I read a beautiful example of reacting to circumstances recently in the news. Ben Carson is a former member of the United States Cabinet as the Housing and Urban Development Secretary. In an interview he said:

 "I have to look at my own situation, born and growing up in dire poverty with a lot negativity around me, but also, recognizing that I lived in a place where, you know, through the help of my mother, who helped me to realize that I wasn't a victim, that I had access to all kinds of things. And [I] was able to go on, become a neurosurgeon, now a cabinet member, and these are things that we want people to recognize in our nation and that's why we want to create opportunities for them.⁶ "

I am grateful for so many Ben’s in the world and in my life that believe they can act and react, and who have disregarded the notion that there is no choice or no agency to change our circumstances, our character, our lives, our vision, or our direction. Agency is a constant reminder that decisions determine destiny, and not circumstances.

Nephi reminded us that anyone, despite any circumstances can be a Ben Carson when he said: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7).