Mosiah 29:31,37-38

Ever since I became a father of young children, my wife and I have put a good amount of effort into making the most of holidays by establishing traditions centered on the meaning of those holidays. One of our intentions was to at least highlight the meaning of the day instead of just letting it be a day off of work or school. Naturally, this lead me to study in depth before each holiday about the meaning. Recently, as the month of June 2021 came to a close, I began looking forward to the next upcoming holiday that we enthusiastically celebrate as a family: July 4th, which is also called Independence Day.

As I asked myself what the meaning behind this holiday is, I came to the rather quick conclusion that it is the American values of freedom and liberty that we celebrate, among others. And yet, something about this didn't seem to sit well with me. For nearly my whole life I had heard in the news, on social media, and in personal conversations a heavy focus on one, and only one, particular aspect of liberty: individual rights. There seemed to be a constant stream of public groups angrily calling upon government, church, or society to give them their rights. "We deserve the right to ..." the news would say. "Give us back our rights!", the posts on Facebook read. Our rights, our rights, our rights,... this was the only way freedom and liberty were talked about.

I certainly agreed that rights were a fundamental part of the American dream. Indeed, the Declaration of Independence is founded on the belief of every individual being endowed with certain unalienable rights. And yet I had learned from experience that rights, the permission and ability to act in a certain way, was not the full story of life's choices. Every choice of action, or even inaction, brings about a direct consequence. As many times as I had tried to disprove the bringing about of consequences from actions, not once had I been successful. Therefore, it seemed as if there was a portion of liberty that was missing when the American people only talked about rights.

Of course, as always, I found the Lord's words in The Book of Mormon to give a very enlightened answer. Near the middle of The Book, a very good king named Mosiah faces a difficult situation: he is getting old and none of his sons want to be the next king. After reflecting upon previous kings, some of which were unpredictably wicked, and the grievous consequences that came about because of them, King Mosiah changes the whole leadership of the people to be a system of judges without any king. Certainly, I reasoned, this story could shed some light on the true meaning of liberty since this was one outcome of the governmental change. As I read through the story, I came across a set of three verses that intrigued me a bit:

"For behold, I say unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings; therefore, their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings.

"And now it came to pass, after king Mosiah had sent these things forth among the people they were convinced of the truth of his words.

"Therefore they relinquished their desires for a king, and became exceedingly anxious that every man should have an equal chance throughout all the land; yea, and every man expressed a willingness to answer for his own sins."    ~ Mosiah 29:31,37-38

Yes, the people were able to get an equal chance (i.e. rights). But they also did so at the cost of any excuses for their iniquities being due to their kings. In other words, they realized that with every right came an increased responsibility. That was the missing piece of liberty! A need to acknowledge that the exercise of one's rights, either for good or bad, brings about consequences that are due to that very person's actions for which they must take full responsibility.

With every right, there is an associated responsibility. The right to the free exercise of religion gives us the responsibility to seek out religious truth. The right of freedom of speech is associated with a responsibility to use our speech to uplift society. The right to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances has the responsibility to speak up peacefully instead of riotously. The right to bear arms has the responsibility to use them for the protection of ourself and those around us. The right to vote gives us the responsibility to only vote for individuals who possess the values that will benefit society at large. And the list goes on, every right tied to a responsibility to exercise it properly. And if we fail to use our rights in the proper way, we must be willing to acknowledge our own fault when the negative consequences follow instead of attempting to place blame on another.

It is my personal belief that as we Americans seek to ensure that all citizens have their rights, we should also give special attention to the associated responsibilities. Rather than blaming the circumstances of our life on government leaders or other fellow citizens, we should focus on what we could have done differently that might have produced a different outcome. Instead of waiting for the government to give us further rights that we feel we deserve, we can fulfill the responsibilities associated with the rights we already have to actively produce a better outcome.

Yes, rights are an important American ingredient that everyone deserves to have regardless of race, gender, age, and origin. But having rights does nothing for us unless we exercise them. If we exercise them properly and fulfill their associated responsibility, we can claim full ownership of the positive outcomes that follow. If we instead exercise our rights improperly, then we must be equally willing to own our mistakes and learn to do better. It's time to move beyond a sole focus on our rights, and work towards doing the things that are right. With every right there is a responsibility.