PROVO — Disaster hit about 20 minutes into Lawrence R. Flake's presentation at BYU's Campus Education Week. No, I'm not talking so much about how he accidentally deleted his PowerPoint presentation on "Humor from Church History." No, I'm not talking about how the BYU professor of church history and doctrine pleaded for assistance from the crowd of about 500 people.
I'm talking about how my impulse to help him was a bad idea.
Before the disaster, Lawrence had been telling various humorous anecdotes from Mormon history.
Like how when President Gordon B. Hinckley was breaking ground for BYU's Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center, he said, "Ordinarily they don't name buildings for people until they're dead, but in this case (BYU) President Samuelson thought half dead was good enough."
"He never took himself too seriously," Flake said.
But President Hinckley knew that other people did, and would sometimes loosen up tension by playing off that seriousness. When the Orlando Temple was refurbished, Flake said President Hinckley noticed the chairs in the celestial room. "Purple! Purple chairs in the temple?" President Hinckley said as the temple presidency held their breaths. "I like it!"
Another time in a temple, President Hinckley noticed a sign to remind sealers to keep their weddings shorter: "Sealings are to last no more than 30 minutes." Flake said that when President Hinckley saw that he quipped, "I thought they were for eternity."
President Thomas S. Monson has a sense of humor, too. Flake somebody once asked President Monson about going goose hunting since President Spencer W. Kimball once admonished members to not shoot little birds for sport. "I think I'm OK on that," President Monson replied. "The birds I shoot are big — I don't shoot the little ones."
"Maybe humor is a gift of the spirit," Flake said. President James E. Faust often blessed children and grandchildren with a sense of humor. "I do this," President Faust said, "with the hope that it will help guard them against being too rigid, that they will have balance in their lives, and that situations and problems and difficulties will not be overdrawn."
Humor changes situations. Flake told about how the funeral of BYU President Rex E. Lee was very heavy and sad, until President Faust spoke. President Faust told the mourners how some people were complaining to Lee that the standards of admission to BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School were too stringent. One person said, "I don't think Abraham Lincoln could get into BYU Law School." Faust recalled Lee's reply: "Oh, he came by and applied, but he had a beard."
The atmosphere of the funeral changed, Flake said.
It was about this time that Flake's PowerPoint presentation died. "Maybe there is somebody else here that can make it work?" he said.
Unfortunately for him, I was the one who jumped up to the stage to help. He seemed grateful as I assessed the problem. It only took a few seconds before people started shouting advice and yelling helpful things like, "No! That's not right!" "Don't open that!" "No! No! No!"
I could almost hear the thoughts of the audience, "He has no idea what he is doing. Somebody call security."
In my defense, I know Windows XP and Mac systems pretty well, but I am not as familiar with Vista. But before I could fix the problem (and I was ever-so-close), the tech folks descended upon the laptop and I went back to my seat as the audience enthusiastically applauded their success.
Flake continued with a few more anecdotes. One was about Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve. After Elder Oaks' wife died, he was leaving his home one evening to go on a date. His daughter called after him, "Dad, remember who you are."
Nineteenth century Apostle Charles C. Rich baptized one of his children in February. He had to cut a hole in the ice to do it. When the boy came up out of the water, he said "Darn, that's cold." (Only he didn't say "darn.") Looking at his shivering son, Elder Rich said, "That didn't do you any good at all, did it?" And he put him under again.
Elder Joe J. Christensen, an emeritus member of the Quorums of the Seventy, used to be president of the Missionary Training Center. Flake said a man once approached Elder Christensen and asked him if he remembered his son from when he was in the MTC. Elder Christensen apologized and said he did not. "Thank heavens!" said the relieved man.
President George Q. Cannon, a counselor in the First Presidency during the late 19th century, had a brother who just couldn't quit smoking no matter how hard he tried. Flake said the brother went to President Cannon and asked for a blessing. In the blessing, President Cannon's brother was promised he would never smoke again. On the way out of the building, he fell on the ice and broke both arms. He was in plaster casts for six weeks. His wife fed him, but wouldn't give him cigarettes. "By the time he got the casts off, he was over smoking," Flake said.
It was, of course, hard to sulk about my failure at being a PowerPoint hero after Flake told so many humorous stories. But I still left quickly, and somewhat embarrassed when Flake had finished. As I ran out, I contemplated something Flake had quoted from Heber C. Kimball: "I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured when I have his spirit."
Of course, Heber C. Kimball never had to wrestle with Vista.
e-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com
RELATED MEDIA:
First Presidency Message: The Need for Balance in Our Lives by President James E. Faust, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency
E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com
More Education Week coverage online
To read more accounts of BYU Campus Education Week presentations, go to MormonTimes.com and click on "Lifestyle" and "Education." Among them are:
Blessings and the Joseph Smith family
Learning about life after life and the plan of salvation.
Parents should be careful about what type of phone they give their child.
The jailing of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Practical suggestions for keeping a spiritual book of remembrance.
George Washington was a man of true virtue.
Sharing hugs and insights about the Book of Mormon.