This past week I've been thinking about the fall of Communist regimes around the world.
And I've been thinking about the flower gardens on Temple Square.To use a scrap of political jargon, I think they're oddly "linked."
Watching Communist governments explode has been quite a spectacle. And as Americans, we have the best seat in the house.
I've watched all the self-destruction with the fascination some people show when watching the demolition of buildings, and I've tried to learn a few lessons.
So far, I've decided the fatal flaw in the Communist thinking is this: Communists believe that inside our various clothes, cultures and climates, people are all just alike. That if we see enough newspaper stories and hear enough propaganda, we'll all react the same way. We'll share the same values, the same outlook, the same dreams and desires. We will become Che Guevara's "New Mankind."
And that's where the gardens come in.
I spent some time recently with Peter Lassig, the chief gardener on Temple Square. We talked about Earth with her 10,000 flowers, about the 500 varieties Peter works with.
It occurred to me then that the Communists and their failure to see the diversity of human beings, their failure to realize people must be dealt with "one on one," is as silly as Peter planting his 500 different seeds, watering them equally, giving them the same amount of sun and nutrients and expecting them to come up looking identical.
The name of the game in nature - and in human nature - is always diversity. Political and religious philosophies that see mankind as a lump will self-destruct.
There was a personal lesson for me to learn from the gardens as well: Take everyone on a "case by case" basis.
When I hear friends make generalizations about entire groups of people - women, Mexicans, Mormons, Catholics, professional athletes, even Communists - I hope I see a red flag of warning go up.
I hope I ask, "Which Catholic, or woman, or Communist, or athlete are you talking about?"
We lump people into groups because it's easy for us. It's tidy.
We should put ourselves out a little.
It's like a chapter I read in Martin Buber's book "I and Thou."
Buber talks about buying a newspaper from the same man on the same street corner for years.
In his mind, Buber lumped the man with the others in his own mental bin of "Street Vendors."
It was only when he realized the man had individual feelings, feelings for his family, his future - even specific feelings about selling newspapers to Martin Buber - that Buber felt he began to live.
From that point Buber built his philosophy of "I and Thou." Only when we see each other as "thou," he said, - as a one-of-a-kind pattern in life's kaleidoscope - do we really see.
It sounds to me like Communist countries around the world are beginning to see and live.
Maybe a trip through the Temple Square gardens could have saved them some time.