An Equality Among All
"That there should be an equality among all men; That they should let no pride nor haughtiness disturb their peace; that every man should esteem his neighbor as himself, laboring with their own hands for their support." (Mosiah 27:3-4) Alma and Mosiah lived in a time of growing tension between different groups with opposing beliefs, to the point that there began to be a fraying of public discourse and civility. But they got together and came up with a road map to a more peaceful union between the opposing factions of their society and a path towards equality among all. The first step is to not allow pride nor haughtiness to disturb the peace. It takes humility and empathy to choose to not offend and to choose to not be offended. If we are cackling in glee when someone on the other side experiences misfortune, if we are going out of our way to misunderstand or misinterpret the words or actions of the other side so that we can be more outaged than we need to be, if we are hiding behind supposed virtues in order to provoke the other side, then we are allowing pride and haughtiness to disturb our peace. But if we choose to give someone the benefit of the doubt, if we accept that sometimes individuals fail to live up to their ideals and that often if offense was given then it was not intended, in short, if we hold each other to the same set of standards as we hold ourselves, then we can start to establish peace once more. But the final part of Alma and Mosiah's plan is that every person labor with their own hands. We can't wait for the government or the system or the church to help fix all of the problems facing our society. We've got to jump in with both feet and roll up our sleeves and go to work. Every time we personally have the opportunity to heal the peace or disturb the peace, if we choose to heal the peace, we can get more done moment by moment and person by person than a thousand laws and committees can hope to accomplish. If our society seems more divided and hostile than it used to be, then is is each of our individual responsibilities to do everything we can to fix it.
