On Being At Our Best – Sunday, September 14, 1952
Perhaps most of us give way at times to actions and attitudes and utterances which we well know are below our best. But whenever we depart from being at our best, we must remember that there are at least two things for which we are constantly accountable: One is the effect our attitudes and actions have on us, and the other is the effect our attitudes and actions have on others.
Especially should we be mindful of the effect of our actions and utterances on young and impressionable people. By the time we have become adults, we ourselves may have acquired a solid set of standards from which we may feel that there is not much danger of departing very far, and to which even if we do depart, it may seem rather easy to return—and we may think that occasional small lapses and laxities won’t matter too much.
But while these occasions or periods of letting down may for us be only passing departures, the impressions we implant in others may be permanent. Many a man who has said and done things that didn’t seem to him to change his own well-settled standards and basic beliefs has found that the example of his words and his ways has changed his children and may have led them to permanent departures.
Of course, we may presume privileges which we suppose belong to our years: We may presume that it is all right for us who are older to say and to do things that those who are younger, shouldn’t say and do. But even supposing that we ourselves could, on occasion, stray somewhat (but not too far, we think) from our standards and principles, or from our most acceptable selves, without seeming to hurt ourselves very much—even if it didn’t hurt us (which is doubtful), still we must be mindful of the effects of what we do and say on others—because other people are influenced as much by us when we are at our worst as they are when we are at our best.
For this reason, if for no other, it is important to be at our best.*
*Revised
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, September 14, 1952, 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., Eastern Time. Copyright, 1952
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September 14, 1952
Broadcast Number 1,204