Wade Jacosby special edition 7

No Name, played by Clint Eastwood in celebrated films. Who could possibly ever
come up with that comparison? Only Wade.
Forrest was the perfect agent, doing whatever his superior wished. Castanza was, in
Wade’s memorable words: “marginally competent, and always on the take. Principals
do get some work out of this kind of agent -- otherwise they would terminate the
contract -- but it’s always a close call on whether the costs outweigh the benefits.” And
the Man with No Name was a nightmare, hiring himself out to two warring families at
the same time and playing them off each other to maximize his profits.
To anyone wondering whether agent strategies mattered, there is no need to read the
rest of the article. Case opened, stated, and closed in two unforgettable paragraphs.
But there is yet another dimension of Wade, that of a humble person of faith. I wish
to close with his own words, as good writing mattered a lot to Wade and he was a
master. In stake conference a few years ago, Wade was asked to explain why he joined
the church and why he stayed. He told of joining because of a scoutmaster who took
a strong interest in him, driving far out of his way to pick up Wade for activities, and
how what scoutmaster re-molded him.
BY DARREN HAWKINS
AT THE FFHSS ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
ISSUE
31
A TRIBUTE TO
WADE
17
In Wade’s words:
“Though I now had better self esteem, a better understanding of what a kid
was worth, I still had no clear idea how a life should be lived. I recognized my
weaknesses…but had no clue how to fix them.
I also saw that I was still capable of hurting others. My own efforts to diagnose,
let alone fix, my shortcomings never seemed to work very well. I wondered and
doubted whether there was a way out. This is where the Atonement came in. I
came to see the Atonement as a kind of mysterious act that I did not understand
but I knew could work.”
Wade then discussed how the Atonement was his best chance to meaningfully turn to
others. In his words again, “This church didn’t just give me a way to the Atonement,
but it taught me a hundred practical things to do to help other people get there too.
Could [we and] the Church do better? Yeah, we’re good at serving one another, but
we have lots to learn about serving the truly needy. We should be more horizontally
ecumenical in our service across religions and more vertically focused on our poorest
neighbors, as this increasingly brutal economy wears down hard working people of
faith, of damaged faith, and of no faith at all. Still, there’s nowhere I can learn these
lessons better than here. So, returning finally to the Stake Presidency’s question to me
about why I felt invited and why I stayed, I guess you might say that I came for the
camping and stayed for the Atonement.”
Wade, we all now desperately want to “be more horizontally ecumenical in our service
across religions and more vertically focused on our poorest neighbors.”We thank you
for showing us how to do this. We love you and miss you.
-Darren Hawkins
THE SYAHIM MAG
16