People Change Every Day
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4354
Have you ever bumped into someone you
knew years ago, surprised to find how much he or she had changed for
the better? Life is full of little miracles, but this is perhaps the
greatest miracle of all—to see people change, grow, and improve, day by
day and little by little.
Imagine how different life would be
if we saw people not for who they are right now, but for who they could
become. Think of how we might respond differently to a child if we
looked past his failed and messy attempts to make something and into his
productive, positive future. Consider the boss, spouse, teenager, or
neighbor whose occasional annoying behaviors sometimes put us at odds.
What if we could see them as the better person they might become? This
may be the most important way we can change—in our ability to believe in
and nurture change in others.
Clinton Duffy was a prison warden in
the United States during the 1940s and 50s. He was well known for his
efforts to rehabilitate the men in his prison. One critic who was
skeptical of these efforts said to the warden, "You should know that
leopards don’t change their spots!” But Duffy replied, with the wisdom
and perspective that comes of experience: "You should know I don’t work
with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.”
It’s not always easy to see others as
they can become, and it very often takes patience and faith. Too often
we give ourselves and others a reputation, a perception, that makes
change difficult. But people can surprise us, even inspire us, with how
they can and often will change for the better.
1 In Thomas S. Monson, "See Others as They May Become,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2012, 69.
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