{"id":2683,"date":"1996-03-03T11:23:50","date_gmt":"1996-03-03T18:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speeches-dev.byu.edu\/?p=2683"},"modified":"2021-03-15T10:47:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:47:53","slug":"do-what-is-right","status":"publish","type":"speech","link":"https:\/\/speeches-dev.byu.edu\/talks\/richard-g-scott\/do-what-is-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Do What Is Right"},"content":{"rendered":"
I know that most of you who gathered tonight from across the United States and Canada come with a determination to do what is right. You have had those feelings in your heart to live worthily no matter what others may say. I speak also to others present who want to have such feelings. You are of the finest generation that has come to earth. You have prepared yourself well in the premortal existence and have been selected to come forth in this singularly important time in the unfolding of Father in Heaven\u2019s plan. I am deeply moved to be in your presence. I realize that the majority of you do not have the slightest idea of how truly capable, noble, and wonderful you are.<\/p>\n
I have prayed about, pondered over, and worked on this message because each one of you is an exceptional daughter or son of our Father in Heaven and I want to help you. Early on, I strongly felt impressed to discuss with you how to make your noble dreams and aspirations a reality. I am sure that each one of you has treasured dreams of what you want your life to be. Having moved down the path of life ahead of you, I have learned that while there are growing challenges along the way, life is most beautiful. As you continue to exercise faith in the Master and are obedient to His commandments, you will receive magnificent blessings. Some of those blessings you will have dreamed about. Other blessings He plans for you are beyond anything you can conceive of now. My earnest desire is to help you live so that your worthy dreams become realities.<\/p>\n
I have wrestled with many different ways to communicate principles that I know\u2014if understood and applied\u2014would greatly help you. As this evening approached, I realized I did not yet have a satisfactory way to express what I know to be true. Then a peace enveloped me. I felt that if I strive the best I can to talk to you, and you listen with an open mind and heart with real intent, having faith in the Lord, then it won\u2019t matter too much what I say. You will have impressions come to you that will be individually tailored to your needs. As you write those impressions down and follow them, they will be guidelines for your life and will help you realize your righteous dreams.<\/p>\n
You are at a time of life when there are many critically important decisions to be made, and you are understandably unsure of your capacity to make them. You live in a world where it is increasingly more difficult to assure that your worthy dreams and aspirations will come true by avoiding the allurements and temptations that Satan would put in your path to destroy you. You may have doubts about your own self-worth. You want to be accepted. You have questions about your future and about how to gain true and enduring friendships. You want to find an eternal companion who has the same deep desire to live worthily and to accomplish much of good in this life. For many, you want to know if the person you have growing feelings for is indeed the one to be your eternal companion. But you are not sure of your ability to decide. You are growing in spiritual discipline\u2014that is, your ability to discern the promptings of the Spirit and your capacity to follow them. Over time, that capacity will increase and grow stronger until it becomes easier and easier to automatically do the right things. You have built a shield against temptation. But now, while that spiritual discipline is developing, you must be very careful to avoid choices that would take you from the path of happiness.<\/p>\n
I have learned from personal experience how being helped to make the right decision at a critical time can bless your entire life. I have also seen by working closely with individuals who made wrong decisions how devastating that can be on the rest of their lives. My intent is to give you suggestions on how to be sure you make the right choices. I will share four personal experiences that taught me important lessons, with a sincere desire to help you gain confidence in making the right choices consistently in your life. Then I will try to identify how Satan works so that you will be more prepared to avoid the pitfalls he will place in your path.<\/p>\n
In college I was given the privilege of joining a very elect honorary engineering society. As I attended the initiatory activities, everyone was drinking. I asked for a soft drink and was handed a glass. As I raised it to my lips, I could smell alcohol. I looked around the room. All the eyes were on me. These were professionals who had just given me a great honor. Should I pretend to drink so as not to offend? No. I sat the glass down and then noticed that three other inductees also sat their glasses aside. Do what is right and others will follow your example. Every time you make the right choice in the face of potential criticism, you build strength that makes it easier the next time. The reverse is also true. Satan counts on that.<\/p>\n
One summer, as a teenager, I worked on an oyster boat off the coast of Long Island in New York to earn funds for college. The other members of the crew were seasoned oystermen, hardened by the harsh winter environment in which they spent much of their lives battling the icy ocean and raw wind to secure their catch. I was an enigma to them, easier to distrust than to understand. They shunned me as a company spy, then as a crazy kid who didn\u2019t know how to be a man. Later, I became better at my duties and tried to build friendships. They offered to make me \u201ca real man\u201d by joining them on their all-night indulgences. I thanked them but declined, and the tension grew more intense.<\/p>\n
The summer weather was beautiful and the ocean magnificent. We were engaged in relatively simple tasks, such as transferring small oysters to a more distant portion of the sound where the nutrients accelerated their growth and improved their flavor. Except when a dredge full of oysters was dumped onto the deck, signaling a flurry of intense activity, there was much time for contemplation. While my deck mates dozed by their shovels, I read and pondered the content of the Book of Mormon. I cannot adequately express the powerful awakening within me that came from those weeks of study of the Book of Mormon under singularly unusual circumstances.<\/p>\n
We slept in envelope-type bunks sandwiched into the restricted space between the ship\u2019s diesel engine and hull. One night at dockside I retired early since some of the crew planned unrighteous activity outside our boat. I was suddenly shaken into consciousness by the powerful hand of a deck mate, Toddy, a giant of a man. He was brandishing a hammer in my face, and his breath reeked of alcohol. Stunned, I realized that there was no way that I could escape him. I thought I had come to the end of the road. Then I heard what he was shouting, \u201cScotty, get your fins and mask. There\u2019s a man overboard, and you can save him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That night I learned a lesson I have never forgotten. Publicly the crew members ridiculed me, but privately they respected me for my standards. The confidence that came from that knowledge let me quietly help three of them with some serious personal challenges.<\/p>\n
I know that you will find the same response as you consistently choose to obey your principles. You are establishing a reputation. When you make it clear that you will not vary from your standards, you will be led to individuals like yourself and the criticism from others will become less intense. Often those who publicly deride you for your high standards privately do not want you to violate them. They need your good example. Whether it be turning your back on an off-color joke, refusing to see an R-rated movie or videocassette, or walking out of a party that is moving in the wrong direction, make your standards clear to others by quietly making the right choices when the temptation is first presented. A decisive, correct choice made once and consistently kept thereafter will avoid much heartache. You then can use your energy in keeping your resolve rather than repeatedly wrestling with the same challenge. Also, you will greatly reduce the possibility that you will be overcome by temptation.<\/p>\n
I grew up in a home where my father was not a member of the Church and my mother was less active. That all changed later, and they spent much of their life as temple workers. With that background I didn\u2019t know much about the Church, even though I thought I did. When I was about to graduate from the university, the Lord dropped an atomic bomb in my life. Her name was Jeanene Watkins. She was a beautiful girl. It took me a long time to date her because so many others recognized her wonderful qualities. As we began to date, I discovered that she was all I had ever dreamed of finding. I fell completely in love with her. I could tell she had deep feelings for me also. One night, when we were talking about the future, she carefully wove into the conversation an important comment. She said, \u201cWhen I marry, it will be to a returned missionary in the temple.\u201d I don\u2019t remember anything else she said. I hadn\u2019t thought much about a mission and didn\u2019t understand much about temple marriage. I went home and couldn\u2019t think of anything else. I was awake all night. I couldn\u2019t do anything at the university the next day. Soon I was at the bishop\u2019s office, having prayed about the importance of a mission. We both went on missions, and when we returned were sealed in the temple. Much later I came to realize that she would have left me had I not made the right choices. Jeanene\u2019s courage in standing up for her dream of a temple marriage to a returned missionary, regardless of her love for me, has made all of the difference in our lives together. I will never be able to thank her adequately for not compromising her righteous dreams.<\/p>\n
Your decisions are like switch points on a railroad system. They determine where you will end up in life. When you consistently make the right choices, you are the happiest, receive the greatest personal growth, and have the most productive life. When you make the wrong choices, you may find yourself at an entirely different destination than you want. While there is the process of repentance to come back, it is often painful and sometimes leaves permanent physical scars that cannot be cured as well as your spirit can.<\/p>\n
At one time I worked on the immediate staff of a very hardworking, demanding, misunderstood man who became the father of the nuclear navy that provided great protection for the United States at a critical time in world conditions. His name is Hyman Rickover. I have great respect for him. After eleven years in that service, I received a call from the First Presidency to preside over a mission. I knew I would have to tell Admiral Rickover immediately. As I explained the call and that it would mean I would have to quit my job, he became rather excited. He said some unrepeatable things, broke the paper tray on his desk, and, in the comments that followed, clearly established two points.<\/p>\n
\u201cScott, what you are doing in this defense program is so vital that it will take a year to replace you, so you can\u2019t go. Second, if you do go, you are a traitor to your country.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI can train my replacement in the two remaining months, and there won\u2019t be any risk to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was more conversation, and he finally said, \u201cI never will talk to you again. I don\u2019t want to see you again. You are finished, not only here, but don\u2019t ever plan to work in the nuclear field again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I responded, \u201cAdmiral, you can bar me from the office, but, unless you prevent me, I am going to turn this assignment over to another individual\u201d<\/p>\n
He asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the name of the man who wants you?\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him, \u201cPresident David O. McKay.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cIf that\u2019s the way Mormons act, I don\u2019t want any of them working for me.\u201d<\/p>\n