Bill Clinton vs. Joseph Smith

I used to love Joseph Smith. I thought he was the greatest prophet since Jesus H. Christ. Then I found out how dishonest he was and how that got him killled. I used to hate Bill Clinton. Then I learned about the good things he did as president and in spite of his extramarital activities I came to respect him as a leader while I don’t admire how he treats women. Most Mormons love Joseph Smith and hate Bill Clinton. The irony is that they hate Bill for the same reasons most non-Mormons are wary of Smith. As the USA presidential election gets closer and Bill has a good chance of returning to the white house as first lady, I wondered: what do Bill and Joseph have in common? What makes them different?

Of course, both men had problems with women. Joe had his heart set on being married to as many women as possible. While it’s impossible to prove for sure how many women Joe slept with, it’s clear that his belief in polygamy as celestial law became a wedge in many a marriage in Zion. Maybe god wanted Joe to keep Joe’s marriages to other women secret from their husbands and from his own wife, Emma. Maybe god wanted everyone to lie to keep the sacred doctrine of polygamy a secret. If that’s the case, I can’t understand why the church has essentially disavowed the doctrine of polygamy today. Although a Mormon man can be married to more than one woman (for instance, Mormon apostle Dallin Oaks has married more than one woman in the temple, but only married his second wife after his first wife died) Mormons cannot have more than one living wife at a time without risking church discipline. Maybe faithful Mormons should just marry their second and third wives secretly like Joseph did. And if they do it Joe’s way then they could even be married to women who are already married another man- as long as it’s god’s will then it is O.K. to do it, even if she’s underage.

As for Bill, his extramarital activities were never justified in the name of dogma. Bill just couldn’t keep it in his pants. And Hillary seems to have put up with it all in the name of the greater good. Although former president Clinton had plenty of women besides Hillary, Bill never claimed a prophetic mantle or divine mandate. And eventually Bill came clean about what he had done, but probably only because he could no longer deny what could be proven independently. Joe never came clean (at least not publicly) about his other relationships, but I guess that’s Lying for the Lord at its best. Of course, when politicians lie it’s bad. But when god tells his prophet to lie then it is good. In fact, it would be sinful to not lie when god wants you to do it! The world at large just wasn’t ready to receive some of god’s most precious truths so Joe had to share them only with the chosen few. And now it seems the world is so hard-hearted that god has essentially removed his doctrine of polygamy from the earth, only to be restored in the resurrection.

I feel bad for Emma and for Hillary. Each of them lost her husband in different ways. At the same time, each of them made the most of a bad situation and, I think, became stronger as the result of marital strife. I wouldn’t trust Joe or Bill to be anywhere near my wife or daughter and I think it’s entirely possible to be an adulterer and still accomplish great things. I think Bill Clinton was in some ways, a great president. I think Joseph Smith was legitimately committed to community and was a visionary whose efforts laid the foundation to settle the West. I think both of them loved the attention that comes with being in a position of prominence and power. And I think that Joe couldn’t resist the high that came attached to being a Mormon prophet. In that way, former president Clinton is no different. I think that men (and women) sometimes justify misdeeds because they’ve “earned it”. After years of public service, why shouldn’t consenting adults be able to enjoy whatever relationship might come his or her way? Sometimes I think that infidelity might be a coping mechanism for the stress that invariably attends public service. It doesn’t make it right, but we are all human beings after all. And maybe, just maybe, all those women threw themselves at Bill and Joe and not the other way around. Maybe.

 

Recycling My Mission Papers – One Eternal Round

Today I went through every letter I ever sent my parents while I was a missionary. It wasn’t for nostalgia’s sake that I pulled them out, though. My ulterior motive was two-fold: I ran out of printer paper and I needed an empty binder for school. Now I have a two-year supply of paper that is blank on one side = great for printing sheet music and other needs that may arise. Despite my motive, perusing those letters aroused my nostalgia nonetheless. I’m actually a junky for nostalgia. Always have been. If I spent as much time living in the present as I did recalling the past, I might actually someday be successful or something like that. I’ve also been thinking about my mission recently because I’m at the halfway point in professional school. Whereas Mormon missionaries hit their halfway point after one year, I still have two years left of professional school = one Mormon mission worth of schooling before I get my degree. Looking over those letters, I tried to see if I could learn anything or at least remember something I had learned from my mission to help me suffer through school. In some ways, the mission was the easiest thing I had ever done in my life up to that point. In other ways, it was also the hardest and most demanding. But it was simple, and by small and simple things I had joy every day of my mission. Plenty of missionaries are miserable during their two years of service to the Lord. Sometimes I feel that way at school, and I wonder how I ever could have made it through two years of missionary service if I didn’t really want to be there. As a missionary, I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and exactly what I thought I should be doing, which made my commitment a no-brainer. But as an adult with responsibility and no guarantees for the outcome of any of my choices, it’s easy to question everything I do at every moment of every day. Are there any lessons from my mission that can apply to help me finish professional school?

First of all, I chose to serve a mission for the LDS church. I also chose to attend dental school. Ironically enough, going to dental school wass a decision I made on the last day of the mission while talking with one of my buddies who was also returning home. In both cases, remembering the investment I have made in my decisions helps me to justify the cost every day that I pull myself out of my warm bed to do a lot of things that aren’t necessarily fun or pleasant. Nobody else can claim responsibility for the choices I make so it’s my job to live with those choices or choose something else!

Second, I was successful as a missionary because I did my very best. I studied, planned and worked hard every day of my mission. I think I’ve been doing something like that for the last two years of school (if not, at least it’s been successful for me until now!) and I suppose that continuing that pattern will see me through. If I can look back on every day of school and say that I did my best from start to finish then regardless of the outcome, I think I can call that success. It’s a little easier in church matters since you have the guarantee of divine intervention and such; In the case of the secular professional, I’ll have to count on Lady Luck. Maybe a safer and more reliable safety net would be study and practice, using caution and weighing the odds.

Third, I enjoyed my mission because it was centered around people. More than ever, my professional education is focused on people. Not only do I spend part of every day treating patients, but I have to collaborate with my colleagues in order to render that treatment. As a missionary, I relied on spiritual beings and spiritual powers to see me through. It’s time for me to really count on other people and share my problems with them. Everyone at school is fighting the same fight as I do, and inviting them to participate in my education can only help (with the rare exception of the grumpy professor who expects you to remember every single word he ever said in lecture). Self-reliance is good, but it’s just as important to recognize one’s limitations and reach out for help when necessary.

I know that I don’t have god or a holy spirit to help me out anymore. I don’t have magical books of scripture that contain all the answers. But I do have teachers, friends, excellent textbooks and references that can help me figure out what I’m doing every day. I hope that drawing upon my experience from nearly three decades on planet earth can help me find my way towards becoming a professional and learning everything I need to be successful in my field. To quote the LDS missionary guide, Preach My Gospel: “When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.” So eliminating the Lord and his Holy Ghost, my takeaway is this: when I do my best, I might experience mishaps, but I can feel good about my efforts and do better next time. Perhaps that’s not as comforting as the promises to the faithful, but plenty of people made it through professional school before I did. And somebody along the line thought I was a good candidate for this. While I don’t believe in much, I think that now, more than ever, I need to believe in myself. That can’t be too hard, now, can it?