Almost everyday I get an email telling me that my cousin, Andrea, has updated her Good Reads activity....So I take a peak, and get really excited when I see what she has been reading.  Then I remember that my reading is inhibited by a 5 minute time span as of the last 10 years.  At which point, despite my deepest desires, my eyelids shut and I am lost in a world of  SLEEP!  Don't get me wrong, I love sleep, but I LOVE to read!

However, I HAD to go after the last book she added to her Good Reads profile.  And I WILL FINISH IT!  IF it takes me 5 months of 5 minutes! The title, "Team of Rivals!"  (An exploration of Abraham Lincoln's life, presidency, and cabinet as a quick synopsis)  Call me strange, but I LOVE stuff like this!

Today, my five minutes fit in PERFECTLY with the activity for the day.  If you didn't know, today and tomorrow is General Conference!  Which I love, even more than my Founding Father Obsession!

Okay, you have to bear with me as I make you read just 6 short paragraphs from this book, and then tie all my thoughts together.  Just so you know, we enter upon the subject of a man named Seward, a political rival of Abraham Lincoln, and although not my favorite character, he had principles.

"Meanwhile, he continued to speak out on behalf of black citizens.  In March 1846, a terrifying massacre took place in Seward's hometown.  A 23 year old black man named William Freeman, recently released from prison after serving five years for a crime it was later determined he did not commit, entered the home of John Van Nest, a wealthy farmer and friend of Seward's.  Armed with two knives, he killed Van Nest, his pregnant wife, their small child, and Mrs. Van Nest's mother.  When he was caught within hours, Freeman immediately confessed.  He exhibited no remorse and laughed uncontrollably as he spoke.  The sheriff hauled him away.....
Investigation revealed a history of insanity in Freeman's family.  Moreover, Freeman had suffered a series of floggings in jail that had left him deaf and deranged.  When the trial opened, no lawyer was willing to take Freeman's case.   The citizens of Auburn had threatened violence against any member of the bar who dared to defend the cold blooded murderer.  When the court asked, "will anyone defend this man?"  a "deathlike stillness pervaded the crowded room," until Seward rose, his voice strong with emotion and said, "May it please the court, I shall remain counsel for the prisoner until his death!"
Seward's friends and family....criticized Seward for his decision.  Only Frances (his wife) stood proudly by her husband during the outburst that followed, assuring her sister that "he will do what is right.  He will not close his eyes and know that wrong is perpetrated."  To her son Gus she noted, that, "there are few men in America who would have sacrificed so much for the cause of humanity-he has his reward in quiet conscience and a peaceful mind...
In his summation, he pleaded with the jury not to be influenced by the color of the accused man's skin.  "He is still your brother, and mine...Hold him then to be a man."  Seward continued, "I am not the prisoner's lawyer...I am the lawyer for society, for mankind, shocked beyond the power of expression, at the scene I have witnessed here."  he argued that Freeman's conduct was "unexplainable on any principle of sanity."
There was never any doubt that the local jury would return a guilty verdict.  In due time, gentlemen of the jury,"  Seward concluded, "when I shall have paid the debt of nature, my remains will rest here in our midst, with those of my kindred and neighbors.  It is very possible they may be unhonored, neglected, spurned!  But , perhaps years hence, when the passion and excitement which now agitate this community shall have passed away, some wondering stranger, some lone exile, some Indian, some negro, ay erect over them a humble stone, and thereon this epitaph, "He was Faithful!"

I find in Seward and John Adams (who once represented the ever-unpopular British, because of principle), something so STABILIZING!  A world where people act on Belief instead of acting like life is one CONTINUOUS ELECTION CYCLE!  Where words and actions depend upon the moment, momentum, and feeling in the crowd.

How utterly EXHAUSTING, and CONTINUALLY UN-NERVING it would be to base my life on the EVOLVING nature of man's whims!  (not always influenced by thebest of sources)!

I find my deepest gratitude lies in an unchanging God! Defined Doctrine! and living by principle supplies my greatest peace!

This weekend and everyday of my life, I am reminded why I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Ltter Day Saints!