America is hurting. Anger is in the air. Politics turns opponents into enemies, neighbors eye each other with suspicion and online insults drown out quieter voices. Violence, once distant, now feels dangerously close.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 28, 2025, news broke of the passing of President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 101. His loss is deeply felt, but his life is more than a memory. It is a rebuke to the idea that hatred has the last word. He taught and showed that love is stronger than contempt, peace more powerful than rage.
Before the pulpit, President Nelson was literally in the business of healing hearts. In the 1950s, he helped pioneer the heart-lung bypass machine that made open-heart surgery possible. Thousands of lives were saved because of that work. That alone would have been a legacy worth celebrating.
But healing wasn’t just a profession; it became his way of being. In 1984, he left a celebrated medical career to serve as an apostle. Four decades later, as church president, he still fully dedicated his life to service. His message remained consistent: contention destroys, peace builds. He pled with listeners to be peacemakers, warning that anger is not strength but poison.
He wasn’t naive. He knew life is hard and disagreements are real. But he insisted the way we disagree matters. “True disciples of Jesus Christ,” he said, “are peacemakers.” Imagine if that simple truth guided our politics or our discourse online.
His teachings cut against the grain of our times. In his address “Let God Prevail,” he urged people to abandon pride and grudges, to stop sorting others into “us” and “them.” In "Overcome the World and Find Rest," he spoke to the exhaustion of our conflict-ridden culture, teaching that rest and resilience come from centering life on Christ.
What made his words compelling was that he lived them. He didn’t just preach gentleness; he embodied it. He saw his nation grow angrier and more divided, and responded by doubling down on kindness, patience and compassion.
So what does his example mean for us, here and now, in a frayed America?
First, healing is deliberate. Just as a heart doesn’t repair itself, a country doesn’t heal on its own. It takes people who put down the weapons of anger and pick up the tools of reconciliation.
Second, love is stronger than contempt. President Nelson never treated those who disagreed with him as enemies. He saw everyone as a child of God. That doesn’t erase disagreement, but it preserves dignity. If even a portion of us lived that truth, our civic life would be transformed.
Finally, peace is not weakness. A surgeon cannot be timid. Healing requires courage. President Nelson showed that being a peacemaker is not shrinking back but standing tall without striking out. It is possible to be both principled and kind.
Skeptics might dismiss this as idealism. Can love stand against hate? Can peace endure in a violent world? President Nelson’s life gave a clear answer: yes, but only if enough of us try. Laws and policies matter, but they cannot change hearts. He called for something deeper: a moral transformation.
In this, he stands alongside the great peacemakers of history who believed that humanity’s deepest wounds could be healed not by force but by love.
So the question is ours: will we honor his memory only in words, or will we take up his challenge? America needs peacemakers — parents who teach kindness, neighbors who choose courtesy, leaders who model restraint. Healing won’t be easy, but the alternative — division, violence, contempt as our common language — is no future at all.
Russell M. Nelson’s century-long life offers a coherent message for an incoherent age: Heal first. See others as God sees them. Let peace prevail over grievance. Live love in action, not just words.
As a surgeon, he repaired hearts. As a prophet, he sought to heal souls. As a citizen, he left an example America urgently needs. If we would honor him, we should imitate him. Love is stronger than hate, forgiveness is mightier than violence and healing is still possible for our hearts, our homes and our nation.
In an angry age, that is the antidote we need.