Putting People in Place – Sunday, December 07, 1947
It would seem that there are always those who are eager to live other men’s lives for them, and those who, for one reason or another seek to popularize the philosophy that all men should be forced to conform to a predetermined design. This idea sometimes seems to sound good: Let’s put every man in his place. But, sane as it may sound, it raises many difficult questions, such as, who shall fix the pattern, and who shall put every man in his place. Putting every man in his place means that we must have someone among us who is wise enough to judge what every man’s place is: And this would seem to be a function of godlike wisdom.
But one of the best evidences that the Creator didn’t intend to force all men to fit an arbitrary pattern is that He Himself has not made all things alike, least of all men. Of course, the practice of classifying men is often a necessary convenience. Obviously it would be practically impossible always to deal with each of the world’s multimillion of men on a strictly individual basis for all purposes. And so we classify men into races, nations, physical types, professions, ages, and in innumerable other ways.
But such lumping of individuals into arbitrary groups for statistical or other purposes should never let us lose sight of the fact that every man is an individual, with his own life to live—and with his own right to live it. And whenever there is any attempt forcibly to crowd individuals into artificially created systems to control their lives, to rob them of their right of choice and of their individual initiative, there is violation of inalienable rights and loss of human dignity. Any artificial pattern that is based on what someone’s arbitrary rulebook says rather than what is best for people, is an unsafe pattern.
And any man who had wisdom sufficient to dictate to other men everything they could do and couldn’t do would also have the wisdom not to try to. We may counsel others, teach them correct principles, and labor long with them. But it is dangerous practice to presume by force to design the lives of other men, as all history has proved and will continue to prove.
“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, December 7, 1947, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, EST. Copyright 1947.
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December 07, 1947
Broadcast Number 0,955