Standing for Something

Standing for Something is a book written by Gordon B. Hinckley, the former prophet and president of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is subtitled, “10 Neglected Virtues that Will Heal our Hearts and Homes.” It is the first book President Hinckley had published by a secular (non–Latter-day Saint) publisher, and the book is geared primarily toward those who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ. It is written for everyone, and is somewhat of a plea for society to return to certain core values that have been neglected and which are necessary to reverse the rising tide of broken homes, neglected children, and the increasingly uncivil tone of public discourse.

The values which President Hinckley highlights are:

• Love
• Honesty
• Morality
• Civility
• Learning
• Forgiveness
• Thrift and Industry
• Gratitude
• Optimism
• Faith

The book includes a foreword by Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes," who has befriended President Hinckley, and has endorsements from such American leaders as Senator Joe Liberman and William Bennett.

Of the book, Amazon.com says:

Virtue is too often neglected, if not scorned or ridiculed as old-fashioned, confining, unenlightened," laments author Gordon Hinckley, a 90-year-old ordained leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Even as he enumerates all of America's social ills (including $482 billion a year spent on gambling, rampant child neglect and abuse, school massacres, a pervasive deterioration of values) Hinckley believes there is a remedy. Chapter by chapter Hinckley presents 10 old-fashioned virtues that will return America to the glory envisioned by its founding fathers. These virtues include Love, Honesty, Morality, Civility, Learning, Forgiveness, Thrift and Industry, Gratitude, Optimism, and Faith.

Hinckley makes a compelling case for every one of these virtues, quoting extensively from the Bible but mostly using convincing personal anecdotes (after all, he is an elder with 90 years worth of stories and wisdom). In his glowing foreword, Mike Wallace (of 60 Minutes fame) writes that Gordon Hinckley is an "optimistic leader of the Mormon Church who fully deserves the almost universal admiration that he gets." Clearly, Hinkley has struck a resounding chord with the American populace, including dyed-in-the-wool New York cynics such as Wallace. Word of this book is rapidly spreading across America as simple folk clamor to steer their lives and country with a more virtuous compass.