I awoke this past Wednesday morning and finished everything necessary to leave at 6AM to see a doctor. Just as I prepared to leave the house, the phone rang, and the woman at the other end informed me that my appointment would be cancelled because my doctor had called in sick. I am only going to see one because the State says I must in order to qualify for health insurance, and so it's a great inconvenience to have my appointment on the only day he's called in sick for years. I try very hard to be on time for class, and when I can avoid it I don't cancel classes without significant advanced notice, even when I would like to do so. You see, with rights come responsibilities.
By and large, I have very few of either. I am accountable for nobody but myself, but I am accountable to many people. For the most part, my superiors let me do things my way as long as certain benchmarks and road signs are met as I do so, and ultimately my Maker will hold me accountable for the person I become. In fact, I heard this week an interesting thought without attribution, but I'll share it here: on the day you die, hell might actually be that the person you are meets the person you could have become. As so many of the young people with whom I interface regularly relish in the revolting, I wonder how many of them may have cause to regret their choices when they discover at death that there is more to existence than this blink of an eye.
Last night at conference, Dallin Oaks reminded us that rights come with responsibilities. Far too many people think that they can exist without those for whom they are accountable but that their subordinates cannot exist without them. There would still be sheep without a shepherd. They might not be as healthy or as many, but there were sheep before there were shepherds.
Sometimes I wonder about accountability and responsibility. For my own part, I rejoice most of the time that my stewardship extends only to myself, my extended family, and the people I encounter for the duration of our encounters. I also consider it a blessing that certain positions of authority and responsibility are ones to which I neither aspire nor are ones for which I qualify. Several years ago, while conversing with a leader of my church congregation, when I could tell that he intended to extend to me a calling to fix the problem I saw, I reminded him that I do not qualify. As Elder Oaks reminded us, some things God asks of men can only be done when the man called is coupled to the power of a help meet to support and sustain him and keep him in check.
Although I cannot remember the exact quote, Elder Oaks said something that touched me. He spoke that those with authority should worry less about rights and more about responsibilities. I see this everywhere. I see young people who want the privileges of adulthood without obligation to meet the burdens of routine, immigrants who demand the rights of citizenship without the obligation to conform to the law and integrate, parents who want the privileges of parenthood without the obligation of caring for their young, and people everywhere who demand the benefits of Discipleship without the obligation of having to follow the Master.
We live in a wonderful time. No matter how the spin doctors may describe it, today offers us a plenty that no other time or people has ever known. Most of us do not have to toil all day just to feed ourselves and our families. Most of us recreate and luxuriate in excesses that would bring the scorn of our ancestors and the envy of their oppressors. After Elder Oaks spoke, I heard Elder Ridd say that the abundance of choice comes with an abundance of responsibility. Where much is given, much is required. It is not asked or commanded or a nice thing, but it is a requirement. It is a universal principle that there is an accountability and that consequences follow our choices.
I trust in God and hope for things that I cannot see. I lived the life I was taught would lead to the consequences I desired most. In fact the only time I have ever chosen what I wanted in the moment over what I wanted most was the only time of my life is one that I would change if Christ had not already changed it for me. When I finally studied the Declaration of Independence, I understood that it abjured men everywhere who had the capability to take responsibility. Instead, they take credit and spurn responsibility. Instead they imagine rights they do not have while desperate to avoid the consequences of their choices.
I have no special issue with my new primary care physician. I do not know him. I do not know you perhaps either. However, if you are in a position of authority and responsibility, then it comes with an accountability. Eventually you must return and report, and then the special discounts, fancy cars, clothing allowances, and the other expense accounts and special favors you enjoyed as a means to assist you in that office will not help you face the Master when you produce the single talent He gave you unmagnified, unmultiplied. Just as I had with my doctor last week, people expect things from you. Just like the scriptures tell us, where God blesses us with great things, He REQUIRES things from you.
Perhaps the greatest thing He requires us is to stand up for what is right because it is right. Elder Monson reminded us all last night of Paul's admonition to not be ashamed for Christ. Several years ago, I stood in a meeting while a superior went off on a tirade about how members of my Faith should all be killed because of what we believe. I was not the only member of my Faith in attendance, and I knew that one of them was not only a pillar of his congregation but also a pillar in Human Resources. When they all looked away as if hoping to go unnoticed, I stood up and invited the man to come meet with missionaries at my house any time. Fortunately, there were no consequences at that time, but I am certain that I have been punished sometimes because of what I believe. I have a responsibility to stand up for that. I know that much has been given, and I hope that God will be pleased with how I stood when asked to stand. Like my physician, I am known by what I aspire to live. I try very hard to live a life of which I can be proud to give an accounting, so that when people rely on me for spiritual medical assistance I will be ready, present, and able to render assistance. I am not a paragon, but I will be true, for there are those who rely on me.
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