Two men, different lives

Two men died this week.

One has been all over the media, and there has been huge amounts of hype and commentary across the world. Twenty-eight year-old actor Heath Ledger died in his apartment from what appears to be an accidental drug overdose. He was lauded by many as the most promising actor of his generation. He chose unique and challenging roles, and never failed to look good.

The other will -- by comparison -- go largely unnoticed by the media. Sure, there's a story about it on MSNBC, and I saw a quick blurb on it this morning on CNN while I was walking to my desk at work, but it won't elicit the response or excitement that Heath Ledger's death did. (Side note: to find the story on CNN's website, I had to go to page three of the headlines published within the last 24 hours...it was buried beneath Dick Cheney's daughter endorsing Mitt Romney, and a mom accused of killing her 1-month-old baby via the microwave). Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Prophet of God, died last night.

President Hinckley was the Prophet of my youth and young adulthood. He is really the only one I remember as leader of the Church. I had been in bed already for 1/2 an hour last night when my mom called to tell me, and while I was talking to her, my sister-in-law beeped in to tell us the news as well. When Mom first told me, my reaction initially was "Oh no! That's too bad." As I thought about it more, though, I wasn't as sad as I always thought I would be.

He was 97 years old. Crass as this may sound, he had to die sometime. Ben and I had long since stopped praying for his health to sustain him, especially after Sister Hinckley died a few years ago. We still continued to pray for him and other leaders of the Church, that they would be able to continue to lead us in a way pleasing to the Lord, and that they would be upheld physically and spiritually as they needed, and as long as they needed, but that was about it.

So many wonderful things happened within and without the Church during President Hinckley's tenure as President. To name a few:

• temples (specifically the concept of smaller temples, and the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple)
• the Perpetual Education Fund
• the Church's Sesquicentennial celebration
• public image of the Church (through the Olympics and numerous interviews with huge media outlets)
• the building of the Conference Center (and renovations of the Salt Lake Tabernacle)
• The Family: A Proclamation to the World
• in 1995, when he became President of the Church, there were 9,024,368 members. At the end of 2006, there were 12,868,606, very likely to have surpassed 13M by now
• humanitarian aid throughout the world (flood relief in Louisiana several years ago, tsunami and hurricane relief more recently, vaccine programs in undervdeveloped countries, wheelchair access, to name only a few)

So while the world at large mourns Heath Ledger (and I don't want to diminish that, because it has strongly affected many people), I know that 13 million people throughout the world today are saddened by another man's passing, yet we have great reason to celebrate at the full and rich life he led.