'It is our job' to make a difference
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President Hinckley met with members of the 14 stakes in the Manhattan temple district in a member fireside on June 12, the evening prior to the dedication. The fireside, broadcast to stake centers in the temple district, followed a two-hour jubilee put on by the youth in the temple district.
President Hinckley recounted a fond memory of his wife, Marjorie, who was invited to speak in that hall in a regional conference some years earlier.
"She was a small woman," President Hinckley began. "She sort of kicked up her heel at the back and said, 'Who would ever dream that a little girl from Nephi, Utah, would ever dance on the stage of Radio City Music Hall.' "
President Hinckley turned his attention to the challenges of the day and said, "This is a very sober time in the history our nation. Buried yesterday (June 11) was President Ronald Reagan. I do not care whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. He was a man who left his mark upon the world. He was a good friend of the Church."
After recounting many experiences with him, President Hinckley said, "I counted him as a friend. I have tonight in my shirt these cuff links which he gave me, which have on their face the seal of the President of the United States of America, and on the reverse side the name of Ronald Reagan."
He continued, "Our nation is engaged in a terrible and great conflict. I hope that there is not a day that passes that everyone of us does not get on our knees and pray for this land of which we are a part, and that those who preside may be guided and blessed to do as the Lord would have it done."
Turning to the youth he said, "You are a tremendous generation. How fortunate you ought to feel that you are a part of this great season in the history of the world. . . . I do not know why you and I were spared to come forth at this time, but somehow in the great providence of the Lord it has come to pass. . . .
"We have a tremendous responsibility," he continued. "I do not hesitate to say that so much depends on us. . . . It is our job here and now to do our best to make a difference."
Write that thought in your journal, he admonished. "Keep this thought before you: 'I will make a difference because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.' " He encouraged everyone to look at themselves and resolve to make a difference.
He referred to Elder L. Tom Perry, Elder Robert D. Hales and Elder Henry B. Eyring who had offered comments about their youth in New York during video segments in the earlier youth jubilee and said, "They made a difference. They worked with others, but their light shone forth in such a way that nobody detracted from it. They stood out among their associates. I have confidence that because of their manner of living and the things for which they stood so resolutely, the lives of others were blessed for good."
Turning to the youth, President Hinckley said, "What you have done tonight, my young friends, here in the Music Hall has been a wonderfully significant thing. . . . What a tremendous effort has gone into this.
"I said to the Brethren one day, 'Let us make the gospel and the Church fun for the young people of the Church. Bring in some fun for the young.'
"You can be serious, and you must be serious. . . . But you can have a little fun along with it. And what a tremendous job you have done tonight. . . . What a tremendous joy it is to be with you."
President Hinckley then told how he received his patriarchal blessing at age 11. He never read it again until his mission. "I read it then, and it said that I would raise my voice in defense of the truth in the nations of the earth."
He told how he traveled to several nations in Europe following his mission and thought he had fulfilled that blessing.
"Well, marvelous things have happened since. . . . The more I have traveled and seen people, those in the Church and those out of the Church, the more grateful I feel for this wonderful gospel," he concluded.
