Today's Maxwell Quote

From A Time to Choose (1972), 1:

Some assessment of our strategic situation is required. We have a larger corps—quantitatively and qualitatively—of outstanding, almost elite, young people in the Church than we have ever had in this dispensation. They are committed. They want to serve. They believe the Gospel is true. They strive to apply it, and have already made some difficult life choices consistent with their beliefs. They are vibrant with burgeoning knowledge and increasing commitment.

Not all LDS youth, however, fit in this category. There is also a wide center band of reasonably active and informed young Mormons in the spectrum who are impressive, but who are not yet as thoroughly committed and versed in the Gospel as the "elite." To one side of the spectrum's center are numerous inactive LDS youth who are basically good, but bored. They feel no need for Church activity or prefer the illusory "autonomy" of non-involvement with the Church. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the disenchanted, the dissenters, the rebels and the defectors. Some of the rebels are more distant from us than any star and more determined in their differences than ever. Their rebellion is not simply reflexive—some of it is issue-oriented. Fortunately, some of the latter group are still of active concern to their LDS peers who desire to reach them.