While listening to conference today, I had this thought come to me:

There was a time whan a man's word was his bond. To be called a "liar" was a great insult. To be known as a liar was to be shunned. Now honesty, once "the best policy," is askewed as an inconvenience. Are we truly more cilivilized now than we we were then?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I do worry that the time honored values of honesty and selflessness is being displaced by a "Me First" attitude that justifies any wrong as long as "I come out ahead." Even chairitable donations of resources seem to be less about helping others and more about getting a tax break or being lauded by one's peers, or, in other words, to be honored among men rather than to be honored in God's Kingdom. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that, in a world where standing for one's moral beliefs is an unpopular attitude and gets one branded with the label of "intolerance," worldly attitudes would take presidance.

I pray that, when my children are grown, they will "walk uprightly before the Lord" and will not stand for moral decay in their lives, in their families or in society.