My Plea. To You, From Me.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." I am going to apologize in advance, this is kind of a deep post but it is something that I know I need to get out of my head or it will drive me crazy. I hope that this won't offend or hurt someone's feelings because I know that this is a subject that is close to the hearts of some of my friends that have had personal experience with a loved one, but my reason for sharing this is because I realize how hard that must be.

After hearing about a teenager in my mom's class that recently committed suicide, my heart and mind have been very burdened today. Someone once told me that if you say that you've never thought that suicide would be easier than living then you're lying but the fact of the matter is that it is not your place to decide when your life should end. Only Heavenly Father should have that power and we should not take that decision into our hands. Wow, huh. I hadn't ever thought about how close this was to people's minds. Maybe it's not to everyone. I sure hope not because I have decided that there are so many things that I am looking forward to in my life that I don't even think that the "easy" way out is going to solve a temporary problem. It won't solve any problems, in fact.

The reason for my post today is to propose something to each of you. When I was little, there was a kid that I grew up near that was always picked on. Even my friends were contributors to the mean words that were said to him and it was heart breaking. But I refused to participate. If someone said something mean to him, I would tell them to stop. If he was sitting alone, I would sit by him. If he walked past me, I said hi and smiled. Not a fake, "I feel bad for you" smile, but a real smile. The kind that told him that I wished everyone else would take the time to get to know him and love him. I really wished they would. I remember lying on a blanket in my backyard talking to my dad one day and he asked me, (i'll change the kid's name for my personal reasons) but my dad asked, "What kind of a kid is Pete?" I thought about it and told him about the kids that made fun of him and how they would torment him just to make him lash out on them and try to hit them. I told him that I wasn't mean, though. My dad looked at me and said, "Pete's dad was talking to me today and thanked me for raising you right. He told me that Pete said that you were the only friend he had."

I'm not saying that Pete was suicidal. I don't know if that is how he felt. I do know that I wasn't going to let anyone be mean to him. I wanted to make him feel loved and now I look back and realize that I made a difference in his life, even if it wasn't a big difference.

I would like to ask each of you to love someone deeply and truly. Smile at a stranger. Say hi to a person that walks by with their head down. Help someone that is carrying a table and chairs by themselves. Sit next to someone that is alone and learn something about them, maybe ask them about something they love. Don't say or think mean things about someone that is different, learn about why they are different and you might be surprised by how much you really have in common. Step out of your comfort zone and do something that you normally wouldn't. I beg you, make a difference in someone's life because that change may touch them more deeply than you realize. I love you all and I know that Heavenly Father loves each of you unconditionally. Now go and share that love with someone else.