Repetition

Perplexed parents frequently become weary with the number of times they have to remind their children of even the simplest precepts and precautions⎯and children sometimes impatiently reply: “We’ve heard all that before!” No doubt we could save our children many heartaches, many disappointments, and much lost time if they would only listen and learn. But discouraged parents have often despaired. With this in mind, we may well begin to appreciate something of the problems and the patience of the Father of us all, from whom, all down through the ages, has come a tireless repetition of eternal truths, notwithstanding which, his children continue to go their own way and continue to get into trouble. Prophets repeatedly have proclaimed the principles and the penalties, and their words repeatedly have been recorded for men to read and to remember. But notwithstanding the innumerable times that these timeless truths have been written and read and spoken and heard, and notwithstanding the penalties that have been paid, the children of every generation seem to insist upon learning some lessons the costly way. If we can remember when we were younger, we may remember that our own generation was somewhat the same; and we may remember that we ourselves didn’t always put all the good advice we got immediately into practice. (Nor do we yet.) But as to our children: As they grow up and take their places as parents, they begin to become concerned about their own children; they begin to know what it is that we have been trying so hard to say to them; and they begin to appreciate why. They begin to know that there are no new laws of sound and safe conduct in life. They have all been revealed and known and proved in the past. But still the process of repetition goes on⎯with impatient children protesting to parents that they have heard it all before⎯with impatient children protesting to parents that they have heard it all before⎯and with many of us needlessly paying a high price of lessons we might have learned sooner and easier and with less anguish, if we had been wise enough to heed what has happened in the past, and not so foolish as to suppose such things wouldn’t happen again under the same or similar circumstances.