Brother Miller

Brother Miller was a former bishop, nearly retired caucasian 7th grade English teacher with an afro. He was very well spoken, and his grammar was impeccable, but something set him apart from all of the other “old” people of the ward. He got along best with those nearly a fifth his age. He wasn’t afraid to have fun, but at the same time, know when it was time to be serious. I have the privilege of to this day calling “Bro Mill”, as he likes to be called, one of my best friends.

He showed me that there are a lot of boring people out there and that there is nothing wrong with having fun and cracking jokes. I don’t want to be bored by someone to stand up there and read at me. We both like interactions, and when all we are doing is reading from a manual or rehashing word for word some already before given talk in sacrament things end up going down hill pretty fast. I feel that all to often people fall into this rut and don’t realize it, but end up justifying it because it’s spiritual. We don’t have to be crying to feel the spirit.

This being said, how does this translate to speeches or talks. Bro Mill would catch my attention and make me laugh almost immediately so I would give him my complete attention. Most often this is done through a sarcastic comment, a subtle joke, not a lame one, or through the telling of a great story with lots of embellishments but that still actually applies to something. Then I would be hooked for the rest of what he had to say and would end up learning something from him every time he spoke.