Gordon B.
Hinckley, “The Quest for
Excellence,” Liahona, Sept. 1999, 3
I first read the following words 67 years ago in a college English class: “What
a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form
and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in
apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!”
(Hamlet, act 2, scene 2, lines 303-7).
I recognize that these words of Hamlet were spoken in irony. And yet there
is so much of truth in them. They describe the great potential excellence of men and
women. If Shakespeare had written nothing else, I think he would have been
remembered for these few words of soliloquy. They go hand in hand with these
words of David:
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the
stars, which thou hast ordained;
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him?
“For
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with
glory and honour” (Ps. 8:3-5).
They also go with the words of the Lord to Job when He spoke out of the
whirlwind:
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou
hast understanding. …
“When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?” (Job
38:4, 7).
These magnificent words declare the wonder of man. And when I speak of man,
I of course speak also of woman. We are all children of God, and there is
something of His divinity within each of us. We are more than a son or daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So who reside in such-and-such a place. We are of the
family of God, with such a tremendous potential for excellence. The
distance between mediocrity and excellence can be ever so small. As we
shall see again when the Winter Olympics come to
I heard one of my brethren tell of a recent visit he made to a prison. There
he noticed a young man, handsome in appearance and intelligent in his ways.
My brother said to the prison official, “What is that young man doing in
here?”
The reply was that one evening he had taken his mother’s car, had obtained
some beer and drunk it, and then, out of control of himself, he drove the car
down the sidewalk and killed two girls.
I do not know how long he will be in prison, but I do know that he will
never entirely get over his feelings concerning the act that put him there. On
such small hinges turn the gates of our lives. Little mistakes, which seem so
unimportant in their beginnings, determine the eternal courses we follow.
I want to invite us all to walk a higher road of excellence. Recently
I picked up an old book and read Lytton Strachey’s Life of
She was born to the upper class, to party and to dance, to go to the races
and look pretty in society. But she would have none of it. Even her parents
could not understand her. Her great overwhelming desire was to alleviate pain
and suffering, to hasten healing, to make less dreadful the hospitals of the
day. She never married. She devoted herself to nursing and became expert
according to the training then available.
The picture that greeted her here was one of absolute despair. An old
warehouse served as a hospital. The sanitary conditions were terrible. The
cooking facilities were terrible. Wounded men were crowded in great rooms that
reeked of foul odors and were filled with the cries of the suffering.
This frail young woman, with those she had recruited to go with her, set to
work. They beat down the walls of bureaucracy. They beat on the heads of the
bureaucrats. I quote from Mr. Strachey: “For those who watched
her at work among the sick, moving day and night from bed to bed, with that
unflinching courage, with the indefatigable vigilance, it seems as if the
concentrated force of an undivided and unparalleled devotion could hardly
suffice for that first portion of her task alone. Wherever, in those vast
wards suffering was at its worst and the need for help was
greatest, there, as if by magic, was Miss Nightingale.”
The beds that held the suffering men stretched over six kilometers, with
barely space between each bed to walk. But somehow, within a period of six
months, “the confusion and the pressure in the wards had come to an end; order
reigned in them, and cleanliness; the supplies were bountiful and prompt;
important sanitary works had been carried out. One simple comparison of figures
was enough to reveal the extraordinary change: the rate of mortality among the
cases treated had fallen from 42 percent to 22 per thousand” (Life of
Florence Nightingale [1934], 1186).
She had brought to pass an absolute miracle. Lives by the thousands were
saved. Suffering was mitigated. Cheer and warmth and light came into the lives
of men who otherwise would have died in that dark and dreadful place.
The war ended. She might have gone back to London a heroine. The public
press had sung her praise. Her name was familiar to everyone. But she returned
incognito to escape the adulation she might have received.
She continued her work for another 50 years, changing the hospitals
both military and civilian. She died at an advanced age, bedridden for
a good while, but still improving the circumstances of those who suffer.
Perhaps no other woman in the history of the world has done so much to
reduce human misery as this lady with the lamp, who walked through the vast
wards of Scutari in the middle of the 19th century, spreading cheer and
comfort, faith and hope to those who writhed in pain. Her life was a life of excellence.
My wife likes to tell the story of a friend of hers who, when she was a
little girl, was left an orphan. She scarcely knew her mother. As she grew, she
wondered about her mother: what kind of a girl, what kind of a woman was she?
One day she came across her mother’s old report card. The teacher had noted
on that card, “This student is excellent in every way.”
When she read that, her entire life changed. She recognized that her mother
was a woman of excellence. Her whole attitude changed. She took on the aura of excellence
herself and became a remarkable woman in her own right. She married a man who
is recognized in many communities, and their children have distinguished
themselves for their excellence.
I speak of the need for a little more effort, a little more
self-discipline, a little more consecrated effort in the direction of excellence
in our lives.
This is the great day of decision for each of us. For
many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you
live. I plead with you: don’t be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual,
mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a
genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than
we are now doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now
felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don’t muff
your opportunities. Be excellent.
Those of you who are not married are hoping to find a companion, among other
things. I could wish for you nothing better than a good marriage,
a happy marriage, a marriage fruitful in the sweet and satisfying things of
life. Your marriage will not be excellent if it is marred with argument, if it
is filled with disrespect one for another, if there is any lack of loyalty
or devotion to one another. Cherish your spouse as the greatest possession of
your life and treat him or her accordingly. Make it your constant goal to add
to the happiness and comfort for your companion. Never permit yourself to
let down in your affection, or your respect, or your faith in one another. Be
excellent in every way.
You will find your greatest example in the Son of God. I hope that each of
you will make Him your friend. I hope you will strive to walk in His paths,
extending mercy, blessing those who struggle, living with less selfishness,
reaching out to others.
He is the greatest example of excellence in all the world. He
condescended to come to earth under the most humble of circumstances. He grew
up as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He struggled with the adversary on the
Mount of Temptation. He came forth resplendent and beautiful and magnificent to
teach the world. During His brief ministry, He brought more of truth, more of
hope, more of mercy, more of love than anyone else who has walked the earth. He
died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. He arose the third day, “the
firstfruits of them that slept” (1
Cor. 15:20), bringing the promise of resurrection to
all mankind and the hope of exaltation to all who would walk in obedience to
His teachings. He was the great paragon of righteousness, the only perfect man
ever to walk the earth. His was the wondrous example toward whom each of us
might point our lives in our eternal quest for
excellence.
The prophet Moroni declared, “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a
more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). You have the
witness of that faith. You have the testimony of that faith. You have the
example of that faith. Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little
higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You
will know a new satisfaction, a new gladness in your heart.
Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect” (Matt.
5:48). That is the great crowning example of excellence.
May each of us have a rich and wonderful life moving in that direction. We will
not become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in
a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses
and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives.
“Look to God and live” (Alma
37:47). Kneel before Him in supplication. He will help
you. He will bless you. He will comfort and sustain you. There will be
progress. There will be growth. There will be improvement. And there will be
much of added happiness.
If there has been failure in the past, if there has been sin, if there has
been indolence, they may all be overcome.
Tremendous is your opportunity to reach beyond the hoped-for goal of wealth
and worldly success, though that may have some modest importance, to build and
strengthen others, to relieve suffering, to aid in making the world a better
place, to pick up and carry the lantern of Florence Nightingale in walking
through the pain-ridden wards of the world.
It was said of the Master that He “went about doing good” (Acts
10:38). In that process He became the epitome of
perfection.
May the Lord bless each of us as we walk the path to perfection that the
Lord has asked us to walk—with hope, with faith, and with that charity which
“is the pure love of Christ” (Moro.
7:47).
Gospel topics: charity, excellence, goals, marriage, plan of salvation, spirituality
Ideas for Home Teachers
1. Each of us is of the family of God, with tremendous potential for
excellence.
2. We are invited to expend a little more effort and a little more
self-discipline and to walk a higher road of excellence.
3. Florence Nightingale is an example of one who sought excellence.
4. For each of us, this is a great day of decision. Let us rise to
the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence.
5. Our greatest example of excellence is found in the Son of God.
6. In our efforts to improve, let us kneel before God in supplication. He
will help and sustain us.
[illustration] Jesus
Healing the Sick, by Gustave Doré, electronically enhanced
[illustration]
Illustrated by Keith Larson
[illustration] The
[photo] Portrait of
[illustration] Christ
and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann
[illustration] Detail
from Ye Shall Have My Words, by Judith Mehr
© 2003 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All
rights reserved.