Tammy's comment on the previous post was about a part that also caught my eye. I will address it when I get to that part of the book again. Tammy, what you said was so much my thoughts, too.
On p. 29 Grandpa discusses how we justify our thoughts and actions and how we can be right and still wrong. "There are ways to be right on the surface and entirely mistaken beneath. That was what the Savior announced to the world. 'The law, alone, cannot save you', he said. "I require the heart." He reserved his most blistering criticism for the most outwardly correct people of the day, the Pharisees, whom he accused of being 'whited sepulchres'--beautiful, law-abiding, 'in the right' on the outside, yet entirely corrupt within." How many times do we say something to be right but still harbor feelings inside? How many times do we not notice our true thoughts?
And then Grandpa talked about the time he spent away from his brother because of poor feelings toward him. He said he was wrong in his war toward his brother: "My parents did not bequeath me a warring heart. I took that upon myself."
Grandpa teaches Ricky about how/why we mistreat others:"I know Carol has mistreated you. That's what we do to each other--all of us--we mistreat each other, and especially those we live with, for we have more opportunities to mistreat them than anyone else." And I want to add that we mistreat those we should love. Althought it is true we all do it to each other, it is sad if we can't find a way to stop. That is why we were sent to earth, to learn to love each other.
Grandpa goes on to say the quote I have at the top of this blog, my new outlook: "Ricky, I'm going to suggest something to you that you probably have never thought of and will want to resist, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's the truth. Here it is: Being mistreated is the most important condition of mortality, for eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us."
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