Moral Tales

Have I told you about my friend? He worked in several important positions in the Church and around Salt Lake City; a very ambitious man. He told me once that when he graduated from college, he wanted to change the world. After a few years, he realized that he couldn’t change the world, and instead he would just change the country. He would focus on our country and change it. But then after several years passed, it became clear that he couldn’t change the country, so he decided to change his family. But soon he realized that he couldn’t control his kids, so he decided to work on changing his wife. It was soon clear that he couldn’t change his wife either, so he finally decided to settle on changing himself.

Once I worked with a prominent banker from the Northeast. He had been a banker most of his life, and when he retired he got really depressed and that’s why he came to talk to me. He told me how people used to look up to him and come to him for money and business and now that he no longer had his job, he was worth nothing. No one thought he was important anymore. He had made his career the only part of his self-worth and when he had to retire he was left without anything else.

Have I told you about what I learned from my dad? My dad did carpentry work for the President of Zion Savings Bank. One day he came home and told my mother about meeting with the bank president and my mom says, “I hope not in those dirty old carpenter’s overalls!” And he replied, “What’s wrong with that.” For my dad it didn’t make any difference whether he was talking with the bank president or the janitor. He basically treated them as if they were all the same. Talked to them the same and didn’t change the way he acted if a person was important or not. I’ve always tried to be like that too.

I worked for my Dad, doing carpentry work in my teens and early twenties. My Dad had a short fuse during those years. One time he told me to go down to the basement to clean out the boards and cement sacks. I was throwing them out okay, one at a time, but my Dad didn’t have any patience with me. I was too slow. So he came down and started throwing things out one after another and showed me how I should be working. One of the older employees, Dick Gambling, an Englishman, didn’t know what my dad was doing. He was working on the sub floor, didn’t see the boards and my dad hit him in the head with a board. You can overreact emotionally and there are almost always negative consequences to overreaction.

Did I tell you my fish story and lesson in honesty? I have always loved to fish for trout. One day I was walking up City Creek watching the fish feeding in the quiet pools in the stream. City Creek is a small stream located approximately one mile from my home. The stream was closed to all fishing. I had no intention of fishing in the creek but enjoyed a summer day in the canyon. Then it happened. I looked down and saw a large trout swimming in a big pool. My enthusiasm overcame my good judgment. I jumped into the pool with all my clothes on. Luck was with me. I caught the fish, put it in my back pocket and started walking down the road. The fish was still flopping in my pocket when a Salk Lake Water Department truck pulled up along the side of me. “Where did you get that fish? It is illegal to fish in this stream.” My response was “some guy gave it to me.” The man took my fish, threw it back in the water (it lived) and then listened to my story about the man who gave me the fish and then took off over the mountain. Here I was, wet from head to toe, denying that I caught the fish. “Let’s go find the man who gave you the fish and proceeded to hike over the hills for several hours. Eventually we returned to City Creek. He knew I was not telling the truth but simply said “Don’t you ever catch fish where it is not legal to do so.” I had learned my lesson by hiking the hills until I was exhausted. This was the first and last time I caught fish illegally.

Well, I’ve learned that I’ve done some good things in my life. And I’ve done some bad things in my life, oh nothing too bad. And when I was younger I used to think that deep down everyone was good. And then later I thought that deep down everyone was bad. And now, for a good many years now, I think everyone is good and bad. I’ve thought that for many years now. People aren’t angels.