I’m about to admit something that says way too much about me. My name is Courtney, and I like the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon. There. I said it. I know, it’s ridiculously stupid, and maybe even uncomfortable at times, but I find myself laughing out loud, and I’m afraid I even let out a snort or two the last time I watched it.
Why did I just confess this, you ask? Well, believe it or not, I actually find some interesting analogies in the show. Let me explain.
Last week, Napoleon’s friends were upset at each other, so he was trying to find a way to get them to talk. Naturally, he set up a trap. This was no ordinary Mystery Inc. trap, this was a good, old-fashioned, catch-a-rabbit-with-a-carrot trap. Deb came walking into the school hall way to find various signs with “Free Girl Clothes” hanging all around with arrows pointing the way under a giant box propped up with a stick. Well, you can guess what happened: Deb said, “I like girl clothes,” and the next thing you know she’s tied up on a chair in the gymnasium—and no free clothes.
How many times do people offer lovely speeches with lofty promises and high hopes only to end up giving an empty box?
Politicians may dangle budget reform and tax relief, advertisers dangle weight-loss and instant beauty, TV shows dangle popularity and style, but those carrots just often lead to, that’s right, an empty box.
We live in a tough world. Trying to rear righteous children with good hearts and strong spirits can be extremely challenging. Trying to navigate political winds and social storms is very difficult. With so many voices calling out, it can be hard to know which ones will lead to happiness and which ones will lead to emptiness.
Thank goodness we have help. Barbara Thompson, a counselor in the general Relief Society presidency said, “Fortunately, we are not left alone in our efforts. The greatest help we will have in strengthening families is to know and follow the doctrines of Christ and rely on Him to help us.”
In the Book of Mormon Alma reminded us that the gospel has “a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just.” He said the word of the Lord had “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5).
What would Jesus do? What would He say? What does the Spirit tell me? Pretty simple.
So, the next time you see a “Free girl clothes” sign, ask yourself, “Will that really lead me to frilly skirts and ruffly blouses, or is it just an empty box ending up with my being tied up in the dark gym?”
