Dear Past, Please Come Back.

Dear Truth Seeker,

I have had the time of my life this past year, really I believe that we all have. I don't know what it is that pushes man forward. I wondered this as I drove around Salt Lake City this past weekend. I love Salt Lake City, and would love to live and raise my family here, but we are at a challenging point in our nation's history. Why do I watch a film made in the 1980s and long to have lived at that time? What causes me to almost cry when I see the life people led about 20-30 years ago? It certainly was not entirely due to the fact that President Bill Clinton was president at the time (much to the dismay of my liberal friends). I don't think that had anything to do with the situation, really, or at least how I feel now. Tales of economic prosperity, of people working and serving beyond what they needed to do for their neighbors and their community is what I want. Images of Americans working hard side by side, regardless of political party is what I really want. When people are made fun of or ostracized because they are Republicans or Democrats, but that we were working on the same team is what I really want. I want unity, I want peace, and comfort. I want prosperity, I want personal freedoms where I can do whatever I want with my money, and that I am not forced to pay for fat Americans, lazy Americans, smoking Americans, promiscuous Americans, idiotic Americans, selfish Americans and any other breed of Americans who find me as their way out of perfectly miserable and horrible life.

Not to be mistaken by what I have just written, let me explain. Looking at the lives of early Americans, looking at the great paintings of western landscapes, it takes me back to a period of time where being American was just more than one's nationality, but rather a way of life. What has happened to the America that presidents like Jefferson, Lincoln, and even Roosevelt knew? What happened to the push to work harder and be better than we were in generations past? Looking back at the pictures of my parents, I could see a difference, a difference that made me scared. Finally, the words of my professor, Dr. Earl Fry sunk deeper into my mind. He once cited a statistic: That this will be the first time when the parents of a generation will actually be more afraid of their children's future, more than the past that they have gone through. What is happening? It pains me to see my generation wrapped up in themselves, and not the American flag. It pains myself to see that we are more apt as a generation to vote for American Idol than we are our own president, congressmen, governors, and state representatives combined. It pains me to see that more people of my generation would rather watch MTV than ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or FOX. What is happening? I fear no more for this country than I fear for the decisions and priorities of this, my very own generation.

Am I snobbish? Am I smug? Am I rude for thinking this way? Are others rude for flipping me the bird because I am out at 5:00 a.m. traffic at a campaign rally, or up until 2:00 a.m. placing campaign signs out around my state on my own money? Am I inconsiderate? Are others ignorant for thinking that I can do this by myself? What will it take? I guess once all of the Play Stations and Rock Band players of the world will finally realize their follies, it will be too late, but yet I remain optimistic. Sometimes I get lulled to a apathetic state of complacency, though I don't know why. I try to waken myself, and others, but still find myself wanting the past. Where are you? Why cannot we find the strength to fight again? Why can't we continue to fight? Why have we surrendered to our own laziness? What can we do? What should we do? I find myself asking, even arguing with myself and others. I love this country, but please past come back. We miss you, we need you. Please.

Until next time.

A Changing World, Changing Experiences, Constant Solutions

Dear Truth Seeker,

Such a long time has separated me from my last posting; life has been the cause, the reason for this delay - sorry. Life is hard, life is stressful, and I often find myself caught up in the problems that are around me, after all I am only human. Tests, trials, friends, enemies, clubs, callings, and my own arrogance and procrastination are what separates me from peace of mind and genuine happiness.

Wow, as if what I just wrote above makes sense!? What is it? What is that drives us? What is it about life, that makes it so difficult? With all of the improvements in health care, sanitation, technology, e-mail, blogging, cable news, network news, what?! Why do we continually feel repressed, as if we are constantly wanting more. Lately I have found myself wondering aloud and in my mind, "if only I could pause the world for five hours, surely I could manage my life." I will come out and say it, I have watched not just the original, but the new version of the famed romance, "Sabrina," and in there the rich brother to David, Linal, makes a comment about the benefit of taking a helicopter, and plane - it saves time. To which Sabrina, asks, "what are you doing with all of that time?" to which Linal replies, "saving it up." What good is a computer, if it takes an additional two hours out of our day? What benefits can we take from e-mail, if we now are addicted to it? Life is full of compromises, and I have yet to find the proper one. Do I study for this test, or focus on the LSAT? How many times is too much in terms of checking my Facebook account each day? Two? Five? Ten? What about priorities? Heck! What are my priorities?! Do I even have goals? I'd like to think that I do. Frustrations with everyday problems are all around you and me; with change comes new experiences with their accompanying awkwardness, and stress. At times, this stress seems but all too overwhelming.

Recently, as president of a club here at BYU, I have realized the importance of priorities. I have struggled getting people to participate in the club let alone my officers. What do they want from me? I thought that in college, people mature, that we change from child to adult - honorable, wise, considerate, and selfless. Obviously we also risk becoming very naive, as I have been surprised by the blatant disregard many people have at BYU for each other. Me included, what have I become since the mission? A robot with the only goal of furthering what I want, and when I want it? NO. That was never the plan of my Heavenly Father. We are put on this great earth in order to accomplish something, in order to prioritize our lives, and work hard at goals we have set for ourselves. So why do students at BYU not do this? What blocks our progression? I think I know - laziness. Laziness for a BYU student is like any disease, it starts small, than gradually works it way to the brain, and after that all hell breaks loose!

To become BYU College Republican Chairman was not hard. Comparatively, I have done much harder things in my life, and to tell you the truth, I was quite excited for the experience on which I was embarking. I did not know what was in store for me, only that I was going to motivate the students at BYU to become better people, to become wise stewards and citizens of this great land. Boy, was I wrong. Five months, oodles of stress, and almost $200.00 later, BYU students and many of the officers on the BYU College Republican Executive Committee are just as apathetic for their country as they ever were. I don't understand, it never really has I guess been easy for me to understand "normal" people. In my political geek paradise, I fail to grasp the idea that not everyone cares about politics, no problem. If I didn't know that it is through politics that we affect change, and therefore the direction in which the country heads, I would myself avoid all contact with the dreadful thing. Perhaps I am too idealistic, but students do not care, no, better put, they couldn't care less about the future of this country, and it's concerning to me on many levels.

We are the future, we carry the banner (so to speak) for which this country will stand, so what will or should we do? Keep our word, be reliable, and focus on our eternal progression. To every complex problem there are simple solutions.

Until next time.