In the wee hours of the morning I received a telephone call inviting me to the hospital to administer a priesthood blessing to Eric and Inez, a young couple who had been in a terrible automobile crash. Their bishop met me at the emergency room. Under the sweet influence of the Spirit, we administered holy oil and offered sincere prayers for these precious children of God. At their bedside I learned the tragic tale of how choices by one person create consequences for another. In the exercise of our moral agency, there is no such thing as a consequence-free choice.
The accident began as a celebration. Eric and Inez wanted to commemorate their wedding anniversary by worshiping in the temple. Dressed in their Sunday best, they got into their car and headed the twenty-two miles to the Lord’s sacred house. Because it was hot outside and they could barely afford the gasoline for the trip to Mesa, Eric shut off the air conditioner and rolled down his car windows to conserve fuel.
At the opposite end of town, a very different celebration took place. Three young men, marking the 21st birthday of the eldest, decided to party at a nude bar in Phoenix. There, they drank alcohol to excess. Leaving the bar with their convertible top rolled down, these drunk young men breezed through the streets of Phoenix telling jokes and laughing the entire length of a dangerous joy ride. Approaching a busy intersection, the boys blew a stop light, T-boning Eric’s car. Twisting metal crunched and exploded in a booming impact. The young men catapulted into the front windshield, their car hood blowing off and launching battery caps like a rocket. Battery acid spewed into Eric’s open window, spattering his eyes. The young men miraculously suffered nothing worse than bumps and bruises, but Eric and Inez were far less fortunate. Despite heroic efforts by Eric’s doctors to save his sight, the membrane of the left eye thinned over several weeks. Eventually, he lost the eye and was severely vision-impaired in his remaining eye.
Eight months after the crash, the young men were sentenced to prison. Each declared bankruptcy in order to avoid paying for Eric’s medical bills. The bar which served the boys was cited for numerous violations and fined. Inez would face months of physical rehabilitation, but would recover from her injuries. Eric’s vision loss aggravated his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (which he suffered as a veteran of Vietnam). Inez did her best to support and nurture her husband through difficult circumstances. It seemed that life had dealt an unfair blow at the hands of thoughtless, negligent young men.
Pleasure without consequence, self-reveling without responsibility, selfishness without restraint: Each of these character flaws was painfully present as three young men exercised their agency-their freedom to choose-by robbing Eric and Inez of their freedom from injury. While the natural man may select a foolish and destructive course of action, God will not intervene to rob men of their agency, even if it means bad choices by some may result in harm to others. Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught this eternal truth in General Conference: “God does not intervene to forestall the consequences of some persons’ choices in order to protect the well-being of other persons-even when they kill, injure or oppress one another-for this would destroy His plan for our eternal progress” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Love and Law,” Ensign, November, 2009; see also Alma 42:8).
Lacking a true understanding of agency, one might ask: Why would a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people-everything from wars, to political oppression, and even resource mismanagement to starve or kill innocent millions? No doubt, Eric and Inez felt the heavy weight of unfairness in their lives when they reflected on the senseless behavior of these young men.
God does not love us less because others oppress or injure us. Did He ignore the pioneers who suffered immeasurable loss on the frozen plains of Wyoming and Nebraska? Or did He love them (and us) enough to send His only begotten Son to suffer more than man can suffer, so that each of us, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, may enjoy the blessings of eternal life? Eric and Inez would tell you, as they told me, that the trial of their faith was but a small moment in the eternal course of their lives. Their hardship, though difficult and uninvited, only strengthened their resolve to remain faithful to the cause of Christ.
Our lives are inextricably intertwined. Each life affects another.
The good we do, the ill we elect, reverberates through neighborhoods, nations and generations. While we cannot control or always limit bad choices by some, which may victimize us or others, we can control our faith and faithfulness. Like Eric and Inez who remained humble and teachable servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, we also can forgive, forget, love and endure. At Inez’s funeral some years after that terrible accident, I remember thinking that, like the women of faith we read about in the scriptures, she was worthy of the eternal bond she had secured with Eric. Her husband’s loss of sight did not impair their spiritual vision. Their pain was not permanent and their love for each other overshadowed the unfair blow of the moment. They understood the Savior’s soothing promise to Joseph Smith in the Liberty Jail-worlds without end and peace to their souls, where: “thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but for a moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes” (D&C 121:7-8).
