What I though I may do, is bring out a few highlights from biographies that I am currently reading so that you can glean the rewards while missing out on all of the harvest. Because that's fair... Think of it like a Cliff notes. Or Google. But instead of a guy named cliff, or random links that end in opedia, why not from this swell blog?
So here goes: the main points that I found interesting from reading the first few chapters of "the life and teachings of James E Faust" by James P. Bell.
(Pre P.S. : in case you were wondering who he is in the first place, I suppose you can check back in a little bit, say part 2 or 3 and find out!)
1: James Esdras Faust: named after his two uncles at his birth.
2: One of five sons, so surrounded by brothers, mischief, and hard work from farm life.
3: His first maternal ancestor to join the church was Edward Partridge, who was the first Presiding Bishop of the church. Bishop Partridge had a strong testimony of the restoration, was deeply persecuted for his devotion, including being tarred and feathered, eventually died due to the Missouri Persecutions at 46 in 1840 (around the time that Joseph Smith Sr. -Father of the prophet- and Don Carlos Smith - Brother of the prophet - died).
4. James E Faust also had a paternal great grandfather and mother in the church who lived in Nauvoo, shortly before the exodus to Winter Quarters and Salt Lake. They were two of many to receive ordinances at the temple before the trek, and John Akerley (Great grandfather) passed away before they could make it out west.
5: George Faust (James' father) served in WW I and then went to law school. His family was primarily all farmers, but he didn't have a knack for it. He and his family struggled through the Great Depression although he was able to have worked through a good amount of it.
6: Very neat article entitled "A Christmas with no presents" in which he describes how joyous holidays can be when focused on the right things
7: Another article discussing "Gratitude as a saving principle" which shows him addressing when, due to the Great Depression as well as hard-working parents, he recognized the importance of gratitude for fresh-baked bread and other things.
8: He was a bit of a prankster, accidentally got shot in the leg on a hunting trip, and a brother once reminisced that the Faust boys would likely all end up in prison by the age of 18 due to rambunctiousness.
9: Henry D Moyle (later of the quorum of the twelve and first presidency) lived in his ward and was his stake president as a youth.
10: He and his Cousin once biked (with permission) from cottonwood Utah to Oak City, a distance of 150 miles in a 24 hour period, leaving at midnight. (At about 14 years old)
11: He had a baby lamb to take care of, from which he learned a great lesson. More on that later as this weeks Sunday School lesson is on being true shepherds, and I don't want to spoil that... Not that anyone's still reading at this point. :)
Hope you learned a few new and interesting things!
I did read it all through, and I posted a very long comment which was once again not recorded. I did figure out why that happens though, I think. You have to sign in FIRST.
ReplyDeleteI think most of us just don't give biographies an appropriate amount of space on our library shelves because we don't value them highly enough. Obviously many do, or there wouldn't be so many published. I've been thinking more about them lately because I was wondering how much they've actually shaped your life. Yes, you like to read them, but are you a different person for having done so? For example, I remember one of the first bios you read was of the man who invented the Colt 45. That was during your Western phase with Wyatt Earp and Jesse James. Maybe that's all the bios they had in Putnam County.��
Anyway, answer me that, and if you have any suggestions for a 16 year old that thinks he is the only one going through his particular trials, please let me know. If anything, biographies help us know that our struggles can be overcome, and that maybe our lives aren't as difficult as we think they are. Others have risen to greatness with a lot less.
Hey, thanks for reading it! Glad you got the comment thing figured out... I wasn't sure how that works. Those are good questions, and it sounds like the makings of another blog post. :) I do remember the Sam Colt one, and one on Louis Braille also, during the early American phase there. Some short answers would be that I think they have definitely shaped me, primarily from a comprehension point of view, as I am able to find a great deal of historical, spiritual, anecdotal, and biographical information from one book at a time. I do attempt to personalize and emulate some of the experiences that I read about, but there can be two cautions to this: Seeking for similar positions/experiences that those read about had (instead of recognizing the blessings/experiences in your own) and biographies can tend to be hagiographic due to bias, so it may be a challenge to feel undervalued to contrast the prior caution. Other than that, Biographies can provide a wealth of information in the categories that you mentioned. Especially when individuals studied are in a similar category as the person reading them (such as the same religious organization) or have similar senses of humor (with stand-up comedy bio's) they can be more significant to help realize the journey that that individual went through and empathy/emulation can be shown through. Even though this already feels like a 2nd post, I'll write up one soon regarding the significance of reading them to begin with. Also, that was not a short answer, but either way...
ReplyDeleteHere I was just thinking they were motivational, and you go making them hagiographic (whatever the heck that is). ��
ReplyDeleteThey are motivational for sure! Hagiography has something to do with making something holy unnecessarily. I learned that word from that medieval Europe class. It was very prevalent back then. Not as much anymore, but biographers can often only speak highly of things, which can be de-motivating or at least distracting. It's a good balance to find a "cultural" way to discuss a public figure. Rough Stone Rolling has probably done the best job of it. Often, especially autobiographical accounts like Parley P. Pratt don't have to be unbiased, because it is fairly easy to see what the author knows to be true.
ReplyDeleteI also added links above to the various talks, in case you or anyone wanted to review further.