In a letter last week to the editor of the Daily Universe (BYU's Student Newspaper) a student wrote the following:
Wed 03/17/2010
Sadly, I was unable to attend this Tuesday’s devotional (for very personal reasons). I am a regular attendee of Tuesday devotionals and forums and was horrified to discover I am part of a startlingly small minority of students that actually attend, even though a healthy majority patently should. When I had to miss last Tuesday’s devotional, I happened to be passing through the library where I observed literally hordes of students busily placing academic duties above religious ones. What’s worse, I observed many students simply napping, playing games or checking Facebook. To place school over spirituality is bad enough, but to bypass a weekly walk down the straight and narrow for an idle stroll though Babylon is an abhorrent waste of the tithing dollars used to subsidize the tuition of transgressors. A call to action is in order.
To devotional goers: Be aware! As a proportion of the studentbody, there are less of us than you probably assume. Encourage those around you to stand a little taller. We are our brother’s keepers.
To devotional sluffers: Be advised! Tuesday morning complacency is a recipe for disaster.
To the administration: Be aggressive! Stand up to this deplorable development by proactively taking measures to stem its source. Close the library for the devotional hour, or at least power down all the computers.
We can be better, BYU. And we would already know that if we were all in the Marriott Center every Tuesday.
Brett Myers
Orland, Calif.
I loved it! So much so that I sent in a response. Here it is, I will post a link to the published letter if and when it gets published.
Letter: Mind Your Own Business
In response to “
Unrighteous Hordes”: It is fitting that you should throw the first stone, seeing as you are a “regular attendee of Tuesday devotionals.” Pray tell, what were the “very personal” reasons you referenced in your letter? If I am to be your keeper, as you propose, then I will decide if your absenteeism was warranted or not.
Nevertheless, as one of the healthy majority of subsidized transgressors, I’m grateful for saints like yourself who descend from the realms of perfection to pass through the library of sin and affliction.
It’s people like you, who faithfully warn of the woes of devotional delinquency, that keep people like me on the straight and narrow. May we always revere those who make our business theirs for the sake of righteousness.
Ahem. Excuse me. I couldn’t quite tell if your letter was sarcastic. Is mine a little more clear?
From the words of an early Mormon creed, “Mind your own business.”
Nicholas Herrick
Linville, Virginia
2 comments:
Best. Response. EVER!!!!! I, too, am a member of the unrighteous hordes--and I'm absolutely proud of it.
The thing that SHOULD be stopped is the teachers who give me homework at 10:30 and tell me it's due by noon on Tuesdays. Like my terrible science teacher.
Actually, I thought that by signing a legal document to uphold the honor code with "Participate regularly in church services" as a requirement meant we should be going to devotionals.
By the way, a meeting to which you are invited to go by your presiding authority is a church service.
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