"I remember when one of our daughters went on a blind date. She was all dressed up and waiting for her date to arrive when the doorbell rang. In walked a man who seemed a little old, but she tried to be polite. She introduced him to me and my wife and the other children; then she put on her coat and went out the door. We watched as she got into the car, but the car didn’t move. Eventually our daughter got out of the car and, red faced, ran back into the house. The man that she thought was her blind date had actually come to pick up another of our daughters who had agreed to be a babysitter for him and his wife.
"We all had a good laugh over that. In fact, we couldn’t stop laughing. Later, when our daughter’s real blind date showed up, I couldn’t come out to meet him because I was still in the kitchen laughing. Now, I realize that our daughter could have felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she laughed with us, and as a result, we still laugh about it today.
"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."
- Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Come What May, and Love It," General Conference October 2008
Click here to read or listen to the full talk
Elder Wirthlin shared a personal story with a great moral. Sometimes particularly difficult events occur in our lives, and we're faced with the challenge of how to respond. In Elder Wirthlin's story it was a choice between either succumbing to embarrassment and humiliation, or responding with good humor. In our lives sometimes the alternatives are more serious or challenging, as we confront discouragement, suffering, pain, or any of a whole range of challenges and difficulties that could lead us to "groan."
Approaching life with humor and a positive attitude is a great asset for successful living.
(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2019)
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