Men and Islands

I've been thinking about life lately.  And people.  Life is about people.  Good ones, bad ones, dumb ones, favorite ones.  People are the best and worst part of everything.  Whenever something goes terribly wrong, or you get really, deeply hurt, it usually has to do with something someone said or did to you (or didn't say or do).  The most memorable, treasured moments in our lives involve those we love best.  Our saddest and happiest times generally revolve around relationships and experiences with (or with a lack of) other people.  

President Monson teaches that people are most important, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

I remember reading a 7 habits book by Sean Covey (son of Stephen Covey) when I was younger, which talked about relationship bank accounts (RBA).  Every single interaction we have with any person, known or unknown, is a deposit or withdrawal in that relationship account.  You smile at a stranger: deposit.  You make angry eyes at the guy who cut you off: withdrawal.  You feed your baby before he starts screaming his little head off: deposit.  You fold your husbands socks: deposit.  You whine (again) about your husband leaving a plate in the sink instead of putting it in the dishwasher: withdrawal.  Every. Single. Interaction.  Here are the examples he talks about in the book:

God talks about this a lot too.  Every (or nearly every) commandment we have been given has some affect on other people, or rather, every commandment affects some relationship, whether it be our relationship with God, mankind, or self.  Let's look at the big 10:

One through four help us make deposits into our RBA with God, while five through ten make deposits with other people.  All of them help our relationship with ourselves because we have positive relationships rather than burdensome debts. 

This is a quotation from John Donne (1572-1631). It appears in Devotions upon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes - Meditation XVII, 1624:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

“No father, no son, no mother, no daughter should get so busy that he or she does not have time to study the scriptures and the words of modern prophets. None of us should get so busy that we crowd out contemplation and praying. None of us should become so busy in our formal Church assignments that there is no room left for quiet Christian service to our neighbors.” 
Spencer W. Kimball, Boys Need Heroes Close By, Ensign, May 1976, 47

Just a few thoughts today about people.  Make them the most important.