When the resurrected Christ visited the American continent, his sacred presence was preceded by mayhem and destruction. The Savior's sole purpose was to bring people to repentance to heal them. More often than not, the motivation came by extreme means.
Those of us who have dealt with children, know this approach of doom is often the last and only call that results in success.
We tire of a child who will not clean up after himself, and so the first time we ask. Second time, we plead. Nagging almost ties for second place. Finally...we take away driving privileges...this is the worst and will usually open a child's awareness to his need to comply.
It can be the same circumstance with a child who teases. We watch the first time with patience; minutes later, we raise our voice. Next comes the threat, and finally, we swoop the teaser into our arms, remove him from the situation, plunk him in a corner, walk away and shut the door. This too, usually stops the bad behavior.
It often takes at least three warnings for a child to really listen and take to heart the instruction that will change his behavior.
So it was before the Savior blessed the people with his visit. After the destruction, there was silence in the land (3rd Nephi 10:), and the voice of the Lord spoke three different times--all with time in between for the people to ponder.
My mother who is leading the conversation from California, via telephone, asks "Why did the Savior admonish the people to repent three different times before he appeared to them?
A son-in-law, via telephone, in a different city, shares an experience when two warnings preceded a third and it was only on the third warning did the lesson and consequent decision sink in.
He reminds us of Peter, who denied his association with Jesus two times. On the third and final time, he heard the cock crow and the truth of what he'd done, sliced through his heart.
Realization didn't land until the third voice or warning.
In working with tender teenagers, I've recently thought of the 3x principle of hearing into action. Obviously, I cannot teach every principle three times, but I can teach the most important principles not only three times, but again and again.
Principle in point: unintended consequences.
I want my students to understand unintended consequences not only as a political and philosophical point, but as a personal challenge to their behavior and consequences. So I ask with each event, or law, or amendment we study, "What were the unintended consequences?"
Three examples:
1. In 1889, the threat of Chinese immigrants taking away jobs of US citizens was so feared that the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to bar Chinese laborers from entering the country. It did not include laborers who had immigrated previously. When Chinese children were born in the US, the 14th amendment insured their citizenship, but the prejudices of the exclusion act caused tremendous hassle for an American born man, Wong Kim Ark, of Chinese descent, who visited China and returned but wasn't allowed to re-enter. Wong Kim Ark's misery was an unintended consequence of a congressional act.
2. When Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, the unintended consequence was that he aimed for people's hearts and he reached their stomachs instead. He wrote the novel to change working conditions for immigrants in the Chicago meatpacking business. But he grossed his readers out and they demanded legislation that cleaned up the food industry.
3. When the 17th amendment was passed, its intention was to create more democracy, to put the choosing of senators back into the votes of the people. Previous to 1913, bodies of state legislatures chose senators for their state. After the amendment, it was mandated that voters, the common people of a state would elect their senators to represent them.
The unintended consequences would eventually require senators to raise campaign funds of an estimated $15,000 per week to finance their re-election after six years, in addition to pandering to special interests. They had lost the privilege shared by Supreme Court justices who served without concern of pleasing the public, but only serving justice. It was a good change but not without its unintended consequences.
My hope is that before a student drinks alcohol, or cheats on an assignment or speaks cruelly, that he hesitates if for only a second and asks, What is the unintended consequence? No person ever intends to cause a car accident after too many drinks; no student intends to be suspended for making a hasty decision; no reasonable student would ever want their words to cut so deep that a person withdraws.
Many decisions are made in split seconds and we often don't have the time to ask, "What are the unintended consequences of what I will say or do?
I watch the news as protestors whose intentions (I will judge as pure) were to change inequality. The news reports of their arrests and imminent prosecution for violence and destruction towards innocent people and property owners show mugshots of bewilderment.
How do we help prevent unwanted, unintended consequences? We warn or teach at least three times with hopes of preventing this unsettling look of bewilderment.
Those of us who have dealt with children, know this approach of doom is often the last and only call that results in success.
We tire of a child who will not clean up after himself, and so the first time we ask. Second time, we plead. Nagging almost ties for second place. Finally...we take away driving privileges...this is the worst and will usually open a child's awareness to his need to comply.
It can be the same circumstance with a child who teases. We watch the first time with patience; minutes later, we raise our voice. Next comes the threat, and finally, we swoop the teaser into our arms, remove him from the situation, plunk him in a corner, walk away and shut the door. This too, usually stops the bad behavior.
It often takes at least three warnings for a child to really listen and take to heart the instruction that will change his behavior.
So it was before the Savior blessed the people with his visit. After the destruction, there was silence in the land (3rd Nephi 10:), and the voice of the Lord spoke three different times--all with time in between for the people to ponder.
My mother who is leading the conversation from California, via telephone, asks "Why did the Savior admonish the people to repent three different times before he appeared to them?
A son-in-law, via telephone, in a different city, shares an experience when two warnings preceded a third and it was only on the third warning did the lesson and consequent decision sink in.
He reminds us of Peter, who denied his association with Jesus two times. On the third and final time, he heard the cock crow and the truth of what he'd done, sliced through his heart.
Realization didn't land until the third voice or warning.
In working with tender teenagers, I've recently thought of the 3x principle of hearing into action. Obviously, I cannot teach every principle three times, but I can teach the most important principles not only three times, but again and again.
Principle in point: unintended consequences.
I want my students to understand unintended consequences not only as a political and philosophical point, but as a personal challenge to their behavior and consequences. So I ask with each event, or law, or amendment we study, "What were the unintended consequences?"
Three examples:
1. In 1889, the threat of Chinese immigrants taking away jobs of US citizens was so feared that the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to bar Chinese laborers from entering the country. It did not include laborers who had immigrated previously. When Chinese children were born in the US, the 14th amendment insured their citizenship, but the prejudices of the exclusion act caused tremendous hassle for an American born man, Wong Kim Ark, of Chinese descent, who visited China and returned but wasn't allowed to re-enter. Wong Kim Ark's misery was an unintended consequence of a congressional act.
2. When Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, the unintended consequence was that he aimed for people's hearts and he reached their stomachs instead. He wrote the novel to change working conditions for immigrants in the Chicago meatpacking business. But he grossed his readers out and they demanded legislation that cleaned up the food industry.
3. When the 17th amendment was passed, its intention was to create more democracy, to put the choosing of senators back into the votes of the people. Previous to 1913, bodies of state legislatures chose senators for their state. After the amendment, it was mandated that voters, the common people of a state would elect their senators to represent them.
The unintended consequences would eventually require senators to raise campaign funds of an estimated $15,000 per week to finance their re-election after six years, in addition to pandering to special interests. They had lost the privilege shared by Supreme Court justices who served without concern of pleasing the public, but only serving justice. It was a good change but not without its unintended consequences.
My hope is that before a student drinks alcohol, or cheats on an assignment or speaks cruelly, that he hesitates if for only a second and asks, What is the unintended consequence? No person ever intends to cause a car accident after too many drinks; no student intends to be suspended for making a hasty decision; no reasonable student would ever want their words to cut so deep that a person withdraws.
Many decisions are made in split seconds and we often don't have the time to ask, "What are the unintended consequences of what I will say or do?
I watch the news as protestors whose intentions (I will judge as pure) were to change inequality. The news reports of their arrests and imminent prosecution for violence and destruction towards innocent people and property owners show mugshots of bewilderment.
How do we help prevent unwanted, unintended consequences? We warn or teach at least three times with hopes of preventing this unsettling look of bewilderment.
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