A significant aspect of human nature is a need to be validated. Often, this is sought by being noticed. A desire to be noticed begins in the youngest child and continues to the oldest person. Society readily acknowledges and pays homage to this need. Appreciation is given at the birth of a child and soon the infant coos and plays to the attention of its mother. An oldster is feted with various appreciations, and later praised at funerary rites. Between those two beginnings and endings, as Shakespeare said,

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances ... ("As You Like It," by William Shakespeare).

If one aspect of this world is as a stage, it was created that way for a purpose. Said the prophet Jeremiah: "by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding" (Jeremiah 51:15).

On this earthly stage, as Lehi tells us, men and women "have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon. ..." (2 Nephi 2:26).

One way people are acted upon is through the attention of others. Our seeking validation by attention has significant power in society. It is one means by which society enforces, for good or evil, its values. When a neighborhood notices, a resident is inclined to mow his lawn; when a state looks, a person feels the attention like a laser and is never quite the same; when the nation looks, even its praise can be enervating. Its censure? Devastating. Today's world literally has become a stage where at any moment any person's actions can be viewed on any continent.

The Creator of this earth gave guidance on what should be our behavior as the world watches. The Savior's words, illuminated by the Joseph Smith Translation, are:

"Therefore, let your light so shine before this world, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven ..." (Matthew 5:16 JST, changes italicized).

Letting our light so shine before the world does not mean we are charged with excelling upon the world's oh-so compelling stage. We are asked rather, to "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

Most of us have never and will never face the trial of widespread renown. We cannot judge others who have stepped upon the world's stage for good or ill; but offer our love and faith. We can individually follow the Savior's advice and remember that nothing in this world is as vital to our progress — as individuals and as a people — as personal righteousness, kept bright and shining with diligence and repentance. Always remembering that the object of our light is to glorify not ourselves, but our Father Who is in heaven.

Exemplars shine forth as good people live righteously in the home, and in fields of medicine, science, technology, sports, politics, industry, the arts, education and maintenance.

When people "act for themselves" to seek the welfare of another, that action spirals upward, helping those who do and those who see. Righteous actions validate the doer, and watchers are edified.

However, too often in our quest for attention, we begin to take on a bit of worldliness and our personal wattage suffers. The light that the Savior asks us to let shine changes from the candle of the Lord to the florescence of ego, which flickers and extinguishes when our turn comes to exit the world. If a person is outwardly reputable but inwardly carnal and selfish, those actions spin downward in a degrading spiral. Then "their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed" (Doctrine and Covenants 1:3), and they will know what it means to be acted upon, a de-validating experience.

In Old Testament times, the Lord warned that the earth will not always tolerate ever-increasing downward spirals:

Because it was defiled, "the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. ..."

Do not commit abominations "That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you" (Leviticus 18:25, 28).

We, as disciples of Christ, can let our lights so shine before this world, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven; in so doing, our light will also shine on the earth below. The more we "glorify our Father who is in heaven," the more He validates us and, at sundry times, He may "delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness" (Doctrine and Covenants 76:5).

As we "act well our parts" in this life and gain our validation, let us so shine in personal righteousness.