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Overview
No nation can be greater than the strength of its individual homes or the virtue of its people. Sadly, many today would say ours is a nation in crisis. Families are splintering around us, our children are becoming alienated from their great cultural heritage, and our leaders seem increasingly out of touch. Yet, according to Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one cannot lose hope. The solution lies not within our government, schools, or symbols of popular culture, but rather within ourselves, our families, and our faith.In the tradition of William Bennett's Book of Virtues, Hinckley has created a classic look at the values that can change our world—and how to stand up for them. Drawing on anecdotes from his own life, as well as from our nation today, he examines ten virtues that have proven through the ages to provide the most profound path to a better world: love, honesty, morality, civility, learning, forgiveness and mercy, thrift and industry, gratitude, optimism, and faith.
Standing for Something is an inspiring blue-print for what we can all do—as individuals, as a nation, and as a world community—to rediscover the values that make us strong and by which all of us can work toward a brighter future.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
“A great sickness has invaded our land,” claims Gordon Hinckley, world leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “But,” he adds, “there is great reason to have hope.” In this book, Hinckley speaks plainly and movingly about his hope: ten virtues that can save America. By practicing these virtues, Hinckley promises, we can enrich not only our lives but also our nation. And what could be more important in this time of change? “If we would individually and collectively resolve to stand for something, to lift our voices for truth and goodness and offer our supplications to our Eternal Father,” promises Hinckley, “those supplications would be heard, and the result would be remarkable.”Publishers Weekly -
Ordained in 1995 as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hinckley projects a warm, good-humored and tolerant persona, qualities that have been showcased in national media appearances and have served the church well in its efforts to grow internationally. (Fellow octogenarian Mike Wallace, who interviewed Hinckley for 60 Minutes in 1996, provides the foreword.) Yet this book, the first that Hinckley has published with a secular house, is less a Mormon work than a manifesto of traditional values. Hinckley expresses concern that the "secularization of America" has led to moral decay. A belief in God and the power of prayer inform his inspirational essays--on honesty, forgiveness, gratitude, thrift and civility--which are peppered with personal anecdotes and examples from religious history. Few will take issue with such moderate and compassionate statements as "helping hands can lift someone out of the mire of difficulty" or "because we live in a world where there is much harshness, hostility and meanness, there is also much need for all of us to be more merciful." However, Hinckley's rigid stance against divorce, abortion, extramarital sex and homosexuality may alienate those who disagree with his conservative vision of morality. Married for 60 years himself, the author believes that marriages between men and women, with the male partner at the head of the family, will ensure the health of society. 20-market TV satellite tour. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|Book Details
Published
September 1, 2000
Publisher
Wheeler Publishing
Pages
249
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781568959245