leadership – The Zion Chronicle

New Calling

The vast majority of those reading this probably already knew this, but I was recently called to be the Elder’s Quorum President in my ward. I’ve known for a couple of weeks as I had to have time to identify the rest of the presidency and get them called but I did not want to announce it here before it was official (which happened yesterday but I was slow to sit down to write about it) despite the fact that the chances of anyone within the ward reading this before it became public were extremely slim.

The day I was called was exceptionally exciting for me because I have so much respect for my stake president, President Taylor. To have the opportunity to sit with him and answer questions of worthiness and talk about spiritual things from the ward conference we had just had was thrilling. In the few minutes that we had before Laura joined the interview he learned that Laura had missed the stake conference where he was called as Stake President and President Eyring taught about the principle of gathering as well as missing the ward conference two weeks before our interview where President Taylor told of his experience when he was called and felt impressed that gathering was the message for our stake. When President Taylor learned that he volunteered to come to our house and teach our family personally that afternoon. We had been praying for President Taylor, Bishop Tueller, and the First Presidency and Apostles as a family ever since the ward conference (due to an impression I had felt at that meeting) and the children knew each of the people they were praying for except for President Taylor either because they had met them (Bishop) or through their pictures. They enjoyed meeting him so that they knew who they were praying for and Laura and I felt so much love as he taught us about gathering and actually gave us a copy of the talk he had been giving at ward conferences on the subject. What a great way to start our relationship with him as I will have more dealings with him through this calling than I could expect to have without it.

Anyway, I’m very excited to have this opportunity to serve. I have a great presidency with Wes Austin, Jon Nieman, and Alex Monson. Best of all I have an amazing quorum and get to work with a Bishop and Stake President that I really admire. Ever since I was first called I have begun to have greater feelings of respect and concern for the men in the quorum and I’m happy to be in a position where I will have the information which will enable me to reach out and help them in any way that they need it.

I was troubled as I read Scott’s post about some of the ridiculous side effects of Zero Tolerance Policies in schools. I thought that served as one more example of thing I would rather not have my kids learn by going to public schools. Luckily for me, my kids have not started school yet and we can be aware of this issue and make decisions accordingly. Little did I think that similar problems would hit closer to home when my workday ended.

After arriving home I learned that two of the boys I work with in scouts were spreading some very malicious and graphic rumors about my next door neighbor – who also happens to be our primary babysitter. If I did not know her I would wonder if the story was entirely accurate. What they said was so hurtful that she wishes she could avoid church, school, and anywhere else that she might run into them.

I have known that one of these two boys has a tendency to pick on people around him but this was worse than I would have expected. The other boy is a bit younger, and was probably following where his friend led. I now wonder what I can or should do about this – besides making sure that the parents of these boys are told. I ask this from the perspective of wanting my neighbor to feel safe in her own neighborhood (not that they were making threats, but emotionally safe) and also what I can do as a scout leader to make sure the boys understand that this behavior is totally inappropriate.

I recognize that there is a certain element of “boys will be boys” to this, but the thing I have come to understand about that phrase is that it is no excuse for bad behavior. What it should mean is that we recognize that young people will make mistakes – that’s part of growing up through our teenage years – and that we should not give up on them when they do stupid things like this. What kind of leadership do we demonstrate if we do not take an active part in condemning their actions and expecting them to do better in the future?