The Solo and the Chorus – Sunday, April 13, 1980
“If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world,” said Bruce Barton, “it will come through the expression of your own personality—that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature.”1
That’s a compelling thought for a world where we can check best-seller lists to find out what everybody else is reading, where we can note the Nielson ratings to find out what everybody else is watching, where we can look at fashion pages to see what everybody else is wearing. For many of us there’s nothing safer than the invisibility and security that comes from following group trends. If everybody’s doing it, it must be good, it must be right, and most of all, it must be safe. Most of us would hate to do anything that they might criticize. What, after all, might they say? We live our life with our eyes continually cast over our shoulder.
But what Hugh B. Brown once noted still rings clear, “If any of you have a desire to be mediocre, you will probably find that you have already achieved your ambition.”2
Those who accomplish great things in our world, those who have moved history forward a giant step have found that they have done so against the stings and jibes of their empty headed critics. They have done so by responding to something deep within their own souls rather than following the superficial tugs of their world. It is easy and sometimes very pleasant to be popular. It is certainly less trying to sing with the chorus rather than venture a solo. But if we would have more than an utterly drab, uninteresting, unexplored life, we must be willing to sometimes sing our tune alone. That’s what integrity is all about.
The Lord did not exhaust himself with the making of two or three or four human types. He created his children with the flourish of diversity, each with his or her own genius. He expects that we will reflect his generous extravagance in our creation, that we will never be content to adopt a standard personality and suppress ourselves no matter what the pressure. Each of us is a wonder when we have the courage to do and be something different from the crowd.
1 Barton, Bruce “They Say,” from Midnight Meditations, edited by Owen, Gordon.
2 “Success, Adversity, Opportunity, Decision,” Richard Evans Quotebook, Publishers Press, pg 56
“The Spoken Word” heard over KSL and CBS from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 13, 1980 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Eastern Time Copyright 1980 Bonneville Productions
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April 13, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,643