President Hinckley taught positive change

Twp weeks ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley, the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away at the age of 97. He was tireless in travels, work and teachings.

Regardless of a person's religion — or no religion at all — he encouraged people of all ages and countries to "stand a little taller."

What I learned from him about creating positive change has been beyond calculation. Of all his wonderful qualities, I so appreciated his ability to be genuine, no matter the circumstance.

This has given me the courage to be "real," too. This includes when I unintentionally wore two different shoes to KSL Radio's downtown studio. Instead of spending the day mortified and barefoot, I shared my faux pas with listeners and had a fantastically connecting day.

Women all over seemed to have done the same thing. While on the elevator (while wearing said shoes), I laughed with another woman over it, and she shared how she wore two different shoes on the day she closed her best sales deal.

A small, insignificant experience, but one of hundreds that add up to a daily change in perspective and behavior.

Another aspect of President Hinckley's personality in which I delighted was his sense of humor. In the book "Glimpses Into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley," President Hinckley's wife tells of a difficult day with customary lightness.

After she and President Hinckley returned home from helping one of their children fix a shower, they found she had left a pot of spaghetti boiling on the stove. With the smoke and smell, President Hinckley pulled the hose from the garage and absent-mindedly turned on the tap, forgetting the spray sprinkler was still on.

"We looked at each other in total disbelief and wondered whatever was going to become of us. Like President Clark used to say, 'Old age is a blankety blank-blank."'

How many of us have had the same kind of day? And how comforting it is to know that someone rightly held in such high esteem by all had those days, too.

I remember listening to a talk by Sheri Dew, a former counselor in the General Relief Society presidency and President Hinckley's biographer, in which she shared an experience with President Hinckley. I'm drawing this from memory, but she apparently spoke with him about a decision she needed to make and felt she had waited too long to make it. Ultimately, she said, "President Hinckley, I just wish I was smarter," to which he replied, "I wish you were smarter, too."