And teasing Ardis about a comment she made on another blog might be bad form, but it was such an amazing comment… (Rootbeer floats, anyone?)

In the meantime, thanks for your examples. I’m teaching Relief Society this morning, based on Elder Hales’ talk on “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship.” Following on the heels of last Sunday’s lesson on persecution, it would be easy to let this drift into a feel-good discussion of how bad things happen to us because we’re so good, when in fact we can to some degree control the bad things that happen to us by the way we respond to other people, and that part of the price of discipleship is concern for others and responding with less interest in self-vindication and more interest in taking the harder, better way. Not that I always/often succeed in that, especially in the bloggernacle, but it’s what good leaders teach.

In regards to the point about following good leadership, I’ve been reading John A Peterson’s book Utah’s Black Hawk Indian War. The theme is not as clear as in his thesis, but it is still quite clear that the towns that did not obey Brigham Young’s directions to leave their settlements and move to areas with larger populations and fortifications were the ones to suffer some of the greatest depredations. This is just one facet of the war, and very much a simplification of all the factors involved, but if the Saints had followed Young’s directions and the principles of Christian charity, the hardships could have been much greater or nonexistent.

For years I’ve been telling my children if they’re disobedient, that’s when most accidents happen. (“If you’re disobedient, you get hurt,” and they know that’s an explanation of how the world works and not a threat.) I find time after time that it is true. Sometimes accidents and bad situations just happen, but many accidents and injuries are avoidable by following the instructions of their parents.