice had taken our little boys shopping. The oldest – then about five or six – saw
something in the shop he wanted. When
his mother told him we didn’t have enough money, he retorted – just write a
check. Such obliviousness may be amusing
in a child – in a society it is devastating.
4.
A year’s supply of life’s necessities. (When I was a kid
this was one of the most often preached tenants of the church. We don’t hear much about it anymore. How things have changed.) President Monson says, “As has been said so
often, the best storehouse system that the Church could devise would be for
every family to store a year’s supply of needed food, clothing, and, where
possible, the other necessities of life.”
At Camp Loll, about 200 boys and 100 leaders come to the woods every week. The scouts bring with them a week’s supply of
everything they need. Thirty-five miles
of dirt road from the nearest store, they have no other choice. They think that the fun and adventure will be
the best part of the trip – but most learn that the real value of living a week
in the woods is learning to do hard things; its being prepare for anything. They build a year’s supply of self-confidence
and a life time of knowing that they can and will do hard things. They swim in cold water and climb to mountain
tops. They build their own shelters, gather
wood for their fires, and water to drink and wash, cook their own meals, and do
their own dishes. They follow bear and
fire processions, defend and repair the wilderness, follow the trails, and go
on working and playing in paradise through rain and sun and dark and
mosquitos. Having brought everything
they need with them, they make their way for a week in the wilderness relying
on their own abilities and the love of the fellows. It’s “all the world”, a life time, in a
week.
5.
Caring for the extended family – In 1 Timothy, Paul
wrote, “If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.” President Monson reiterates, “It is our
sacred duty to care for our families,
including our extended families”. . . It is difficult to understand how one
mother can take care of seven children more easily than seven children can take
care of one mother. . . In 1938, President
Clark gave clear direction on this matter:
“The prime responsibility for supporting an aged parent rests upon [the]
family, not upon society … The family which refuses to keep its own is not
meeting its duty.”
In 1944, President Stephen Richards put it clearly,
“I think my food would choke me if I knew that while I could procure bread my
aged father or mother or near kin were on public relief.”
Thales of Miletus, who was born in 625 BC, over a
century before the first Hebrew Scriptures were even written down, said,
“Expect from your children the same provision you made for your parents.”
When I was a little boy, I would wake up in the middle
of the night, afraid. I would call out for
my “daddy” and he would come and comfort me; his presence enough to assure
me. I knew that there was no danger, no
monster, no evil – that was a match for him.
Ten years ago, at the age of 89, my father had a massive heart
attack. The doctors kept telling us he
would die any day – but he didn’t; so we brought him home to live with us. His bed was set up in our family room, just
outside our bedroom door. What joy I
felt – when in the middle of the night, he would call to me. I would go out and sit at his side and we
would talk till he feel back to sleep.
One night – it was about two A. M. – he called for
me. I went to him and asked what he
wanted.
“I want to go for a drive.”
“Where do you want to go?” I asked.
Realize that my dad had longed lived in
Brigham City.“I want to go to Mantua,” he said.
“Dad,” I explained, “it’s the middle of the night –
you won’t be able to see anything.”
“Yah,” he said, “but I could hear the engine running.”
“I have to go to work in three hours. I promise I’ll take you to Mantua this afternoon, when
I get home from school."
He went off to sleep – he never woke up again.
Next to the example of how to work – this chance to serve – was my father’s greatest gift
to me.
6.
Proper Use of Church Resources – President Monson
explains, “The Lord’s store house includes the time, talents, skills,
compassion, consecrated material, and financial means of faithful Church
members. These resources are available
to the bishop in assisting of those in need.”
He presents five basic guidelines.
1) The bishop is to seek out the poor.
2) The bishop, with the council of the Relief Society president, is to
evaluate each situation with discernment, sound judgment, balance, and
compassion. 3) He will insure that those who receive welfare assistance should
work to the extent of their abilities for that which is received, [take that
Lucifer] providing work which will enhance the recipient’s efforts to become
self-reliant. 4) Assistance given by the
bishop is temporary and partial. The
rehabilitation of members is the responsibility of the individual and the
family, aided by the priesthood quorum and Relief Society. We are attempting to develop
independence, not dependence. 5)
Assistance is with basic life-sustaining goods and services, not the
maintenance of current living standards.
(Quote from the last General conference by Bishop Davies 2nd
councilor in presiding bishopric, “Church welfare system is to sustain life not
life style.”) Monson explains that, “Families may need to alter their standards
of living in doing all they can to meet their own needs.
President Monson is quite clear that welfare
resources are provided by the sacrifice of the saints for the benefit of those
in need. Donations are both a gift to
others and a blessing to ourselves. And
those resources are to be used in need, President Monson indicates that they
are for true and great emergencies. Examples
of when welfare is to be used are catastrophes like the Teton Dam Disaster and
WWII.
The purpose of the Church Welfare program is not to
provide for the material needs of the poor, rather, as President Grant
explained: “Our primary purpose was to set up, insofar as it might be possible,
a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils
of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be
once more established amongst our people.
The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling
principle of the lives of our Church membership.”
Related
Quotes:
Thales of
Miletus 600 BC.
23. Expect
from your children the same provision you made from your parents.
From the Bhagavad Gita 500 BC
On Work:
2:47 Krishna – Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward. Work not for a reward; but never cease to do
thy work.
On Leading
by Example: 3:21 & 26 Krishna – 21: “In the actions of the best men others
find their rule of action. The path that
a great man follows becomes a guide to the world. 26 “Let not the wise disturb the mind of the
unwise in their selfish work. Let him,
working with devotion; show them the joy of good work.”
On Service:
3: 25 Krishna – Even as the unwise work selfishly in the bondage of selfish
works, let the wise man work unselfishly for the good of all the world.
On Faith
with Works: 3:31 Krishna – Those who ever follow my doctrine and who have
faith, and have a good will, find through pure work their freedom.
From
Democritus: 460 BC.
27. The
thrifty behave like bees, working as though they are to live forever.
31.
Voluntary labors make it easier to endure involuntary labors.
36. Mercenary
service teaches self-sufficiency in life; for bread and a straw mattress are
the sweetest cures for hunger and exhaustion.
47. Poverty
and wealth are names for want and satisfaction; so one who is in want is not
wealthy and one who is not in want is not poor.
48.
Fortunate is he who is content with moderate gods, unfortunate he who is
discontent with many.
69. Those
who praise the unintelligent do them great harm.
Marcus
Aurelius 121 – 180 BC.
“In the
morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present - I am rising
to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do
the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?”
“At dawn,
when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to
work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I
was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I
was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
“At dawn,
when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to
work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I
was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I
was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”