To Be

March was a busy month, and April promises to only be busier. It's so tempting to fall into the senioritis mindset because let's face it, whether or not you are a senior everyone feels "senioritis" at some point in each semester. It seems that it is much easier for this generation of students to get bored with the things we are studying. I am not sure how things used to be in terms of distractions and procrastinating graduate school work, but I feel like I'm a terrible graduate student! Always distracted by websites, text messages, and web surfing random ideas I have. For instance, on Wednesday I woke up at 8am to prepare soda cupcakes (yes, cupcakes made from the box with a can of soda!) with homemade frosting; I had so much fun baking when this is the week that I need to be studying and writing more than any other time in the semester! I have several interviews to transcribe, fieldnotes with memos to write out, and book reports to do. But it seems like everything in the world is trying to distract me from my actual work in this last week of class.

It's so tough to concentrate and focus at a time when life outside of school is getting so exciting. There are so many local concerts I want to attend. Friends want to hang out now more than ever. I have been traveling around lots lately and making time I don't have to see old friends. I was even tempted to fly to LA again this weekend for the USC Songfest (I'm so sad I'm missing Rooney and Augustana!). In short, life's been crazy lately. On top of all that, I just had my book come out so I'm dealing with things related to that, and I'm preparing for my very first half marathon in a month (although I must admit this random snow-rain isn't helping my running schedule here in Provo). With all this going on, it was nice to have General Conference last week as a reminder to take the time I need to focus on the right things in life. But that doesn't make it any easier to get my priorities straight!

Last month I had the opportunity to attend the BYU Military Ball with a friend in ROTC. There we had BYU football coach, Bronco Mendenhall, address us as the guest speaker for the night. He had a lot of interesting insights, but one of my favorite quotes he used is this one by Albert Einstein:

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form."

How true is this? I believe that everyone has the potential to be great. Everyone has a "great spirit" but it is how we react to external forces upon us that determine whether or not we become great people. It really is so easy to choose to do the easier, more fun activities than the boring, time consuming ones, which includes homework. But when time is set aside to study and commit oneself to a subject or activity which furthers ones academic and intellectual capacity, the benefits are so much more outstanding. 

This also reminds me of a general conference talk given last Sunday called "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by Lynn G. Robbins. I am constantly making to do lists (which seem like they never get done!) and adding things to my schedule.

Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am. 

I like to stay busy, and I like to be active. But this is such a great reminder that what we do is not the most important thing in developing ourselves into better people. We can't change the world by doing good or even great things; we change the world by being good and great people. What a fascinating concept. In the past, "to be" was the focus of life. People in feudalistic societies and beforehand were focused on fulfilling their duty in life through the lot they were given. Religion also played such a major role that everyone was concerned with being good people to receive their rewards in Heaven and to please God. But as society has moved from religion-based to market-based and capitalistic in nature, there has been an increasing focus on actions. Accounting and measuring every aspect of life was becoming the norm. Max Weber famously noted this shift in society in his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. And I believe this shift toward detailed accounting of everything in life has inspired the organization of "To Do Lists." So often we are preoccupied with what we have to do, but wouldn't the world be such a better place if people focused more on how their "To Do"s will lead them "To Be" better people and "To Be" who they want to be.