On Remaining Unchanged – Sunday, September 18, 1949
Young people leaving home, whether it be only for an evening or for an extended stay, are often given to assuring their parents that there is no need to worry. Those who are leaving home for work or for school or for other purposes are often given to assuring those they leave behind that they will remain unchanged—unchanged in their thoughts, in their feelings, in their actions, and in their attitudes. And they believe it! Youth are confident in their own strength.
And to any kind of caution they are likely to reply: “Why shouldn’t we? It won’t hurt us. It won’t change us.” And they wonder why parents and others are doubtful and concerned they wonder, perhaps because they have not yet become fully aware of the fact that we all tend to be changed and modified both by people and places. In other words, we all react in some way or other to our environment and associations.
This is so whether we choose it to be so or not, and it is quite useless to say: “I am going to partake of this, but I am not going to be affected by it.” A person of strong will, living with undesirable influences, may succeed in maintaining his principles, but be is changed nevertheless, even if only by the very act of resistance. Resistance to a given set of conditions has its effect upon us, even as failure to resist has its effect—although not in the same way. Knowing this, it is natural for parents and the counselors of youth to be concerned about the influences that enter their lives, about the company they keep, about what they see and hear, about the friendships they form. And to those who are young, may we offer once more this reminder: Don’t make the mistake of supposing that a new experience or a new association won’t change you.
We are changed, sometimes favorably, sometimes unfavorably, but always we are changed by the company we keep, by the friendships we form, by everything we encounter, both as to places and people. Indeed, change is the essence of life itself—eternal change. There is danger, and there is deception in supposing that we can encounter any influence or participate in any experience and not be changed. And all this youth must remember when those who are more seasoned caution them concerning questionable places, questionable company, and questionable conduct.
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 18, 1949, 11:30 to 12-.00 noon, Eastern Time. Copyright 1949
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September 18, 1949
Broadcast Number 1,048