The Freedoms Foundation was founded in 1949 to teach people the principles of democracy. Although centered at Valley Forge, PA, they have chapters around the nation. Thomas S. Monson was a member of their board of directors from 1974-1978 and then served several years as a member of their National Council of Trustees.

William O. Perry, chairman of their national Board of Directors noted that President Monson continues to support the mission of the organization. He also recognized President Monson’s status as a veteran at the conclusion of World War II, where he served in the Navy at age eighteen. In addition, Perry drew attention to President Monson’s extensive history of service to those who are poor and in need, and particularly his concern for widows.

During a Christmas devotional in 2000, President Monson offered these thoughts on freedom:

How thankful I feel for political freedom enjoyed by most of our people throughout the world. As we look across the vast expanse of human history, how thankful we feel for the right to worship as we please, to assemble together without fear of oppression, to lift our voices in prayer to the God of the universe, to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

The precious boon of human liberty is really the product of the Savior’s teaching of the dignity of man. He declared the precious nature of every individual soul. We say with the Psalmist, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12).

I believe that human freedom and human liberty are the marvelous fruits of the doctrine of the Christ. Said Paul to the Corinthians, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). (See First Presidency Christmas Devotional: “My Redeemer Lives,” Thomas S. Monson, December 2000.)

Read more about Thomas S. Monson’s military service.

Terrie Lynn Bittner

The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.

It had been a long time since I had heard people speak proudly in public about God and our relationship to Him, both individually and as a country. Yet, for the weeks and months following the attack, people came together in a profound and touching way. We remembered God. We remembered all He has given us, the protection that He had offered so many times, the strength He continued to offer. We found comfort in Him and in each other.

After a few months, though, that reflection and power seemed to fade. President Thomas S. Monson was asked to write a piece for the Washington Post blog “On Faith” for the tenth anniversary of that fateful day. He shared some thoughts that reminded us that God is always there, even when we don’t call on Him. We should call on Him more, in the good times as well as the bad. He remarked on the country’s behavior after 9/11:

“There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.”

This time served to remind us how much strength we have when we lean on our Father in Heaven. However, President Monson also noticed how quickly we seemed to forget, “Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.”

The counsel that a living prophet of God gives us is to draw near to God now and always: “The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly ‘need Him every hour,’ not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.”

I draw a great deal of comfort from knowing that we have a living prophet of God who offers us counsel and encouragement. I also am comforted to know that God is unwavering in His love for me and in His constancy. He will always be there for all of us to lean on, and can bless our lives so much more if we are willing to allow Him in for our joys and sorrows alike.

President Monson often offers analogies to help listeners understand his message. In this address, he used the analogy of a bridge to suggest the bridges the graduates will have to cross in their paths to successful lives. He based this analogy on a poem called The Bridgebuilder, by Will Allen Dromgoole. President Monson is well-read and is known for his ability to have a poem or literary quote for any occasion. This poem tells of an elderly man crossing a deep and wide chasm. When he makes the challenging journey across the chasm, he stops and builds a bridge behind him. Someone asks him why he is bothering since his journey is nearly over and he won’t need to cross that chasm again. He explains that a young person will be crossing this chasm soon and while he managed the chasm successfully, it might turn out to be a pitfall to the young person crossing in dim light. He is building the bridge for that person. Thomas Monson offers three bridges of his own to help the young people to whom he is speaking.

The first bridge he offered was that of attitude.

Said American psychologist and philosopher William James, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that men can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind.”

Attitude can make all the difference in our lives, and we control our attitude. It can make us miserable or happy, content or dissatisfied. To a great degree, it can make us strong or weak.” He reminded listeners that William James said if you want a virtue, act as if you already have it.

Thomas Monson told two stories that illustrated the importance of attitude. One told of John James Audubon, the great ornithologist, painter, and naturalist. President Monson has raised homing pigeons since childhood and is very fond of birds. He said that Audubon once went on a business trip. When he returned, he found rats had nibbled through a box with more than 200 of his drawings of birds. The drawings were destroyed and he was, for weeks to come, devastated at this destruction of so many years of work. Finally, he realized his attitude was destructive and he needed to take a new approach. He wrote in his journal that he was happy to have a chance to redo the drawings because this time, he could do them even better. Nothing had changed in terms of his life situation and yet when he changed his attitude, he changed his feelings about the event, thus improving his life.

The second bridge President Monson built was that of integrity, a quality that seems to be less important to many today. He said many people try to justify dishonesty.

Being true to oneself is anything but easy if the moral standards of one’s associates conflict with his or her own. The herd instinct is strong in the human animal, and the phrase “Everybody else is doing it” has an insidious attraction. To resist what “everybody else” is doing is to risk being ostracized by one’s peers, and it’s normal to dread rejection. Nothing takes more strength than swimming against the current. You, my friends, are strong and must at times decide to swim against that current.

Perhaps the surest test of an individual’s integrity is his or her refusal to do or say anything to damage his or her self-respect. The cornerstone of one’s value system should be the question, “What will I think of myself if I do this?”

President Monson told his listeners that there is no point in gaining fame and glory if you can’t look yourself in the mirror with pride.

The third bridge Thomas S. Monson offered was that of service. Thomas Monson is widely known for his compassion to those with challenges in life. As a very young bishop (a lay minister) he was assigned to a congregation with many, many widows. One of his responsibilities was to see that their needs were met. Mormon bishops have non-religious careers of their own choosing and they have families, which means their ecclesiastical work must be done after work and on weekends and must be balanced with family life. Despite this challenge, he kept a close eye on the widows, even visiting each one personally at Christmas with a fresh chicken for their holiday dinner. He spoke at all their funerals, even when he become a high level Mormon leader who traveled extensively. He often speaks of his mother, who served the men who rode the rails during the depression, and who, with the rest of the family, took gifts to families in need at Christmas time. Service is a centerpoint of President Monson’s life.

There are opportunities to serve which are open to everyone. The blind and the handicapped need friendship; the aged are hungry for companionship; the young need understanding guidance; the gifted are starved for encouragement. These benefits can’t be conferred by reaching for your checkbook. Personal service is direct and human.

Said a wise man many years ago, “We can’t do everything for everyone everywhere, but we can do something for someone somewhere.”

Our service to others may not be dramatic, but we can bolster human spirits, clothe cold bodies, feed hungry people, comfort grieving hearts, and lift to new heights precious souls.

He told students that while they may become rich or famous, their real success in life will be measured by how much they serve. This level of service is what will bring them true satisfaction, not the money and fame.

This graduation was the 100^th anniversary of the university, which began as the Saint George Stake Academy and was created by the Mormons. In 1933, the Church turned it over to the state, which considered closing it in 1952. However, voters rescued the college. It was once a high school and college combined. In time, the high school became a separate school and the community college eventually began to add four-year degrees. It is working toward university status now.

Read Thomas Monson’s address to Dixie State College.

Each Person is Unique

My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. There are those of you who are married. Some of you stay at home with your children, while others of you work outside your homes. Some of you are empty-nesters. There are those of you who are married but do not have children. There are those who are divorced, those who are widowed. Many of you are single women. Some of you have college degrees; some of you do not. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate Sunday outfit. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot” (General Relief Society Meeting, September 25, 2010).

Courage to Refrain From Judging

May I speak first about the courage to refrain from judging others. Oh, you may ask, “Does this really take courage?” And I would reply that I believe there are many times when refraining from judgment—or gossip or criticism, which are certainly akin to judgment—takes an act of courage.

Unfortunately, there are those who feel it necessary to criticize and to belittle others. You have, no doubt, been with such people, as you will be in the future. My dear young friends, we are not left to wonder what our behavior should be in such situations. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior declared, “Judge not.” At a later time He admonished, “Cease to find fault one with another.” It will take real courage when you are surrounded by your peers and feeling the pressure to participate in such criticisms and judgments to refrain from joining in.

I would venture to say that there are young women around you who, because of your unkind comments and criticism, are often left out. It seems to be the pattern, particularly at this time in your lives, to avoid or to be unkind to those who might be judged different, those who don’t fit the mold of what we or others think they should be.

The Savior said:

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another. …

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Thomas S. Monson, “May You Have Courage,” Liahona, May 2009, 123–27

The Danger of Labels

Sometimes cities and nations bear special labels of identity. Such was a cold and very old city in eastern Canada. The missionaries called it “Stony Kingston.” There had been but one convert to the Church in six years, even though missionaries had been continuously assigned there during the entire interval. No one baptized in Kingston. Just ask any missionary who labored there. Time in Kingston was marked on the calendar like days in prison. A missionary transfer to another place—any place—would be uppermost in thoughts, even in dreams.

While I was praying about and pondering this sad dilemma, for my responsibility then as a mission president required that I pray and ponder about such things, my wife called to my attention an excerpt from the book A Child’s Story of the Prophet Brigham Young. She read aloud that Brigham Young (1801–77) entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold and snow-filled day. He labored there about 30 days and baptized 45 souls. Here was the answer. If the missionary Brigham Young could accomplish this harvest, so could the missionaries of today.

Without providing an explanation, I withdrew the missionaries from Kingston, that the cycle of defeat might be broken. Then the carefully circulated word: “Soon a new city will be opened for missionary work, even the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized 45 persons in 30 days.” The missionaries speculated as to the location. Their weekly letters pleaded for the assignment to this Shangri-la. More time passed. Then four carefully selected missionaries—two of them new, two of them experienced—were chosen for this high adventure. The members of the small branch pledged their support. The missionaries pledged their lives. The Lord honored both.

In the space of three months, Kingston became the most productive city of the Canadian Mission. The grey limestone buildings still stood; the city had not altered its appearance; the population remained constant. The change was one of attitude. The label of doubt yielded to the label of faith.

Thomas S. Monson, “Labels,” Liahona, Sep 2000, 2

Patience With Young People

A proper perspective of our young men is absolutely essential for those called to serve them. They are young, pliable, eager, and filled with unlimited energy. Sometimes they make mistakes. I remember a meeting where we of the First Presidency and the Twelve were reviewing a youthful mistake made by a missionary. The tone was serious and rather critical, when Elder LeGrand Richards said, “Now, brethren, if the good Lord wanted to put a forty-year-old head on a nineteen-year-old body, He would have done so. But He didn’t. He placed a nineteen-year-old head on a nineteen-year-old body, and we should be a bit more understanding.” The mood of the group changed, the problem was solved, and we moved on with the meeting.

Thomas S. Monson, “‘Called to Serve’,” Ensign, Oct 1991, 46

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are mourning the death of their president, Gordon B. Hinckley, while their top leadership begins to assemble to name his successor-which will almost certainly be Thomas S. Monson, 80. Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the church . . .

Of the anticipated change, she writes:

The transition to the new prophet is likely to be smooth. Monson has served for the last 43 years in the top tiers of church leadership and is deeply respected. . . . In Monson’s service as an apostle and counselor, he has served in roles that span the breadth of church life, including missionary work, welfare services, genealogy, education, and leadership training.

Describing the procedure for calling a new prophet, Newsweek reports:

Compared with the process of picking a pope, choosing a new Mormon prophet is fairly routine. . . .

After President Hinckley’s funeral, the 14 apostles will meet on the fourth floor of the Salt Lake temple in the room where they regularly conduct church business. The vote to make Monson the next prophet has to be unanimous. Then President Monson will sit in a chair and the remaining 13 apostles will stand in a circle and put their hands on his head. Boyd K. Packer, the next senior leader, will say a prayer “setting him apart” and blessing him in his new role. . . .

While it’s true, as the article purports, that compared with papal coronation, our outward display is simple; it’s spectacular to contemplate that the voice of the Lord directs the process through which a new Prophet of His is called to lead the Church and influence the world.

To those unfamiliar with the nuances of our faith, that divine intervention may be overlooked in its quietude. It may seem that a unanimous sustaining vote is a kind gesture of approval of someone called to be the next leader. A unanimous vote, in the case of the call of a new Prophet, is actually the result of a process that has taken place, rather than the means through which the Prophet is selected.

Through deliberation and prayer, each member of the Quorum of the Twelve receives revelation as to who the next Prophet will be. Once received, each raises their hand in recognition that they personally know of the divinity of the call, and will sustain the new Prophet.

Their vote is not the means of working into an office someone merely nominated, but rather an affirmation of their revelatory receipt of the Lord’s will. The distinction is important. It marks the very miracle of the Order of Succession, or change in mantle, of one Prophet to another.

In that sense, while it’s not as pomp-filled as coronation ceremonies, as Soukup rightly states, it is, in fact, divine and unique in the calling of Church leadership in the world.

Newsweek article on Thomas S. Monson