Years after the end of the American Civil War, retired Southern General Edward Porter Alexander pondered the way his life had gone and wondered whether, if he had to do it again, he still would have retired his commission in the U.S. Army and joined the confederacy.

He concluded it was a difficult question. Then he added this sage wisdom borne of age and experience: "When I was young I was willing to take risks and I would take them not only for myself but for those dependent upon me as well. I did not then as fully realize, as I now do, how inexorable are the consequences of mistakes — that sins may be repented of, and, we hope, forgiven, but mistakes laugh at repentance and go on piling up the consequences." (Fighting for the Confederacy, the Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander, Chapel Hill.)

This graduation season is an opportunity for many to ponder the future, with its potential and promise. Unfortunately, too many young people sacrifice much of this without fully realizing it. They approach sin and its consequences lightly. They rationalize that actions and decisions made early in life have little meaning because they can be cast aside like old clothing and repented of later when they want to serve a mission or marry in the temple. They feel a need to "sow wild oats" and would don an attitude that longs to "enjoy" sin for a season before settling into serious adulthood. Such people sound very much like those the prophet Nephi foresaw would come in the last days when he said:

"And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God — he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. (2 Nephi 28:8.)

But does a sinner ever hurt only himself or herself? Are actions committed in a vacuum, to be abandoned at will without any lingering effects? Of course not. A lie is told for personal gain at the expense of someone else's integrity. A person whose words were twisted by another must live with a diminished reputation, and the neighbor who finds himself in a pit, whether financial or otherwise, may need years to dig out if he has not been ruined all together.

The sinner goes through life as if armed with a baseball bat, smashing windows and priceless objects with abandon, never thinking that true repentance requires an effort to restore what was damaged. Many sins have consequences that make this virtually impossible. Thus, a drug addict or a cigarette smoker may repent and abandon the harmful behavior, but he may not be able to reverse the health problems already set in motion. An adulterer may forsake the sin but never be able to restore families that have been shattered. Even a little lie can, like a small flame, build into a raging forest fire that cannot be brought under control.

An attitude that sees sin as something to be enjoyed ignores the intense suffering the Savior endured so that we may repent and qualify ourselves to return into the presence of our Heavenly Father: "Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit — and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink." (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18.) It ignores the real cost of transgression and its inevitable companions, pain and sorrow. It ignores the fact that no one knows when mortality will end; that death can sneak up on the young as well as the old.

That is why Amulek spoke with a sense of urgency as he warned people, "I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end." (Alma 34:33.)

In coming days, many young people will receive diplomas and attend graduation ceremonies, also known as "commencements" because they signal the beginning of adult life. If Gen. Porter were invited to speak at one of these, what would he say? No doubt, he would urge graduates to choose their paths carefully and to consider the long-term effects of their actions on themselves as well as on those who will come to depend on them. It is sound advice today as much as it was in the 19th century.