Losing Sight

It seems that in today's world we are losing sight of what is truly important. The values and principles that were once taught are being corrupted in their use. People are becoming so focused on what they do and how they do it that the importance of why they do it is being lost.
For example: Service. We do it because we feel love for that person and want to help. Or we feel love for God and we want to show that through helping his children.
But many people have lost sight of that. They still perform service, but they do it for the love of the world; they want to look good in the eyes of men, not God.
And so these values and principles are being twisted and forced upon us so that man may serve man, idols, and false gods in comfort and convenience.


http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/09/14/patrick-dorinson-pledge-allegiance-moore-obama/


"With hands now pledged to do thy work..."
(LDS Hymn 169 v. 2)

"...For thy servant I would be."
(LDS Hymn 220 v. 4)

A man cannot serve two masters; be careful whose servant you choose to be. Know not only what you are pledging to do, by also why. Let us not lose sight of what is truly important.

Energy Sources - Think Outside the Box

My Moral Leadership class can have some fairly controversial, and sometimes heated, discussions. Today we were discussing different energy sources. We talked about the pros and cons of each energy source, ways it could be improved, and whether or not we supported political stances on it.

One person brought up the point that instead of having a set energy source for every place, we should use a specific place's resources to obtain energy. For example, using solar energy would be great for a place like Arizona, but not so great for a place like Oregon. On the other hand, Oregon would be a great place to use tidal waves for energy. He made the point that each place should use a resource that they have an abundance of. Which completely makes sense.

I was really into what he was saying, but understand that even though my mind will stick with the topic at hand, it can still come up with some pretty random ideas. In this case, when the student made that point, I instantly thought of an energy source for San Juan, something that we have in abundance. Now, I know that it isn't technically a resource, but I immediately thought of prairie dogs. Bizarre, huh? Why not, though? We have so many of them, why not put them to good use in some way? I won't describe the actual ideas went through my mind of the different ways we could use prairie dogs for energy, but I will tell you, they did make laugh.

So if you've ever wondered what school is teaching me, now you know. I'm learning to expand my mind. I'm learning to think outside the box. I'm learning to use prairie dogs as an energy source.

Close

Let's try something. I want you to say the word "close." Go ahead. Say it. Out loud. "Close."
You must say it out loud, otherwise this won't work.

Now, how did you say it?
Did you say it like you would say, "Close the door"?
Or did you say it like you would say, "That was a close call"?

Say it both ways out loud. They aren't pronounced the same way.

Interesting, huh?

Halloween Pumpkins

For Halloween Aaron and I carved two sets of pumpkins. In the first set Aaron did the Batman symbol and I did Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare before Christmas. In the second set I did a little sad looking pumpkin and Aaron did a scary pumpkin.

Aaron's Batman pumpkin died before we could take
a picture a week later.

Aaron's scary pumpkin. (Brilliant of him to
use the bottom. I like it.)

My pumpkin is sad because his face was scratched.

Oogie Boogie. This pumpkin was perfect
for it. Thanks Mom!


Inverted Oogie Boogie.


Aaron did a better job. He had a time getting
it to stay though.

And this is our "pumpkin-man." He was
really cool until the fruit flies got to him...