“People say, “You should be true to your beliefs.” While that is true, you cannot be better than what you know. Most of us act based on our beliefs, especially what we believe to be in our self-interest. The problem is, we are sometimes wrong. // When we act badly, we may think we are bad, when in truth we are just wrong. The challenge is not so much closing the gap between our actions and our beliefs; rather, the challenge is closing the gap between our beliefs and the truth.” ~Lawrence E. Corbridge [1]
I’d like to amend ever so slightly Elder Corbridge’s words of wisdom: He said, “When we act badly, we may think we are bad, when in truth we are just wrong”, which rings beautifully true to me. My modification just expands the principle a bit to include relationships as well:
“When [others] act badly, we may think [they] are bad, when in truth [they] are are just wrong.”
I’m sitting here looking out at a beautiful, clear sky through my beautiful, clear windows. NEW windows. BRAND new windows. For fifteen years I’ve been looking out of cloudy, decades-old windows full of cross-patterned panes that obstructed my view.
And when I stood close to one of our old, outdated windows, the cold or hot air from the outside was palpable. Glass, frame, and seal had gone askew. The contrast to my new energy-efficient windows makes me wonder:
- Could it be that my political view, like my old windows, has gone askew? In the extremes of a culture war for the last several years, it wouldn’t be hard. We’ve all been stressed and strained by a modern world that is overflowing with new problems and dilemmas and circumstances that no generation before us has faced in this way.
- Could it be that the windows which have served me for decades are worn out? Do they no longer apply? Are they obscuring my view more than enhancing it?
The window-self-examination is a healthy exercise for any of us because otherwise we may be prone to the kind of “gaps” Elder Corbridge referred to, gaps that will lead us to believe in and promote only what is in our self-interest and to treat others who appear to be working against US (because it’s now personal) as BAD.
— Gaps in knowledge and understanding of what other Americans face or are dealing with in a complex, modern world may dangerously combine with…
— “gaps” in knowledge and understanding of what government faces or deals with in attempting to serve ALL of those Americans in the complex, modern world,
— SO THAT before you know it, we are at war. With each other. Over windows. My interest vs. yours. I’m good. You’re bad.
Wouldn’t we rather understand one another and work together to install clear, energy-efficient windows we can see through from both sides?
Did I tell you I LOVE our new windows?
[1] BYU Speeches: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lawrence-e-corbridge/stand-for-ever/