Standing for Something - Gordon B. Hinckley (5 of 5 Virtues)

This is an absolutely amazing book. As wonderful as President Monson is, I really miss President Hinckley right now. He was a fantastic writer. But of course, that assessment is probably biased. He studied English at the University of Utah...like me. Granted, things have changed a bit at our university since then. Nevertheless, I feel a special kinship with him.

It was an interesting experiment to juxtapose the words of a potential US president to the words of the president of the Church. Throughout Obama's book I always felt myself wondering what was genuine and what was merely rhetoric. His book is all about persuasion. President Hinckley's novel has nothing of the sort. His words do not waver in any way. He is not all concerned about impressing his audience. There are no frills. The personal stories that President Hinckley uses illustrate concepts. They are not meant to manipulate the emotions of the reader. One cannot help but sense the irrefutable truth of President Hinckley's words.

The ten (twelve) neglected virtues are: love, honesty, morality, civility, learning, forgiveness and mercy, thrift and industry, gratitude, optimism, and faith. He finishes the book by presenting ways that society can recover from its current problems. We shouldn't be surprised that the bulk of these suggestions refer to changes that begin in the home. The failure or success of this nation rests solely on the family. A bright future for this country depends on mutual respect, loyalty, "the soft answer," financial honesty and prayer.

There is such hope in his words. You can't help but want to be better after reading this book. Don't read it just once. It was meant to be studied in depth again and again.