So, there I was, having a nice lunch with my mom and sister when my mother brings up a topic very dear to my heart; poetry. She was talking about a particularly important poem to me and how a man by the name of Sam Brown, a fellow member of the church with many degrees and accomplishments, has a particularly controversial view of the poem "Footprints in the Sand" in an excerpt of a book published online (you can see this excerpt here: http://bycommonconsent.com/2014/11/18/beaches-and-footprints/). Now, in writing this I do not mean to distract from Mr. Browns rights to his opinions. However, since Mr. Brown feels the need to express his controversial opinions about such an inspiring and common poem, I feel I have the right and the duty to defend it. In his excerpt, Mr. Brown calls the poem "misleading", stating that the man who looks back and sees that at the most difficult points in his life there was only one set of footprints representing the Savior is misleading because we will have seen many footprints representing our church leaders and neighbors (http://bycommonconsent.com/2014/11/18/beaches-and-footprints/). My issue here is that the poem is a metaphor. Of course there are hundreds of people in our lives who carry us and influence us however, all those people are doing the work of Christ (whether they know it or not). My other issue with his claim is that there are times in our lives where many of us experience personal and private walks with the savior. No one knows but God and ourselves and in those times we are still carried. We are never alone, even when we have been abandoned by everyone around us. Heavenly Father is still there. The Savior doesn't leave us just because there is no one physically standing beside us. He is still there. He still carries us. My second issue with Mr. Brown's article is his lack of sensitivity for those with mental illness. Toward the end of his article, he implies that those with mental illnesses do not help to carry their fellow man (http://bycommonconsent.com/2014/11/18/beaches-and-footprints/). I take great offense at this comment. I have worked with many special needs kids in my lifetime and they are some of the hardest workers Heavenly Father has on this Earth. They carried me when I was at my lowest. They were examples of pure Christlike love and unfaltering service. They were little angels sent by God to carry me through the hardest points in my life, and anyone who does not understand this statement should go and work with them. Go and be around them just for a short while and they will learn more of Heavenly Father's love than they will in a lifetime of church attendance. In short, Mr. Brown has a lot of knowledge but I think he misunderstands the purpose, the ideal, and the spirit of this poem and he certainly has no grasp of the importance of every one of God's children.
Hi! Call me Red. I am a happily married, recent college graduate. I'm also a writer, and a poet, and I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. These are my opinions on articles, current events, movies, books, places, and people. I hope you enjoy it.