Goals and Commandments

Goal setting was easy as a missionary. Key indicators (activities that generally led to baptisms and confirmations) were defined for you, and all you had to do was pick the numbers. Every missionary spoke the same language relative to goals because the key indicators are standard for the church.

Without predefined key indicators (activities that lead to a desired result), you have much more flexibility and ambiguity in personal goal setting. Without a set of shared key indicators, it's difficult to find accountability by communicating your goals and progress to others. I've found in trying to set goals for school, work and my personal life, both of those issues have been a challenge.

What are the most important things to consider when setting goals? There are immediate results (e.g., GPA, compensation from an employer) and there is long-term vision (e.g., graduation, promotion). What desired results should dictate the activities measured in a goal? Depends on what your priorities are.

I've discovered I'm not smart enough to figure out what's most important by myself, but thankfully the Lord provides a list. As a missionary, in addition to numerical goals, we had obedience goals. The White Missionary Handbook is a list of rules that guide missionary conduct. It laid out unambiguously how missionaries should be and act. Similar materials exist for all members of the church. For the Strength of Youth is an example of explicit definitions and guidelines. Additionally, General Conference and the standards works provide endless guidelines and principles with which we can orient our lives and prioritize our activities.

This is what I do now in goal setting: Identify the commandments I am struggling with (on my mission we would take a pencil and underline portions of the White Handbook that we were not living), and then set one measurable goal that will help bring me in compliance with that commandment. For example, in For the Strength of Youth we read, "Eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep." I haven't been the best at that since I came home and started school. This month, I set the goal with my family to run 1000 miles. That is, we would all run a few miles per day and by the end of the year we will have run 1000 miles. We track our progress towards this goal to help us stay on track. Because it's a group goal, we hold each other accountable. It's been working well.

By focusing on coming into compliance with the Lord's standards, we can qualify for His blessings, find greater fulfillment and become who He needs us to become. I'm grateful that we have commandments and counsel from the Lord that I can use to direct my goal setting efforts.

Who am I to look down on them?

I have always been fascinated with people that are homeless - having grown up in a large city seeing a homeless person was part of my everyday life. As a kid I used to pick out places on the streets or in parks that I would live if I were homeless, and dream up all kinds of things I would do to get by. I was used to homeless people - I thought I knew a fair amount about them. In my International Development class yesterday we had a speaker come in who is on a task force to end homelessness in Utah over a ten year period. I learned so much from listening to him. I learned that the cardboard box, sleeping bag on the street homeless are really only 10% of the homeless people nation wide, and they are the chronically homeless. The 90% that we don't see are homeless for shorter periods of time, and mostly stay in the shelters and out of sight. The ten-year initiative focuses on placing homeless people in housing, whether they can afford it or not, and getting them jobs. They have had enormous success, and the best part about it is that putting the homeless people in housing is actually cheaper than letting them stay on the streets. It makes more economical sense, because for them to use the shelters and emergency rooms, they can rack up bills as much as $400,000 in a year, but on average about $100,000. After all the costs are considered, it is much cheaper to have them in housing where they will not need shelters or emergency rooms as often. But the thing that he said that stuck out the most to me was his point that homelessness can happen to anyone. In my class of about 25 students he said that the high probability was that one of us would be homeless, at least for a while, within the next twenty or thirty years. And all we would want was someone to reach out to us, talk to us, support us, and love us. To understand us. Not to look down upon us, or judge us, or ignore us as they walk by. The people that are homeless now want those same things. Lloyd Pendleton, the speaker and director of the Homeless task force, ended his lecture with a thought. It is his opinion, that in the pre-mortal life we all got to choose what families we would come to. Some of us chose the nice, rich families in nice locations. Others chose the middle-income families in the same locations. Others chose the poor families with strong moral values and a loving environment. It was the bravest of the brave that chose the dysfunctional families with drug and alcohol problems and very low income. These chose to endure that kind of a life, and we chose to be in a position where we could help them out of it. Are we keeping that promise to our pre-mortal friends? And if we are not, even if we are, what right do we have to look down upon or judge those who are so much braver than ourselves?

Braaains...

A friend of mine from home is a big fan of zombies. He likes to make plans for zombie apocalypses, plays zombie videogames, and compose stories in his head about being alone in a world of the undead. His enthusiasm is infectious (a bit like a zombie virus), and so sometimes that becomes a topic of discussion when we talk. The other day, we discussed some of the major conflicts that stories can have (ah, how intellectual of us), and came upon individualism versus collectivism. He made the observation that he leaned toward individualism, and that the idea of being alone is why he likes zombie stories. I realized, presently, that my own fascination with zombies was quite the opposite—the zombies themselves, which comprise a collective. They all share a purpose and form a community of shambling brain-eaters.

I have always enjoyed being alone, and have plans to spend my summers living in the comparative isolation of a campground when I’m back from my mission. It struck me that I want to do that not in order to be isolated, but rather because of the sense of community that naturally arises when people are isolated together.

In other zombie-related news, one of my professors recently mentioned that he had found something called “zombie haiku.” I looked it up, and discovered something rather interesting. I shall close with one of the haikus:

You are very lucky

That I cannot remember

How to use doorknobs.

I could write about zombies for a long time, but this shall suffice.

Think With Your Eyes

Everyone has a story to tell: a childhood memory, an inside joke, a dream, a big mistake, a life well-lived. Everyone has a slightly different way of telling these stories. These differences can be as simple as word choice or as broad as their medium; and among all of the media I have learned about, animation intrigues me the most.

You have to love animation to pursue it; even its most successful scholars describe it as a labor-intensive, painstaking process. Animating a scene entails set construction, dramatic lighting, point-of-view, the subtleties of acting, and the drive to create a memorable piece of art that will, ultimately, represent only a twenty-fourth part of a second, and then repeat the process until emotion is conveyed, conflict is resolved, and the story is told. For feature-length animated films especially, the procedure can be excruciating.

One aspect of a good, marketable animator is traditional figure-drawing training. Even though character animations—especially 2-D animations—look simple, the artist behind them should be “performing” with a fleshed-out, competent knowledge of the human figure. At BYU, you cannot apply for a major in animation until after you have completed at least one full semester of figure drawing.

My figure-drawing teacher is strong-minded and candid. His ideas about the mindset of a good artist are measurable and reliable, with results to reinforce them. There may not be a definitive way to judge art, but there are certainly ways to measure its accuracy.

In my other animation pre-requisite class, I was shocked to find that I could point out inaccuracies in the gesture drawings presented in an instructive video—inaccuracies that would draw negative attention and feedback from my figure-drawing professor. To be fair, “gesture” drawings of the human figure are not meant to capture accuracy as much as they are meant to capture motion; but my professor would have some choice words to say if I presented those drawings—done by a seasoned professional—in his class.

I think my eyes are being taught more than my brain; I see the world so differently after my classes.

--Posted by S. Benjamin Puente

SOMEBODY Sure Likes the Word, "Film"

I find myself, once again, returning to the humanities.

In my Introduction to the Humanities class, we recently closed our film unit, and have since moved on to paintings. While studying film as a medium, as well as its history, we spent a significant amount of class time picking apart scenes from “the greats.” We studies camera angles, elements of photography, lighting as a storytelling tool, the importance of music, and even the different cuts and transitions from scene to scene, and their effect on the audience.

Film is regarded as “total art,” because it has the potential to encompass elements from all of the other arts, from drama to poetry. Films that strike a nerve, that open an emotional vein, are the ones that achieve the appropriate balance of these elements. They are elusive, sound-and-light concoctions that pass relatively quickly and leave only memories and impressions for the viewers; they are reminiscent of nighttime dreams. That element has changed with the introduction and refinement of playback devices, such as DVD and Blue-Ray players, but for all of the money and effort poured into them, films are, ultimately, deucedly fleeting things.

In that class, we became amateur film critics. Our professor endeavored to teach us how to describe our mantic reactions to the movies in logical ways, with a humble but effective knowledge of the tools at a filmmaker’s disposal. Now, with a second Great Works response on the horizon, lessons learned from that class take on new significance.

I did not have very many experiences like this in high school, where each class only seemed to apply to itself, and concepts that transcended all of the various disciplines were rarely acknowledged as such.

--Posted by S. Benjamin Puente

Understand?

What is the difference between believing and understanding? There are several things I have learned these past few months that have helped me see the distinction. It has been so wonderful to have meaning and understanding added to my life's foundation.

I have two brief examples of this: 1, what I have come to understand about music, and 2, what I have come to understand about the gospel of Christ.

Firstly, music. I have played the piano since 4^th grade and have always loved classical music. But now I realize that I never had a great understanding of it; my incomplete knowledge was preventing me from truly understanding it. Just learning about the elements of different musical time periods, music history, and composers’ lives in my Music 101 class has greatly influenced the way I hear and play music. I don’t just believe that music is beautiful; I understand why it is beautiful.

Secondly, the gospel. I have always believed that our church is true. I have believed that Christ is our Redeemer and we can’t receive exaltation without him, and without repentance, faith, and obedience. My testimony of these things has always existed, but everything has recently taken on new meaning to me—I just wish I could explain it! Everything seems to be so much more real now, so much more important. I don’t just believe that we need Christ in our lives; I understand why we need him.

I love how my foundation of faith, belief, and knowledge has been growing! I keep catching myself truly enjoying the homework and readings I am assigned to do in my classes. Which is pretty weird. But I’m glad for the ways in which I am learning and growing at BYU, and the things I have come to truly understand.

Communication Conundrum

Last Tuesday's devotional was given by Bill Eggington, an expert in linguistics. I found his remarks insightful and especially relevant to our theme of globalization and transnationalism. In a world where we encounter people from different countries and cultures on a daily basis, it is important that we realize our differences and how this contributes to the way in which we communicate.

During my senior year in high school, I was fortunate to become good friends with two exchange students. Bianca, from Italy, and Juli (pronounced U-lee) from Denmark. Throughout the year I was able to learn about their home countries, their families, and the customs and traditions they had. One of the most important things I learned from them was the importance of communication. Bianca had fairly good English, but a strong accent. I would often have to ask her to clarify what she was saying. At first I felt bad having to ask her again and again what she was saying, but she later told me that it actually helped her English. When I first met Juli, we had to communicate through hand gestures and we did a lot of smiling and laughing. However, as the year went on, many people at school thought that Juli was American because her English had become so good.

When I first met Bianca, I thought that she was rude, but I later learned that she was just very opinionated and outspoken. I learned to admire her ability to speak her mind. Juli seemed very shy when I met her, but I soon came to realize how funny and sarcastic she was. I am glad that I did not let our different languages stand in the way of the friendships I made. I was reminded of the importance of realizing the different ways in which we communicate during the devotional. Especially in a world where it is so easy to communicate with people from different countries, we must learn to be patient and open minded.

Rituals Bind Our Hearts To Others

What religious rituals do you observe as part of your worship? What habitual activities do you engage in with your social circle that could be anthropologically termed "rituals"? Family home evening? Roommate prayer? Mealtime?

Why do we have rituals? Consider this story paraphrased from my family class: A husband and wife exchanged love letters every day. The husband remarked that when he was given the advice to do so at the beginning of their marriage, he was also told: "If you don't have time to write one to her, write a little note and put it under her pillow that says, 'Sorry, I didn't have ten minutes to write you a love letter today.'" What an expression of love this ritual has become.

I read this story and thought of prayer and scripture study. Religion is inherently ritualistic. I think this is because the act of creating sacred time and space creates devotion and proves love. If we don't take time for rituals, it can be an expression of lack of love, as illustrated by the facetious note I just mentioned.

Many things we habitually do are rituals that we haven't recognized. Deliberate rituals are important in any relationship. Let's be more aware and intentional about our rituals that fulfill the first and second great commandments: to love.

Morally Complex Questions

In writing my Issues Paper for this Writing 150 class I have come across many morally complex questions. The question of my Issues paper is "Why didn't the United States prevent the Rwandan Genocide?" However after further pondering and speculating the moral issues that arise with this paper, I've begun to ask myself even deeper questions such as "Was it the responsibility of the United States to prevent the Rwandan Genocide?" or "Was the United States justified in making it's promise to the world to prevent genocide?" These questions delve much deeper into the issue and don't simply assume that the United States should've prevented the genocide. In responding to these questions I feel that the answer to both is yes. Yes it was the responsibility of the United States and yes the United States was justified in making its promise to the world to prevent the awful atrocity of genocide. As the most powerful economic and military nation in the world, United States has great power and with that power comes great responsibility to protect human lives around the world. Some may argue that the issues in other countries aren't any of our business but this isn't the case at all whenever human life is being destroyed at such a rapid pace, all citizens in the world must be concerned. It is the responsibility of the United States to prevent such massive killing of human life because we are most able and capable of saving these lives. Also we were justified in making such a promise to the world to prevent these genocides because genocide is such an atrocious thing that America as the most powerful nation should never allow it to occur unchecked.

I have been reading a book called Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is about children who are survived an airplane crash on an island. An insight that I received from this book is that someone that is chosen by the masses to be in power is not necessarily the one most qualified or the best at the position. The main reason they're are selected by the masses is because of the image that they present. In the book Ralph a boy who is chosen to be there "chief" is not the most suited, but since he called everyone to a meeting spot with the conch and was the one with the conch in the novel he had created a more powerful image than any of the other boys that wanted to be the "chief". This conch can be symbolic of an image of power and authority. For a president it could be the way they speak, present themselves, or there character. It doesn't mean that they are the most qualified or the best for the job they just present themselves to the public with authority that is appealing to the masses.

In my international relations class we have begun a unit on war. Most of what we study has been the causes of wars, as seen in history. What I have learned has been frightening and enlightening. It has been sad to see how much death has been caused primarily because of misunderstanding, greed, and pride. We learned about Vietnam, and how incorrect paradigms of the world led to escalation in the war (not to mention the people seeking political gain). World War I was partly caused by miscommunication and misunderstanding of other people's intentions and cultures. Today we talked about the Arab/Israeli conflict and the painful legacy of a centuries of ethnic conflict. I leave class thinking, "What a mess."

The take-home lesson I get from this is how vigilant people have to be to avoid falling into conflicts. Forgiveness is a must, calmness is a must. People need to wait to make judgments until all the facts are on the table, to think for themselves, to listen to the other side. Education can help bring this about. I think part of the point of global and transnational education is to encourage thinking about issues in ways that can avoid death and destruction. Obviously there are times when war is necessary, but that is seldom the case. Conflicts don't have to be solved by killing each other.

The New Investiment

As an aspiring businessman, I enjoy spending time simply planning things. Laying on my bed, lost in thought, and staring at the ceiling may not seem like an appealing past time to those who want to be out doing things (which is commendable), but I find that the ideas planned out as carefully as they are carried out are the most successful. As a student of economics, finite mathematics, and life in general, I enjoy applying the new things that I learn to my plans. Updating and improving ideas are essential to successfully completing them, and as I grow, so do my dreams.

As an example, one of the things I have learned from my experiences is that "no one is more invested in YOUR investment than YOU are." That is to say, no one cares more about the success of your ideas than you.

From that one statement I have learned that it is a wise businessman that can persuade his employees that his investment is their investment. Doing that is not as easy as it sounds, but it will be my goal to do so someday. To form a new investment for someone takes not just persuasive ability, but also generosity. If you want people to consider your investment their own, you must show them how they can benefit MORE if they perform their duties better. As I said, this requires more than just talk, it requires sacrifice. For instance, If I want my employees to finish building a road faster, I should offer a bonus if they can build the road the same quality as before, but with greater speed. It will cost me the bonus, but provide me with a road that much sooner (A principle of economic opportunity cost).

I hope that my plans can succeed, and with these small (but useful) philosophies, I expect that they will. Everyday I will grow in this capacity, and form new philosophies.

Perception

                A few weeks ago in my 2D design class, we talked about something that I never would’ve thought about discussing in art: psychology.  My teacher described to us the Gestalt laws, which are a set of laws about visual perception discovered by a German psychologist.  As I just finished reading a chapter for my psychology class, I found myself reviewing the Gestalt laws, this time outside of my art class.  My textbook described things I was already familiar with, such as the law of closure and the law of proximity, as well as things beyond the Gestalt laws that I had never heard about before.  It went into parts of perception that “visual artists master” to produce a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface, such as the various monocular cues.

                Until seeing the overlap between my psychology class and 2D design, I had always considered my classes as separate and distinct.  I had my art classes, my elective classes, and then those other classes that I had to take to graduate.  I didn’t think that science or math and art could mix.  Now, though, I realize that much of art is psychology, and that it would be impossible to separate the two.

World in Chaos

           Every time I turn on the television to watch the news, there is some new chaotic situation happening. Between natural disasters around the world; and tragedies of people dying simply because of hatred, misunderstandings, gangs, drug cartels ,accidents, anything, you name it.
          Makes me wonder, what is this world coming to. Just last night in the news they were showing this small girl, 5 years old, in Kindergarten ,she was beaten by a fellow class mate. This boy, 6 years old caused her to have a concussion to her head and plenty of brushing around her eye. According to the girls parents he had been bothering her for few weeks. My question is; what is going on  with this boys life that at 6 years old he is already inflicting his kind of pain and anger on another child?, what is the reason for hating someone so much? What makes someone so young build this kind of anger and hatred? What is he growing up to be? If I generalize his actions at this early age, I would say that he is growing up to be a criminal or serial killer. To give him the benefit of the doubt, hopefully someone will step in to provide the help that he needs to be a good member of society. I do not have the answers to these questions, but I can only hope for a better future in which my children and grand-children can grow up and enjoy life to the fullest.

Overlap by Jamey Jones

I am always using my two science classes together to blog about. I love it, because subcategories in science almost always overlap at places, and psychology and biology do so a lot. This time, we have talked about genetics in both classes. In psychology, we talked about genetics and how they apply to a person’s psyche; in other words, how much of a person’s personality made up by genetics that are passed down from their parents and how much of it is interaction with their environment. For example, was Adolf Hitler genetically deranged, or did his environment make him the way he was? In all likelihood, it is probably a mixture of both for all human beings. In the case of biology, we discussed genetics on a more cellular level, talking about the structure of DNA, and the proteins that were being made based upon the different genes and alleles that an individual had because of their genetics. After we finished talking about it on a cellular level, we went to a much larger scale, and talked about it in terms of evolution and natural selection. We talked about how genetics gave different species of animals better opportunities to be successful than other species, which is essentially what natural selection is based upon.
I always find it fascinating when sciences overlap the way that they do. When we first start learning about it in kindergarten, the sciences seem totally separate one from another. It is only once we developed a greater understanding for the sciences that we could see more and more overlap. I love it so much, because I realize that we are getting closer and closer to understanding nature the way that God understands it. He understands everything under one science, or the laws of nature. In this way, I almost feel as if I am drawing closer to God as I study these things.

Epiphanies for Economics

I absolutely love my economics class and am constantly reaching new conclusions and having different realizations from what we learn in the class. The more I learn not just about economics but learn how to use economics, the more I've come to realize that economic principles can explain all aspects of life. In all sincerity I can honestly say that I've been able to apply an economic principle to every part of my life. Sometimes it will be applications to very trivial things and other times it can be applications to deep subjects of eternal importance. In economics we learned about negative and positive externalities. Negative externalities are goods produced that have adverse effects on the rest of society such as the production of steel and the negative effects of pollution on the ecosystem. In an economy without regulation, there will be more steel produced than is optimal for society because o the negative effects pollution has on that society. Regulation is needed to cut back the pollution and improve the overall condition of society. I thought about some negative externalities in my life and came to the conclusion that sins I commit are negative externalities because my sins have adverse effects on society as a whole and there are too many of my sins produced if there isn’t any “regulation” or repentance. Just as government regulation of polluting activities improves society; my personal repentance of sin through the Atonement will improve society because I am reducing the production of a negative externality. Positive externalities are goods produced that have beneficial effects on the rest of society such as the inoculation of some children which protects the health of all the children. In an economy without regulation there is too little of that commodity produced than what is optimal for society because if there were more immunization shots given then society would be healthier and better of as a whole. I applied this principle to my own life in that the service I give to my fellow man is a positive externality because it benefits society and I don’t provide enough of it. There are so many other applications I’ve found in my life for economic principles and I’ve truly enjoyed learning and expanding my horizons through the class.

Questions and Answers

As I sat in my Book of Mormon class I listened to my teacher speak and I became confused by something he said. We were reading in Mosiah, chapter 2, verse 34. In the middle of the verse he read, "render to Him all that you have and are" and, adding one of the twelve apostles words, "all that you have the potential to be". He concluded by saying that this made him very depressed to think about. I wondered, 'why would this cause him to be depressed?' I couldn't see anywhere in those words, what could have possibly brought about any sadness at all actually. So I went where I always go to when I have a question in need of answering: my knees. But one thing I've learnt from asking questions is that my answers don't always come in the most convenient ways.

A good amount of time had passed since I'd originally inquired of the Lord and it's safe to say that my question wasn't exactly on the forefront of my mind. A bit of advice: Don't ask a question without preparing yourself for the answer, especially when it comes from the Lord. I did just that, forgot about my question and when the time came for my answer, it was hard to receive it. All I could see was the trial that had been placed before me, not realizing that it was the answer to my prayer. Unfortunately, when I finally realized that this was His way of answering me, I had already taken the "long way around".

So why was my teacher caught up in such a sad state by this simple sentence? Because, ironically, he knew what it would take most of us in the classroom to go through trials similar to what I had just faced, in order to be able to "render all that we have and are and all that we have the potential to be". Now, there is just one thing I would like to add to his statement. After the depression and the heartache, and after I got a little taste of what it would take to render my whole self to the Lord, afterwards came an indescribable joy that made it worth it in the end. I learned that the harder things in life also have the potential of yielding the greatest rewards.

The power of family Traditions

One of the traditions in our family is the Sunday gathering for supper. This is always been a time to eat, talk, joke and mingle with one another. Now that our kids have grown and two of them have move out, it is a time in which we look forward to get together and enjoy each other. Now my oldest son comes with his wife,my youngest son brings his roommates from BYU, my parents always come, and it is a glorious time. Just tonight I stepped back and watch everyone enjoying theme selves, somehow while making homemade donuts my mother (70 years old) started a food fight and the kids were laughing and joking. When we are together you can never tell how things will go because we like to have fun and be happy. This are the precious moments that life is all about. I love the traditions we set because it tells others what we are and what we believe. Family traditions are the glue that holds everyone in the family together even when the children have moved out. Seems that only few years ago my children were tiny, today they are adults managing their lives. I thank my Heavenly Father for this moments in my life. I would never change it for anything in this world.