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<\/a>I was born and raised in greater Los Angeles \u2014 and as a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. \u00a0Because of business connections, my father was sometimes given excellent seats along the first-base or third-base lines at Dodger Stadium. \u00a0I was definitely spoiled. \u00a0(I recall going to a game once with my Boy Scout troop and, for the first time, \u00a0being seated out in right field. \u00a0I could barely see what was going on.)<\/p>\n
I was in the seats in 1962 when Sandy Koufax pitched his first no-hitter (against the Mets). \u00a0In 1988, I came back to my parents\u2019 house from giving a fireside down in Southern California to find my father upstairs, watching the first game of the World Series between Los Angeles and Oakland. \u00a0It was the bottom of the ninth inning. \u00a0The Dodgers were losing 4-3. \u00a0They had a runner on base, but there were already two outs. \u00a0I arrived just at the moment that Kirk Gibson was brought in as a pinch hitter, and I stood there, watching. \u00a0What the heck, I thought. \u00a0I might as well see the final out. \u00a0The count went full, to 3-2. \u00a0I remember commenting to my father that, if this were a Hollywood movie, the injured, aging slugger would hit a home run and win the game, hobbling in amazed triumph around the bases as the crowd went wild. \u00a0I was thinking of Roy Hobbs in The Natural<\/em>. \u00a0And then Gibson hit the home run and hobbled around the bases as the crowd went wild<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s a favorite memory of mine with my father. \u00a0We stood there, speechless.<\/p>\n Dad would have loved the 2025 World Series. \u00a0It was one of the greats, and the Toronto Blue Jays, even if crushed by unexpected defeat when victory seemed almost assured, \u00a0can be very proud of their performance in it. \u00a0But I have to say that, as a life-long Dodger fan, I\u2019m still glowing from last night. \u00a0 Partly for my father, I watched a fair amount of the game, including the last several innings. \u00a0It was a magnificent game and a magnificent comeback. \u00a0And we won!<\/p>\n And, oh yes: \u00a0The University of Utah did really well against Cincinnati last night, too. \u00a0Since the Utes represent my adopted state, I\u2019m happy when they win \u2014 unless, of course, they\u2019re playing against BYU.<\/p>\n Written several hours after the sentences above, as the glow from the World Series has largely faded: \u00a0When I was young, a piece of vocal music based upon Alma 29:1-2 was extremely popular among Latter-day Saints:<\/p>\n 1 <\/span>O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!<\/p>\n 2 <\/span>Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It may still<\/em> be popular, for all I know. \u00a0But I myself haven\u2019t heard it for many years now.<\/p>\n Perhaps from overexposure to the song, I came to dislike it and, to some degree, it soured me on the two verses that it had set to music. \u00a0Quite unjustifiably so. \u00a0Today, I\u2019ve come to appreciate Oh, that I were angel!<\/em><\/a>, as I remember it, much more than I once did. \u00a0And I\u2019ve come to share Alma\u2019s sentiment very deeply.<\/p>\n As I encounter distressing stories or am told of very sad situations, I often think how living the principles of Christianity or the Gospel \u2014 or even simply practicing kindness and love \u2014 might have prevented them, not only on the personal and interpersonal scale but on the international level. \u00a0We hurt ourselves and each other so very much. \u00a0And as I\u2019ve careened through life, getting dinged here and there (and, no doubt dinging others) and seeing the wrecks that so many make of themselves and their families and those with whom they associate, I\u2019ve come to wish that I could somehow convince everyone \u201cthat they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n 3 <\/span>But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Alma came to view his \u201cambition\u201d as overweening, and perhaps I should, as well. \u00a0Time and time again in my life, though, I\u2019ve seen others heading toward suffering and disaster \u2014 toward a dangerous waterfall, as it were \u2014 and have wished that I could help them to see what was before them while it could still be avoided. \u00a0Usually, alas, it hasn\u2019t worked.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I have reason again today to feel as the speaker in Alma 29:1-2 did. \u00a0Of course, some of the sorrows and the trials, the setbacks and tests and injuries and wounds that befall us in mortality are inescapable. \u00a0But many of them are not. \u00a0We bring them upon ourselves or upon others by our own poor choices. \u00a0And, so, the Lord weeps<\/a>.<\/p>\n [For a more extended reflection upon the passage, see Daniel C. Peterson, \u201cOh, That I Were an Angel!.\u201d Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> 48 (2021): vii-xiv, https:\/\/journal.interpreterfoundation.org\/oh-that-i-were-an-angel\/<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<\/a>
(Minerva Teichert, ca 1950-51; LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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