Youth—and the Shifting Uncertainties – Sunday, September 23, 1951
There is another phase of this question of saving and conserving the seed, and of being prepared to face the future—a question which in its ultimate implications has to do with adults as well as with youth. If we would fortify ourselves for the future as well as meeting matters of the moment, we must learn to deal with young people so as not to keep them constantly in a state of ever—shifting uncertainty.
If the prospects were to change from day to day, if the scenes should shift too frequently, if uncertainty should become chronic and capricious, it could conceivably produce a footloose generation—a generation lacking the confidence and incentive to prepare for the future.
There is a limit to the number of times that a tender plant can be disturbed without losing strength and growth and stability, when a plant—or a person—has been uprooted too many times, it isn’t easy to take firm root again. And if we aren’t far-seeing in this particular problem, there is always present the possibility of destroying the seed of one of our greatest resources—the seed that would produce a perpetual harvest of competent, solid, resourceful, prepared people.
The past has proved that cutting down the forest without replanting impoverishes the future. (To depart from the previous figure for a moment, a team can be confused and demoralized by shifting the plans and the plays too frequently.) We may not match others in manpower, but we may more match them in skill and competence and technical training and in resourcefulness in meeting emergencies—and we must see that it is so, not only now, but a decade from now, a generation from now.
We are not living in a settled time, but even in an unsettled time, there must be serious consideration for the future as well as for meeting matters of the moment. And youth must be encouraged to continue with calm purpose—and not be frustrated by the shifting uncertainties. We must conserve and save our material and mental and moral and spiritual resources and keep strong and prepared for the future by helping each generation to grow up with its roots down deep.
“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 23, 1951, 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., Eastern Time, Copyright, 1951
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September 23, 1951
Broadcast Number 1,153