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A Story for Teens
By Bob Lonsberry
This is the story of Cameron White and some choices he made.
It ends beneath an underpass with the bishop hanging upside down, crumpled
inside what remained of the family car. There had just been a hellacious
collision and the Jetta came to a rest ripped to smithereens, a jumble of
broken glass and twisted metal.
They were a short distance from the chapel and almost as close to their
home.
In pain, the bishop thought first of his family, and looking around
discovered what had been done in an instant.
His wife, pregnant with a baby boy, sitting beside him in the front seat,
was dead. His 11-year-old son was dead in the back seat, and so was his
9-year-old daughter. His 6-year-old son was alive but had suffered a major
brain injury.
That’s where it ended.
It began at Cameron White’s house.
By all accounts it is a happy home. The Whites seem to be faithful and
successful people. Neighbors describe them as strong and good. And Cameron
is their youngest son.
He is 17, with three years on the varsity football team. An Eagle Scout and
Seminary student, and active member of his Priests Quorum. He is a Mormon
kid growing up like so many other Mormon kids in Utah .
He has had the advantage of a loving, gospel-centered home, and a ward,
school and community support system designed to give him every opportunity
to grow into a righteous and useful man.
Like so many LDS youth, he had benefit of being taught the gospel and the
importance of faith in Jesus Christ. He has been instructed countless times
about the commandments the Lord has given to protect and bless his life.
And still, police say, he was behind the wheel of a speeding truck, in the
wrong lane, roaring head-on against traffic, with almost twice the legal
limit of alcohol in his bloodstream. As the bishop swerved to get out of
his way, witnesses said Cameron White swerved as well, directly into the
Jetta.
That’s how he became a killer.
Cameron White, a senior in high school, crawled out of the wreckage of his
truck and ran several blocks before police caught up with him. When ordered
to take a field sobriety test, police said, he responded that he couldn’t,
that he was too drunk.
Word of the tragedy spread quickly and soon another bishop received a phone
call telling him that one of his families needed him. The Dornys had lost
their pregnant daughter and two of her children in a terrible car wreck.
Before he could leave to go to their assistance, the phone rang again.
It was a call from another family in his ward.
It was also about a terrible car wreck.
It was from the Whites. Cameron White’s parents. They were calling to say
that their son was in trouble.
The Whites live about 100 yards from the Dornys. Neighbors say they’ve been
friends and in the same ward for about 20 years.
And their bishop carried the news to the Dornys that their daughter and
grandchildren had been killed by their neighbor, the boy who sometimes
blesses the Sacrament.
This is the story of Cameron White and some choices he made.
This is the story of an LDS kid who memorized the Articles of Faith, sang
in the Primary presentations, had family prayer and grew up in a good
Mormon home. This is the story of an LDS kid a lot like you.
A kid who heard but did not do, promised but did not fulfill, professed but
did not practice. A kid who did not understand what a commandment is.
It is a protection, not a punishment. A shield, not a chain. It is a
warning from a loving heavenly parent. The Lord gives us commandments not
to make us miserable, or to deprive us of enjoyments, but to keep us out of
trouble, to spare us the miseries and sufferings that are eventually and
unavoidably tied to unrighteous conduct.
Commandments are not given for God’s benefit, but for ours. They are rules
of safety, akin to a parent telling a child not to stick things in a light
socket.
But Cameron White didn’t listen.
Not that night behind the wheel.
And see what has come. Think about what happened. Imagine what has been
lost. List the victims. Contemplate the emotions. Count the cost.
And think about yourself.
Think about the consequences of your own choices. Are they apt to be joy
and peace, or pain and suffering? Do they have the potential to go
devastatingly wrong? Could they leave blood on your hands?
If not the blood of an innocent family, then of an innocent Lord who was
crucified for us and because of us.
This isn’t a scare tactic, this is a true story. This is a lesson in the
power of personal choice, and the importance of righteous choice.
This is the story of Cameron White.
But it’s really about you.
And what you will decide your story will be.
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