A story is told of a woman who is looking for her son as sacrament meeting is about to start. She looks everywhere and finally finds him outside the church, under a tree. She says gently, "son, church is about to start - why don't you come in?" He scuffs his shoes, and says "but...nobody in there likes me!" She replies: "son, you have to come in, you're the Bishop."
I don't know why I find that joke so funny, but I do. At its heart, it reminds us that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our leaders are *us* - they are fallible human mortals like ourselves. It can be frustrating in many ways, and there are certainly drawbacks to a lay clergy instead of a professional one. But one of the benefits in my mind is that we get to rub shoulders with our leaders and recognize their flaws in a shared community where we are trying to work together. After having a difficult calling ourselves, we are also hopefully more empathetic and less judgmental of those who have that calling after us. I know, after serving in multiple Relief Society presidencies in various capacities, that I will never judge another Relief Society President, because I've seen firsthand that it's hard!
Expecting perfection of anyone or anything is asking for disappointment. Placing an expectation of perfection on people can also cause anxiety for them as they strive to live up to the impossible standard we've created for them. This is true of our general church leaders, including our prophet. We need to do a better job of recognizing that the prophets, apostles, general relief society presidents are just people, doing the best they can to translate celestial ideas into imperfect language. In a church with millions of people, there are going to be a lot of different ways to say and do things, and we need to be better at being okay with that.
Similarly, expecting perfection of political leaders is just as infeasible. In the 2024 U.S. election, we seem to be headed to a rematch between Trump and Biden. When it comes to these two men, to me it is the easiest choice I've ever had when presented with voting! One man has 91 criminal indictments, insults anyone who disagrees with him, is vindictive and angry, and has cheated on all three of his wives! Further, he was a terrible and ineffective president, as many of his former employees have testified.
Biden isn't perfect, but he's a good and decent man who tries to do the right thing. I do worry about his age, but honestly I would prefer a good old guy over a bad young one (and Trump is no spring chicken himself). There's an old saying that "you shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." In politics as in life, there is no perfection, but Biden is a pretty good option and in my opinion has been an effective president who's earned reelection. Nobody's perfect, but we need to be okay with that.
