{"id":105603,"date":"2024-06-08T14:20:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T20:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=105603"},"modified":"2024-06-09T04:47:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T10:47:08","slug":"two-simple-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/two-simple-stories.html","title":{"rendered":"Two simple stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pintaric<\/a>
The Salzburger Altstadt under a stormy evening sky, much like tonight. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Thomas Pintaric) \u00a0Today began sunny and beautiful, but the weather changed in the late afternoon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The in-person turnout for the FAIR conference in Rome a week ago was, frankly, disappointing \u2014 although, already about a day after it had concluded, I was told that its online viewership was in the range of roughly eight hundred. \u00a0Attendance in person at today\u2019s conference in Salzburg \u2014 see the program here<\/a> \u2014 was probably about fifty or sixty, and the streaming audience was larger than that (although I don\u2019t yet know how much<\/em> larger it was). \u00a0The audience here in Austria was much more engaged, it seems to me, than last week\u2019s audience. \u00a0Or, as one of our group observed, they were far more \u201cin the FAIR space\u201d than the attendees in Rome were. We even had a woman in attendance today who came all the way from Hungary via an overnight bus.<\/p>\n

FAIR put on a roughly analogous program some years ago, with presentations in both Rome and Milan. \u00a0I\u2019ve been told that attendance in Milan was excellent, although the event was on a weekday; attendance in Rome, by contrast, was sparse. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure why that would be. \u00a0One contributing factor, I\u2019m sure, is that getting to the Rome Temple complex is relatively difficult and\/or expensive from the city of Rome itself. \u00a0It\u2019s rather easier from other parts of Italy, since it\u2019s outside of the main Roman urban area \u2014 but then, those are the very people (in Florence, say, or Naples or Genoa or Padua or Venice or Bologna) who would be most likely to simply stream a FAIR conference from their homes. \u00a0Which, of course, they can\u2019t do for temple attendance.<\/p>\n

\"Along<\/a>
Another view in Salzburg, this time along the Salzach River. (Wikimedia CC public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scott Gordon has told a simple story at both of the conferences thus far that I think is worthy of sharing further because of the wisdom it contains. \u00a0I hope that he won\u2019t mind my doing so here.<\/p>\n

He tells of a man \u2014 an acquaintance, I think \u2014 who had reached a point in his marriage where he was seriously moving toward divorce. \u00a0He had decided that he didn\u2019t love his wife and that their marriage had been a terrible mistake. \u00a0But an acquaintance (possibly his attorney) suggested that he make a note of one thing every day that he appreciated about his wife.<\/p>\n

He decided to make the effort. \u00a0At first, it was extremely difficult for him to find even one thing to admire or respect about her. \u00a0But he dutifully persisted with the exercise. \u00a0She had, for example, done the dishes. \u00a0The next day, he noted that she had prepared lunch for their children. \u00a0Gradually, it became easier for him to recognize good qualities in her and to see the good things that she had done.<\/p>\n

One day, while her husband was away, the wife found the ledger or notebook in which he was recording his notes, and she began to follow his example in a ledger of her own. \u00a0Every day, she would jot down a note about his good qualities and the good things that he did.<\/p>\n

Today, twenty or thirty years later, they are still married. \u00a0Moreover, they regard themselves as the very best of friends.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story, as Scott tells it, is that if we look for the good, we\u2019re very likely to find it. \u00a0And, similarly, if we\u2019re looking for the bad, we will find the bad, as well. \u00a0He applies that moral to our attitudes toward the Church and to our relationship with it.<\/p>\n

I strongly, strongly concur. \u00a0This isn\u2019t true, of course, of all those who have left the Church or who are disaffected from it, but it certainly is<\/em> true of some<\/em> of the critics whom I\u2019ve observed over the years: \u00a0Some are unwilling ever to see anything positive or valuable in the Church. \u00a0They insist on seeing only the negative (whether real or imagined) in Church leaders, Church history, and even, yes, in any of us who defend the Church or advocate its claims. \u00a0And, obviously, if they insist upon looking for things to criticize, they will definitely find things to criticize \u2014 fairly or unfairly, justly or unjustly.<\/p>\n

It reminds me of a little story that my father used to tell. \u00a0I found it corny when I was young, but I\u2019ve come to appreciate it much more as I\u2019ve matured (or, at least, grown older). \u00a0I\u2019m sure that many of you are already familiar with it:<\/p>\n

In some distant time and place, a wise old man used to sit at the gate of a city. \u00a0One day, a young traveler came to the gate and asked him what kind of people the citizens of the city were. \u00a0\u201cWhat were they like where you come from?\u201d inquired the old man. \u00a0\u201cThey were shiftless, liars, cheats, drunks, and thugs. \u00a0It was a terrible place, and I\u2019m glad to be away from it!\u201d \u00a0The wise old man shook his head sadly. \u00a0\u201cThe people in this town are exactly the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Later, a second traveler paused by the gate \u00a0to ask the same question. \u00a0 \u201cWhat are the residents of this city like?\u201d \u00a0Once again, the wise old man asked this second traveler, \u201cWhat kind of people did you just leave behind?\u201d<\/p>\n

The second traveler answered, \u201cOh, it was a wonderful city. \u00a0In fact, I hated to leave it. The people were good and kind, honest and hardworking.\u201d \u00a0The old man smiled and said, \u201cThe people in this town are exactly the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>
A Wikimedia CC public domain view of the Altstadt from Festung Hohensalzburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had nothing to do with organizing this current series of three European FAIR conferences \u2014 I was simply invited to participate in them \u2014 but I think that I\u2019ll say something about how they\u2019ve happened, at least as I understand the story: \u00a0A very generous American couple with the means and with strong ties (including, but not limited to, both youthful and senior missions) to Italy came forward with the idea of sponsoring a FAIR conference in Rome. \u00a0(They previously sponsored the conferences in Rome and Milan mentioned above, and I think that there have been other such events that they have supported.) \u00a0If I\u2019m not mistaken, FAIR didn\u2019t approach them<\/em>; they<\/em> approached FAIR<\/em>. \u00a0(And they were with us in Rome this time, too.) \u00a0And, since we would already be over here for the Rome conference, they kindly also covered similar events in Salzburg (today) and G\u00f6teborg (a week from today). \u00a0It\u2019s not a matter, as my admirers over at the Peterson Obsession Board like to imagine, of my wringing money out of hapless donors in order to fund a European vacation for me. \u00a0Just to be clear.<\/p>\n

Posted from Salzburg, Austria<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The in-person turnout for the FAIR conference in Rome a week ago was, frankly, disappointing \u2014 although, already about a day after it had concluded, I was told that its online viewership was in the range of roughly eight hundred. \u00a0Attendance in person at today\u2019s conference in Salzburg \u2014 see the program here \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":105606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2797,13829,2905,788,3988,20677],"class_list":["post-105603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-europe","tag-fair","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-rome","tag-salzburg"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo simple stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  The in-person turnout for the FAIR conference in Rome a week ago was, frankly, disappointing -- 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