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Years ago, there was a quote that one of the prophets gave. It said: Quote:“When mankind stops serving each other, society will perish”.
I think it was John Taylor or Wilfred Woodruff.
What do you think — a true statement?
To be a true statement one would have to assume that mankind has served each other up until the present. Like so many statements from leaders in the church it is an all or nothing approach. There have been great acts of service in the past and there will be in the future. there have also been acts of depravity and violence in the past and probably will be in the future. So I say it is neither a true or false statement. It is an opinion based on a notion that the world was better at one time and it will continually get worse. The standard apocalyptic thinking that breeds these kind of statements. “Society” is the operative word here, and I think, in the context in which it probably was meant, it is true (enough). If he’d said “civilization” or “culture” or “government” or “life” . . . I’d disagree completely. Service (helping each other / sacrificing something one wants for the good of others) is the heart of “society” (or “sociality”, as Joseph said) – so I’m ok with the general idea.
I can easily think of “Serving” in a different context. It doesn’t have to mean we all do things for others out of the kindness of our hearts. When I take my kid to the doctor and she gets healed, is that not service? I do pay him for that service, but I performed maybe 6 hours of service at my job for the money I paid him. We all perform 40+ hrs of service at our jobs every week that we all trade for the betterment of society. My wife who stays at home to raise our kids, performs at least that many hours serving our children and ensuring they grow up as people that can “serve” society in a productive manner. Money is really just a way of easily trading service, but the actual work we do every day is what matters.
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