“And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.” (Alma 17:11). The heroes that strike the deepest chord within us, the ones that give us hope and courage, the ones that inspire us to keep moving forward are the ones that suffered unimaginable torment and yet they did not give up. The heroes don't even have to emerge unscathed or to triumph in the end. What matters is that they do not give in to bitterness and resentment. They are patient in their long-suffering and in their afflictions and they show us the way. We stand tall and bear the burdens that are placed upon us because we saw our heroes stand even taller under even heavier burdens and they kept putting one foot in front of the other. We too can be someone else's heroes. We can show forth good examples to them by being patient and still putting one foot in front of the other when the burden gets too heavy to bear. It may not always make it easier, especially when our afflictions are extremely severe, but it can give our suffering a little more meaning by keeping an eye to the future and thinking about how those who come after us will look to our struggles and the way that we handled such hard times. Maybe they will draw courage and inspiration from our examples, just as we drew courage and inspiration from the heroes that came before us.
