Standing for Right

Whether you are LDS or not, this is a profound example of standing up for what's right which we want to teach our Esperanza scholars to do.  This is why Service Learning (Social Action)/Character Education/Civics is a part of Esperanza. 

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  Edmund Burke

Painting from the Art Studio of Rose Datoc Dall's photo


One night the men had been kept awake by the guards, who were vulgarly boasting about their cruel acts of violence against the Saints. It was midnight, and the imprisoned men had been listening to the guards’ filthy language for hours. Unwilling to tolerate the abusive language any longer, the Prophet Joseph rose to his feet and with a voice of thunder rebuked the guards and commanded them to be silent. Parley P. Pratt later wrote, “Dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.”

The Size of the Army

I listened this morning to the BYU Devotional Speech that Dallan Moody gave on March 6, 2012.  He mentioned the following quote by Joseph Smith, Jr.:

“Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top.”   

He also shared the following Bible story:

 Gideon sent messengers through all the land to tell the men to come and join his army and fight against the Midianites. A great number came. Then the Lord told Gideon that he had  too many men. More than two thirds of his soldiers left the camp and returned to their homes. Instead of 32,000 men he now had only 10,000. The Lord told him, “Gideon, you still have too many men."  After a special test at who lapped the water Gideon was left with 300 men.  With only this very small army of 300 men Gideon was able to conquer the Midianites. 

This quote and story touched me.  No matter how dark things may become at times as we found Esperanza we must not let discouragement overtake us.  Also, we can achieve our goals with a committed "army" no matter how small that army may be. 

"Decision of Character"

“All difficulties which might and would cross our way must be surmounted. Though the soul be tried, the heart faint, and the hands hang down, we must not retrace our steps; there must be decision of character.”  Joseph Smith

What does it mean to have “decision of character” when facing difficulties?

I really liked this quote.  It would be great if all of us associated with Esperanza--educators, scholars, Board members, etc. learned to make decisions of character.