Becoming a Somebody

“If you consider yourself a nobody and do nothing to improve yourself to become a somebody, you truly will end up being a nobody.” She, no doubt, understood the power and capacity of every soul for self-improvement.

It is highly doubtful that there is even one soul upon the earth, regardless of station or age, who does not have ample room for personal growth and improvement. Quoting the words of one of the Lord’s prophets: “If we are no better tomorrow than we are today, we are not very useful.” (David O. McKay, Pathways to Happiness [Bookcraft, 1957], p. 292.)

The sad part of humanity seems to be the utter lack of desire, in the lives of many, to really do something about enlarging the vistas of their existence. A distinguished doctor made the observation that “for the great majority of people, the good life is identical with trivial entertainment, cheap music, superficial writing, and an unending stream of visual trash. Their life is divorced from an enthusiastic faith in the future. It is focused on immediate pleasures sustained by a simplification of the grave problems pressing upon them.” (Dr. E. A. Gutkind, Quote—the Weekly Digest, vol. 51, no. 4, quote 32.)

If a man achieves worldly success and does not blend into his life a program of self-improvement to bring about a sensible balance, he no doubt will end up as a failure. He may win the honor of men, but what about his salvation—his eternal future?”

-John H. Vandenberg
“Becoming a Somebody”
1973