After receiving the award, President Packer spoke of the freedoms the nation enjoys today freedoms that came at a price.
He reflected upon James Madison's record of the Constitutional Convention, referencing the weeks of time and effort that had been exhausted creating the U.S. Constitution allowing the freedoms enjoyed today.
He then told a story about the day that the men were individually signing the Constitution. During the convention, President George Washington was sitting in a high-back chair that had a picture of a rising sun on the back. Benjamin Franklin said that he had been looking at the sun all during the convention. He said he was never sure if it was a rising sun or a setting sun. But, as the men came forward one by one to sign the document, Franklin said that day he had the confidence to know it was a rising sun.
"Now 12 wars later and all that has gone on, that sun is now obscured," President Packer said. "We know that war can't destroy it, but if it is destroyed it will be from within. And now we face a danger greater than any of the wars we have faced. To honor the Constitution and to honor freedom is a sacred duty for all of us.
"I invoke the blessing on you who are doing this sacred work that you will keep it up, and that in due time the challenges that we face now from within can be conquered so that this nation may remain free."
Let me repeat what he said: "To honor the Constitution and to honor freedom is a sacred duty for all of us."
Oh, shut up President Packer, you're talking politics!
I don't have the time available to get "out there" and DO a lot of things outside the home cuz I'm raising little kids right now. But what I can do includes focusing more on this topic in our FHE's and what we read for fun and outings we take as a family to help educate my kids.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
"Focusing more on this topic in our FHE's and what we read for fun and outings we take as a family to help educate my kids" may well the best thing you can do at this time. It could well be their generation that will have to restore government in compliance with the Constitution. They may need to unlearn a lot of the misinformation and disinformation they will hear and read in school about the history and principles of constitutional government. I wish more parents would do the same.
Yeah, Coco, I think that's the way. Remember what it says in the book of mormon, that the word can have a greater effect than the sword.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Even though some of us are not politically active, we can "treasure up" words of wisdom by studying from the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers. Then when the moment arrives to stand up and speak out, we'll be prepared to speak by the power of the Spirit.