Mediocrity

Earlier today I went over to the school and saw a 16 year old smoking on the back steps.  I told him that he needed to get rid of it.  He was a little defiant, but eventually complied.  I told him he shouldn't smoke.  He then excused his behavior in a way that has gotten me thinking, "It's hard not to when you don't have any parents."  This particular student is being cared for by his aunt and uncle.

I thought it was sad that he had been taught to justify any bad behavior by his difficult circumstances.  His circumstances are definitely more difficult than anything that I've experienced, and I'm sure he experiences grief that I don't understand.  However, his justification was sad because he is allowing his difficulties to determine who he will become.  Whoever first justified his actions and excused them because of his situation handicapped him.  He isn't opening the door to the possibility of becoming more than the average person in his same situation.  Why he is doing this, I will probably never know, but I think there's a lesson to be learned.

How often do I justify some bad behavior of my own because of my circumstances?  "I was mad, but it was because of..." or "Sure I did that, but it wasn't as bad as what so and so did to me."  We don't always have control over our circumstances.  In fact, most of the time we probably don't have control.  But, we can control our own responses to those.  I think this is the hardest part of life.  Adverse conditions don't justify misbehavior.  That is why we are all guilty and have need for repentance.  Otherwise, every one of us would be pure.  If we could justify our bad behavior based on our situations, then that would imply that we have no power to rise above those situations or improve ourselves.  How amazing it is to me that Heavenly Father prepared a way for us to not only rise above and improve ourselves, but to fully put off our past hurts, mistakes, and other baggage we carry that keeps us down.  "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

We are not always as different from the malefactor as we may think.  We may not always have the same struggles as another person, and we will probably never know what a person is going through.  But then again, it's not our place to know or judge.  Most likely, we are guilty of many of the same misdeeds.  Mediocrity is not failing to become great, but failing to become greater than we started.