There's a program on BYUTV, that admittedly I don't watch very often, called "History of the Saints". Since my ancestry does not include any Mormon Pioneers, and frankly, since the host kind of rubs me the wrong way, I tend to ignore it, thinking it has no application to my life. But anyhoo - I was watching it this afternoon, and it was talking about an episode from the life of Erastus Snow, an early pioneer who would later colonize much of Southern Utah. Apparently at some point along the trail, he neglected his duty to round up and drive the cattle. This caused the cattle to run off, with Brother Brigham in pursuit no less. It cost them precious time, and the loss of Brigham's telescope glass - a crucial thing for watching the way ahead. When he returned to camp, he let poor Erastus Snow have it, calling him out publicly in front of the entire camp, placing the blame solely on him, and having the company vote on where the blame should lie. After this public humiliation, he was told never to speak of it again.
Now, I don't know about you, but this would cause me no little embarrassment, and would get me all riled up in defense of myself. But the thing that is instructive to me is that not only did Erastus not speak of it again, but in his journal he expressed the desire that he would never have occasion for another experience like it. So not only did he take it humbly, but he seems to have let it go, and risen above it, to the point that less than two years later, he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve.
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