Form and Meaning

The more I learn, the more I understand about myself and everything else I've ever learned. I remember sitting in Sophomore year chemistry and learning that yes, there are positive electrons and that totally blow my mind. I went around for days saying that "Everything I know is a lie!" My senior year, I took AP Chemistry and suddenly, all the half learned principles of sophomore year came into focus and gained true meaning. Now that I'm a college student, all the chemistry falls into place in my bio100 class. Wow, Mitochondria works kind of like a positive electron cell! Cellular respiration is a combustion reaction!

Chemistry isn't the only background knowledge that's helped me. I learned to love Calculus my senior year: how it made sense of all the numbers and graphs in life. Economics also wiggled it's way into my heart with how it explains human behavior in terms of marginal cost and marginal benefit. At BYU, I've learned how to use some calculus to make more sense of economics, and I've used economics to make sense of my personal behaviors now that I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder.

All knowledge is interconnected: math, science, history, art, language. When we approach a subject one way, all we we see is one view, but by looking at it in terms of another subject, then our view is expanded; suddenly, it's not floating in a sea of nothingness but is anchored to all we already know. It has form and meaning, a reason for being. What's the point of knowing something, if it has no effect on you? I find joy, in the unity of knowledge and the continuity of truth.

Illegal Allien

        Coming into the United States illegally is wrong. I understand the need for a better life but the only right way is to do it legally. A lot of these families crossing the borders will eventually have children, and these children did not have a say in such decisions so therefore they should not be punished for their parents actions. I think that the state in which they live should allow them to have the same rights as everyone else. I believe this should be like that, unless the son or daughter have had problems with the law. The right for a college education should be base in terms of their goals and achievements. They would have to prove that they are good and abiding citizens.

The Power of Empowerment

Empowerment.
It is such a central idea to Social Work, International Development, Crisis Lines, and even life in general.
In my Social Work class we constantly talk about the importance of working to empower the client to make their own changes. Too often the person in need gets blamed for the position they are in, but as a social worker it is your job to help both society and your client realize that that is not necessarily the case. Until the client believes that they have enough self worth and value to be able to come out of hard times, they will never progress.
This same concept applies in participatory development. This theory emphasizes the importance of finding solutions through the people, and not simply imposing foreign ideals on a local community. Effective change can only come from within the community, when they are invested in the project, knowledgable about its functions, and put in charge of its operation. Even handouts can be destructive to a community. As the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime". This same concept can be applied to making clothes, building wells, preventing disease, and nearly another other developmental project; You are most successful when you are no longer needed.
I am currently volunteering at a Crisis Line, where these same concepts apply. We are most successful when the callers no longer need us to work through their problems. We are there to listen, and help them work through their problems, NOT to solve them for them. Only they can solve their problems, we are just there to support and assist.
Through these many different perspectives I have learned the importance of empowerment, and seen the greater power in empowerment. 

Realizing Your Mission

Everything that ever came to be was made for a reason, and to fulfill a purpose. Every person that ever lived or ever will live has a specific and unique mission. Do you believe that of yourself?

When thinking about your mission, do you separate your career and other temporal aspirations from your personal development? You shouldn’t. Your purpose and mission overlap into all parts of your life, temporal and spiritual. The Lord knows the directions you need to take to become who He would like you to become.

Can you recognize what your gifts are? Listing the positive traits one possesses can be uncomfortable. For this reason, many don’t realize what they truly have to offer this world. So much focus is put upon position and highly compensated vocations. In my Career Exploration class, we have been taught to view our future work as a way to provide service to the world. We will be serving our best if we recognize our gifts and the things we truly desire out of life. The Lord knows us best, and as we fulfill our mission of becoming like Him, He will lead us and give us the assurance that our decisions, temporal and spiritual, are pleasing to Him.

If you want to feel guided by your career decisions, your lifestyle, your family’s pattern of life, your economic decisions, and every other choice you’d ever need to make, then seek the Lord. He cares about all of it. All of these things bring purpose to your life. Keep the commandments, and feel the peace and direction that the Lord has promised us.

Recent scripture in my Book of Mormon class:

1 Nephi 17: 13 “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.”

Do It Now

Ryan Smith is the 33-year-old CEO of Qualtrics, the young, 200+ employee, Utah startup responsible for any survey you'll take at BYU. He got the company going while he was studying at BYU. He's a champion.

He lectured in my Entrepreneurship class today and taught us that nothing happens in the harbor. That means that no matter how excited you are about your boat, if you never leave the dock you're not going to go anywhere. In life we need to set sail--take action--if we want to reach our goals.

The enemy to action is procrastination. Procrastination is nasty, especially for students. It feels like the hardest part of homework is just opening the book and getting into it. It's easy to say, "I'll do it later." But anyone who's done that knows how quickly later turns into too late. Midterms and assignment due dates seem to come out of no where and pretty soon our little procrastination turns into big time frustration.

Thankfully, the Writing 150 class is all way past procrastinating homework, right (I say that with my tongue tucked firmly in my cheek as I write this blog entry near midnight on the day its due)? Even so, what else are we putting off until later--maybe a later stage in life? I reflect on his advice in terms of the life goals I have that maybe I'm waiting for life to become less busy to start on. Or the goals I'm waiting to start on because I feel like I'm not fully prepared in this stage of life. Here's what I realize: This is one of just four September 21st's I'll have in college. I only have three left because I just traded one in for everything I accomplished today. Judging by my first two decades of life, things are only going to get busier and more difficult. If I don't start now I squander the small window of opportunity I have.

I don't know how much of a "genetic" connection this call to action is, but the idea was stirring enough for me to make some changes. I will make it a habit to do things now instead of tomorrow because at the end of my college career I don't want to look back and say, "I wish I would've."

Economics Has Expanded My Political Views

My experiences in my economics class have greatly influenced my thinking and views of nearly every aspect of my life and life in general. Most notably, the principals and concepts I've learned in economics have greatly affected my views of contemporary politics. Before taking economics I had very strong conservative views on how the economy should be run and I believed the government only interfered with business, government involvement in the economy hindered economic growth, and I saw government programs as a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. In many ways the concepts I’ve learned in economics have strengthened these views but in other ways they’ve shaken my views and altered them for the better. To a large extent, it’s true that laissez faire policy in which the government doesn’t interfere with business is best for economic growth. It allows businesses to run more efficiently due to the lack of red tape. I’ve also learned in economics that free trade between self interested individuals will automatically mutually benefit both parties without any coordination or altruistic behavior. Thus my belief and support of the free markets has been affirmed in those ways by my economics class. However, my economics class also helped me realize that there are some necessary services that the free market can’t provide effectively such as protection from crime and health care. The government is needed to step in and provide police to keep cities safe and provide health care for those who are dying and can’t afford it. Due to the concepts I’m learning in economics, my political views have transformed. My views of politics were narrow, limited, and basically just inherited from my parents without me putting much thought into them. Today my vision of politics has broadened and my scope of contemporary politics has expanded. My economics class has supplied me with extra knowledge and I therefore expanded my political views.

The Quest for Perfection

It seems that everyone searches for perfection. Whether it be the perfect body, the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect family, etc. But the quest for perfection is never-ending. It seems that at the moment you achieve “perfection” in one area of your life, another area is lacking and the cycle continues on. Many feel as though perfection is the way to gain happiness. In Matthew 5:48 it even says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” So shouldn’t we be striving for perfection?

In my Humanities class today we were talking about the great philosopher Aristotle. He believed that happiness could be achieved when one reached the end product. For example, an architect finds happiness or good, in a completed house. The word for this end is the Greek word telos. It also means function, full potential, or full function. My professor said that the word telos is found in the New Testament and in the exact verse I mentioned above. With the new definition, the verse in Matthew takes on a whole new meaning. All we need to do is strive to reach our full potential. Perfection is impossible, so why waste our time trying to reach it? It is much more productive to try for our own personal best.