Conscience and habits away from home – Sunday, September 04, 1960
Last week we closed with a significant quote which said much and implied much more, in this single sentence: “There is nothing that a man can less afford to leave at home than his conscience or his good habits.”1 While this applies to all travel, to all activity, to all social situations, more particularly we have in mind the many who, at this season, or soon, or at any season, leave home for school, for work, for military service, or for other purposes or pursuits. And we have in mind re-emphasizing that people are more important than place; that what a person is, is more important than where he is; that character and conduct are of utmost consequence always, everywhere.
If a person conducts himself well merely because of appearances, if his manners and morals are something to be shed when he is alone, or when he is away from family or friends, then he isn’t really very safe or sound, inherently, inside himself. We would go back to a sentence cited some time ago: “Every man must sometime or other be trusted to himself.”1 If those who go away should assume it to be a time for throwing off restraint, a time for letting loose, a time for careless conduct, for foolish and unworthy ways, they would pretty well have proved that they were immature, that they had not yet reached the time to be trusted to themselves.
There are several sides to consider when away from where we usually live our lives: one, that conduct cannot become coarse without character becoming coarse; two, that always we live with conscience; that always we and the Lord God know what we are, whether others know it or not; that the record we make is our record no matter where we make it; another: that we can never be sure we are unseen, we can never count on not being known; and still another: that always we live with ourselves inside. And as to those who leave home for any purpose, there should be earnest remembrance of the faith and confidence and love of loved ones—of home, of family and friends, and of what is right for its own sake, aside from outside considerations—and the lengthening of distance should not invite looseness, should not allow conduct to become careless. A person is what he is wherever he is, and “there is nothing [he] can less afford to leave [behind] than his conscience or his good habits.”2
1Richardson Packe
2John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station KSL and the CBS Radio Network, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, September 4, 1960, 11:30 a.m. to 12.00 noon, Eastern Time. Copyright 1960
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September 04, 1960
Broadcast Number 1,620