Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
I've felt that something was "off" about President Monson for a long time. I mean that the President Monson of now isn't exactly the same guy I grew up with. The sparkle in his eye is gone. He's feels a half-beat off. He's not nearly as dynamic as we might have expected him to be as prophet. He lacks the warmth and charisma of a President Hinckley.
And this might entirely be explained by cognitive impairment. But I don't see that as a big issue. It's certainly not a scandal, if true. It's just the decline of the human body and mind that is natural to our species. And we have a system set up to help us in such situations. We have presidencies and quorums that act as checks and balances.
Now I suppose the critics might argue that there should be more transparency in cases where this occurs. Thus it is a "lie". It's a hard thing for all of us to handle in our lives.
I had a moment this weekend where I asked my father to open up the hood of the truck he used to own. I popped the latch from inside and my father told me he didn't know how and couldn't do it. (!!!) Now in this case I don't think it's due to dementia or cognitive impairment, but certainly the thought crossed my mind.
It's usually a gradual slide into impairment. Thus it's hard to know what to report and when. It's the rare person that announces to the world "I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, so though I appear pretty normal to you now, that will soon change over the next few years." I've read of people doing this, but it isn't common.
I could personally embrace a leader with known cognitive problems, believing that the quorum and presidency would look after him. It wouldn't damage my testimony. The same thing will happen to me most likely, if I live long enough. I'll be the old guy repeating the same stories over and over, forgetting things left and right.
My grandfather had sudden impairment. He had a stroke, and was never the same after it, though he lived many years longer. His personality was very different afterwards. He was not the same person at all. It was hard on me, to know what to make of that. But such is life.
If President Monson of my youth is largely gone, I can feel sad about that. But I had that, and it was something. And that's ok.
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Well stated. I have no medical training, so obviously it's even harder for me to know what I'm seeing when someone of that age seems different. I agree he doesn't seem to be exactly as he once was. We've seen this happen before with previous prophets, but I guess you'd have to be of a certain age now to remember when President Hinckley was a counselor who had to carry most of the load for a couple of prophets before he himself became the president. It doesn't seem all that long ago to me, but I guess it's been nearly 30 years.