Toward Perfection

One of the most universal wishes of humanity is that humanity were somehow different. Even those we love sincerely, we love with an awareness of their faults. We yearn always for better things in others. We cherish and respect our neighbors and friends but wish that we did not see in them those human weaknesses which are common in greater or less degree in all other men, and to which we are blind, or partially so, in ourselves. In short, we wish that other men were different; but since they are as they are, we just accept them as they are and help them to become better than they are. Any movement, or any plan or purpose that does less than this, does not justify its own existence. The Savior Himself, when He walked the earth, did not expect perfection in men. He chose unlettered fishermen to be His apostles and helped them to broader vision and greater service. The first purpose of all human endeavor is to take men as they are and help them to become better. And whenever we lose sight of this reason for our existence, we shall be without a purpose worthy of perpetuation. In the wisdom of Providence, finding ourselves as we are, it is our opportunity continually to become better than we are. It is not enough just to be. We ought to be becoming better. If we are not improving, life has lost its most important purpose.