THAT YE MAY LEARN TO BE MORE WISE

It was an exciting but frightening time when our young family decided we could no longer put off becoming a two car family. Taking into account our meager earnings we tried to move with prudence as we sallied forth to purchase a used car which would not damage our budget too severely.

Within a few weeks of acquiring this new burden or necessity, a sentiment which changed as often as the weather, we discovered that the fan on the heater didn’t work. This turned out to be a minor problem which was quickly remedied when we replaced a fuse which had been removed from the fuse box under the dashboard. As we turned on the fan which now operated with the fuse inserted, we were quickly made aware of the reason the fuse had been removed. We were greeted with a disturbing and obnoxious noise which brought discomfort to all who were in the car. The good news was that the noise didn’t last long, since the noisy, malfunctioning fan soon blew out the fuse.

We had bought the car during the warm summer months and the fan was placed as a low priority on our ‘fix-it’ list which was governed by the restraints of our limited budget. By the time winter arrived, our ‘fix-it’ budget was down to a zero, and we were unable to generate the funds from other areas which we thought would be sufficient to cover the cost of installing a new fan motor.

Two cold winters, a case of hypothermia and numerous stoppings in traffic to scrape windows later, it was finally decided that the suffering and dangers of driving a car without heat or defrost could no longer be tolerated. The new fan motor and labor for installation would be expensive but the price would be paid so that the auto might be made a more useful and comfortable conveyance for the family.

The next morning I took the car to the garage, completely consigned to the fate of replacing the heating fan motor. That evening when I picked up the car I was presented with the following bill:

One half hour labor @ $8.50
Flushing heater coil @ $8.50
Total $17.00

When I asked the mechanic what had been causing the noise and blowing the fuses, he handed me a chewed up pen that had dropped down the defrost vent and told me that it had caused the fan to stick and a ground wire had come loose from the fan motor.

My mind was filled with the remembrance of all those cold mornings of scraping windows inside and outside of the car, enduring the biting pain of cold hands, feet and noses, along with the wailing and suffering of murmuring family members.

We had suffered for three Donner Party winters when the solution was so simple and harmless and well within the capacity of our limited resources. We feared a Dragon where with a little more knowledge we would have known we were facing a mouse with an ego augmented roar.

Much like the 100% reliability of hindsight we gained with the noisy fan on our first second car, it is always easy to look back into history and make strange clucking sounds in reference to the decisions of our ancestors as we read of them suffering in ignorance when with just a little knowledge they could have avoided a great deal of pain.

Sailing voyages brought ravaging, bone-twisting death to thousands of ancient mariners. Ironically, many times the hulls of their ships were laden with foods rich in the very elements which would have stilled the destroyer tormenting their bodies.

Well-meaning families stuffed paper and cloth into cracks in their homes trapping the disease polluted air of death within their homes, literally turning their homes into tombs, in a misguided attempt to seal the plague winds out of the very rooms that were stifled with the trapped fumes of those dreaded diseases.

For centuries thousand had died from eating moldy foods, not possessing that small key of knowledge which would someday unlock the life-saving elements contained within the very substance which was often the cause of their death.

Viruses reigned for millennia, attacking silently and secretly until eventually it was discovered that the power of these minute killers could be greatly curbed by using them to destroy themselves, or when administered in small amounts could even build up immunities within in the very host bodies which they once destroyed.

It would probably be impossible, even in our computer aided day, to catalogue the accounts throughout man’s history which proclaim the endless suffering brought about because of universal ignorance and the fear that is generated when one is facing an unknown foe. It is easy and dangerous to become puffed up with the enlightenment of just a little knowledge as we view these events through a glass which is just a little clearer, thinking we have now learned the lesson and will never again fall prey to the destructive effect of short-sighted reactions.

One of the peculiar twists of our current generation which has produced a Dragon which breathes out ever increasing flames of death with each passing day, is that today, unlike our forefathers, we seem to have a propensity to bring upon ourselves suffering in spite of benefiting from the enlightenment of the ages.

Our knowledge of nutrition has magnified, yet fast ‘super-sized’ gluttony and malnutrition ravage our nation and spread their fast-food tentacles over an increasing portion of the planet.

As we become increasingly aware of the harmful effects the misuse of chemicals and substances has on our bodies and minds, the abusive use of drugs, additives, over the counter pills and prescriptions continues to accelerate.

The inhabitants of the earth have sat back and witnessed the throwing of rocks being replaced by the sling, the arrow and the bullet. In spite of each generation dreaming of a peaceful life, the stock-piles of weapons are stacked higher and higher with increasingly mega destructive armaments. Despite the volumes of history which have given evidence to the fact that peace does not come by superiority of arms we continue to increase our ability to administer suffering and pain.

Long ago the Book of Mormon prophet Moroni, who had witnessed the total destruction of his nation, mournfully wrote these words to a generation yet to be:
“Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfections, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.” Mormon 9:31