Deep Down Inside Us There Is Good

President Harold B. Lee

What were young people like in the early 70s? Whippersnappers?  Hooligans?  Full of shenanigans?

Not according to President Harold B. Lee.  In his talk Today's Young People, President Lee recalls that a former educational director of the Boy Scouts of America, Dr. Fisher, complimented the youth of their generation: "If the youth of today were not twice as good as were the youth of two generations ago, they wouldn’t be half as good as they are."

While you're figuring that one out, President Lee drops another: "Our job and your job, my job, is to look after the man behind the one in front of you."

The basic message: Never give up on anyone.  The worth of souls is great.  Even the 3% who are hoodlums are worth saving (and perhaps especially so).  Be anxiously engaged in a good cause. 

It reminds me of President Monson's pithy counsel: "Our youth need less criticism and more models to follow." 

True. 

Just like the Jets in West Side Story, deep down inside us there is good. 

See also:

Better Friedan and Bishop Brown (by Ralph Hancock at The Soul and The City)
Love Fervently (by Nathaniel Givens at Difficult Run)
Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd (By Daniel Ortner at Symphony of Dissent)
Why I support Friends of Scouting (By Michelle Linford at Mormon Women)
God’s Plan to Exalt His Children (By Michael Worley at Michael’s Thoughts and Ideas)
Bites from the April 1971 Priesthood Session (By G. at Junior Ganymede)
Meetinghouse Libraries and UX for Gospel Learning (By J. Max Wilson at Sixteen Small Stones)