Transitional Characters

   I welcome  you to an adventure of Marriage, Families and Life.  We are living in a time of great need for families to come together in strength and love.  The very heart of our societies is crumbling before our eyes.  

The first subject I wish to discuss is transitional characters.  

The late Carlfred Broderick, a renowned marriage and family scholar at the University of Southern California, coined the term transitional character and described it this way:

A transitional character is one who, in a single generation, changes the entire course of a lineage. The changes might be for good or ill, but the most noteworthy examples are those individuals who grow up in an abusive, emotionally destructive environment and who somehow find a way to metabolize the poison and refuse to pass it on to their children. They break the mold. They refute the observation that abused children become abusive parents, that the children of alcoholics become alcoholic adults, that "the sins of the fathers are visited upon the heads of children to the third and fourth generation." Their contribution to humanity is to filter the destructiveness out of their own lineage so that the generations downstream will have a supportive foundation upon which to build productive lives.

Usually those that have a desire to be a transitional character believe in some higher power that will drive them to change.  The scriptures have many stories of how a loving Father in Heaven helped many leaders to break the mold.  Let's discuss some stories.  

I did not immediately think of Abraham being a transitional charter but feel He is a prime example of a character that chose not to follow the bad example of his fathers. The scriptures in the book of Abraham are not immediately clear about circumstances leading to the falling away of the fathers. We know that Abraham was raised among the fathers whom had the Priesthood. We can assume that Abraham was taught the gospel because He had a desire to follow righteousness and receive his appointment to the Priesthood. Abraham was taught to be a follower of righteousness. He desired greater knowledge and lived his life to receive all that our Father had promised. He had the Priesthood conferred upon him from the fathers. However, it is very clear that being a covenant people of the Lord does not guarantee that you will follow righteousness. Abraham states that His fathers turned from their righteousness and began worshiping the gods of the heathen and it became needful for him to obtain another place of residence.

I can think of a transitional character from my own life. I will protect the good name of the characters involved. The story appears fictional but the events are true.

There was a man (Frank) whom was very influential and respected among his own peers. He was taught the gospel and lived a good life. He had a good reputation among judges, law enforcement officials and the medical community. He made a very good living in a well respected occupation. Frank fell in love with a wonderful woman (Betty) and brought three children into the world. As the children started to grow and become more independent in their teen age years, Betty started a small sandwich cafe for extra money. Life seemed to be filled with roses.

Frank began having close associations with many of his prestigious colleagues. He soon began staying out partying and drinking with them at night. These prestigious men of the world had a habit of getting drunk and beating their wives. Frank began following in the footsteps of his colleagues. Eventually the drinking led to gambling. When Frank would run out of money, He would steal money from Betty's sandwich shop to fuel his gambling habit. His gambling habit took precedence over providing and protecting his own family. Betty had to get a second night time job to make ends meet. Eventually the spousal abuse became so bad that Betty took the kids and moved away to another state to escape the wrath of alchohol and the desperation of gambling.

It did not take long for Frank to track the kids down. He showed up in the schools office one day and took the children. The children screamed and cried. Frank was awarded custody of the children due to his association with the judges of the land. It was stated that Betty abandoned the children. Frank would intercept letters that Betty would write to the children and then tell the children that their Mother did not love them.

Frank ultimately lost his job due to his gambling habit and feared that he would lose the kids as well. This caused him to remember the teachings of the gospel that he was taught in his youth. He began reading the scriptures and putting his life back on track. He changed from a man preoccupied with alchohol and gambling to being a Father to his children. Change took place but it took a long while and it was not easy.

Eventually the children tracked down Betty and told Frank that nothing would stop them from seeing her.

When Frank repented and turned to full activity in the gospel, he was truly a changed man through the miracle of the atonement.

This story is not about Frank as the transitional character. This is about the children. Franks behavior could have had a generational impact on the children. One of Franks children fell away from the gospel. The other 2 children stayed true to the knowledge of the Savior and continue to live lives free of the negative generational impact that could have occurred.

All of us are transitional characters at some point in our life. Personally I am not immune to the temptations of the last days. I have my own story to tell. We all have to make our personal transition to the life we choose to live. Having the knowledge of its potential impact on our future generations gives us a bigger "WHY" to pick ourselves up and apply the atonement to our lives.