"And it came to pass that in the nineteenth year Giddianhi found that it was expedient that he should go up to battle against the Nephites, for there was no way that they could subsist save it were to plunder and rob and murder."
3 Nephi 4:5
This strikes me as ... fitting I suppose is the best word. The robbers had been living on what they could steal from other people, so when everyone joined together to avoid them, they had to choose to go to war. They couldn't even just take up residence in the abandoned places, because they weren't equipped to live normal lives. They had grown so big that it became a big deal and the entire people gathered themselves together to protect themselves, and they couldn't just plant crops for fear that they would become a prey the same way they had made others so.
I don't know if this exactly parallels anything in our day, because the situation is very different, but in some ways it reminds me of the purveyors of ransomware and the like, living as some of the parasites of society. And yet, naming other people and not looking at ourselves is never a full answer. I hope we are not as bad as the Gadianton Robbers of course, but I think we probably all have to consider ways that we might just be "taking" from society and the world and not giving much back. Today, something to think about... how can we make sure that we are producing something rather than becoming parasites? Let's not end up like Giddianhi, left with nothing at the end of our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment