Wednesday, May 28, 2008

To find someone you love, you gotta be someone you love.

"I'm not going to teach what the manual says to teach," my coworker told me. She was talking about how she teaches the Young Women of her ward, has a 17 year old daughter herself, and has been going through a difficult divorce. "I want to know what you think, what I should tell these girls instead."

"Why?" I wondered. "What does the manual say?"

"Oh, you know - Prince Returned Missionary finds the beautiful young woman, carries her up to the castle on the hill, everything after is perfect... I'm not telling them that. I'm not perpetuating untruths! I fell for it. I won't do that to them.

"That's why I'm asking lots of people their opinion. What would YOU say to them? What advice would you give on the subject of marriage to a group of 12-18 year old girls?"


So I decided to respond. Good thing I don't have much to do at work - this is all I did the rest of the day. Here's what I said:

I do think many times we are led to believe that marriage is the goal, the end, the finish line. We seem to feel that being single is a disease that is cured by marriage. (And then we'll never be sick again!) Or that we're playing a game in life where those who get married are the winners. Too many times I'm afraid that lots of girls are taught that marriage is a reward: that if you're righteous enough as you grow up, if you keep the commandments and make good choices, God will give you a good husband, and you'll be happy forever after.



This is a dangerous and unfair outlook. Not only does it imply that those who haven't married or who don't marry are failures or sinners or simply flawed, it also suggests that all us need to be thinking about is marriage, marriage all the time. Find a boy, get a boy, marry the boy, and ding ding ding!! you're a winner.



Calm down, everybody. It doesn't work like that. Even in "The Game of LIFE" getting married is only in the first little part of the game. You still have your whole life afterwards!



Yes, I do have the goal to marry in the temple some day.
No. I have the goal to be a person who is worthy enough to marry someone worthy in the temple someday. I have faith to marry in the temple someday.



There are two action parts of that faith: one depends on me, and the other, doesn't. The part that depends on me is what kind of person I am. So I'm working at being the kind of person not only that someone else can love, but one that I love.



I ask myself, Self, "If you were to get married tomorrow, are you prepared to be a good spouse? Would you bring to your marriage personal qualities that would make you a good partner? Are you a good communicator? Are you a good problem solver? Do you have skills to create a nurturing climate in your home? Do you have enough faith, hope, and charity to create a marriage that will survive and thrive?" (Sister Beck's talk)



Sound scary, doesn't it? Then, I remember how not everything depends on me. Actually, only a third of it does - the other thirds belong to whomever I walk into the sealing room with that day, and to God.



It still sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, it is. It's not rainbows, unicorns and sprinkles. I know I'll be happy, but only if I learn how to be happy right now. "Wake up and do something more than dream of your mansion above!"



Even Sister Beck said in a recent CES fireside that "there is no magical prince" coming to sweep you away.



If your life has good parts and difficult parts right now, that's what it'll be like when you get married. You can't think that it'll solve all your problems. You can't think that any little nagging thing you don't like about yourself will just go away when you have someone else in your life. Instead it'll be magnified, as will any little nagging problems with him.



So when we talk about preparing for a temple marriage, what we're really saying is, prepare yourself to be a good person. BE a good person right now! In the words to a song I love ("Concrete Bed" by Nada Surf), "To find someone you love, you gotta be someone you love."



Sister Beck emphasizes that there's no guy out there who "will gladly appreciate unclean or unpleasant habits or a careless appearance in you. Yes, a righteous man will love you for what is in your mind and heart, but he will be even more grateful for a woman who values cleanliness and loveliness in herself and in her surroundings. Righteous men are drawn to women who have radiant countenances. Also, no righteous priesthood holder will willingly tolerate a pornography habit in his wife, nor will he appreciate her displaying and advertising her precious body to other men by the tight or otherwise immodest and inappropriate ways she dresses and conducts herself. Additionally, I have yet to meet a man who enjoys dramatic emotional displays and temper tantrums. There is no mate who will cheerfully overlook selfishness.

Now is your season to develop righteous and respectful habits and Christlike qualities such as kindness and long-suffering that will bless your future home and family.

Please understand what I just said. I want you to know that your imperfections and weaknesses will go with you into your marriage and will be magnified in that setting. Unless you are getting married today, you still have time to eliminate bad habits and develop good habits and qualities that will bless your marriage and family. President Thomas S. Monson has taught, "It is worthwhile to look ahead, to set a course, to be at least partly ready when the moment of decision comes."6


I believe that marriage is something that happens. You can't plan for it - you can't think, "Ok, i'll go to school, graduate, then find someone great and get married." You can't be obsessed by it. You can't know now when that's going to happen. So don't plan on it...but be ready for it. I know - that sounds like a contradiction. What do I mean by that?



One lazy Saturday in the middle of a semester at Utah State University, I woke up with tons of things to do that day. I planned it out: do my laundry, clean the kitchen, practice violin, finish homework, and write a letter to my little sister on a mission. I was perfectly content to finish the things I planned to get done that day. By about 3:30 I was a little bored of just working around the house and I wanted to go out, to go play, but no one was around. So I decided to continue with my plans, and I was sitting on the floor writing to my sister and watching a movie when all my roommates piled in to the living room. "Hey, we're going down to Ogden to run some errands, want to come?" I thought about it and realized I did want to. I hadn't finished everything on my list, and I was in the middle of something else by then, but I'd worked hard and though I had other plans, I was ready when someone called. I feel like that's how I need to live my life right now: I make plans (go to college, get a job, always learning and doing new things), and I enjoy them, but at the same moment I'm ready to change those plans if it's called for. Imagine how sick I would feel if I'd sat around all day worrying and wondering when someone would come over and invite me to do something! Instead I was able to get a lot done and split my time evenly. I also wasn't so caught up in my own plans that I couldn't put them aside to enjoy myself with friends for a while. Plus, the next day was Sunday and I could use the afternoon to write letters. I just feel like things will happen when they happen, and to always have a plan just in case it's not happening.



Incidentally...I also believe that God wants us to marry because He wants us to be happy, and no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves, we need other people to be truly happy. So if He wants it, He will definitely help us as we work toward it. I know it.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Graph of a Big Movie Speech

song chart memes
Thought it strikingly appropriate. Thanks for the tip-off, Alan! More graph humor and song chart memes here.


Oh, and lol!










Tuesday, May 20, 2008

BIG INSPIRATIONAL MOVIE SPEECHES by PRESIDENTS, COACHES, CAPTAINS, or LEADERS

In the MTC one day my friend Hermana Tanner - not companion but roommate - admitted to us her fascination with famous Presidential speeches. She has perfectly memorized the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the following quote from Independence Day. I was so impressed I promised myself I'd do the same someday.

Well, it's been more than two years, and I'm getting around to it. They're not quite memorized, but I thought I'd at least collect some really good ones and blog a sweet to-do list. I know there are some really good ones that I forgot to include, so please, let me know.

BIG INSPIRATIONAL MOVIE SPEECHES
by PRESIDENTS, COACHES, CAPTAINS, or LEADERS:


Independence Day:

President Thomas Whitmore: Good morning.
[PA doesn't work. Turns it on]
President Thomas Whitmore: Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

Remember the Titans:

Coach Boone: This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men.

Return of the King:

Theoden: Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises! Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending! Death! Death! DEATH! Forth, Eorlingas!

Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*

Rudy:

Rudy: We're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. We're gonna get 'em on the run boys and once we get 'em on the run we're gonna keep 'em on the run. And then we're gonna go go go go go go and we're not gonna stop til we get across that goalline. This is a team they say is... is good, well I think we're better than them. They can't lick us, so what do you say men?

Fortune: You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you're gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself. And after what you've gone through, if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen. Now go on back.

Dead Poets Society:

John Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

Braveheart:

William Wallace: I AM William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men... and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Veteran: Against that? No! We will run. And we will live.
William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

Dave:

Dave: If you've ever seen the look on somebody's face the day they finally get a job, I've had some experience with this, they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it's about respect, it's about looking in the mirror and knowing that you've done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so impossible. You don't really know how much you can do until you, stand up and decide to try.

Dave: Mr. Speaker. Vice President. Members of the Congress. Fellow Americans. I wish I could be here today under different circumstances. There are many things about this country we should discuss. But I realize that's not possible now. As you know, my former chief of staff has implicated me in a scandal involving the First Liberty Savings and Loan. Once people start discussing a scandal, it's hard to talk about anything else. So let's talk about it. Bob Alexander has accused me of --I'll read this to make sure I get it right-- ''...illegally influencing regulators on behalf of campaign contributors...interfering with an ongoing Justice Department investigation...and violating federal election laws in the area of campaign finance.'' Let's get right to the guts of it: every one of these accusations is absolutely true.
Bob Alexander: Ha ha ha! Die, you pond scum!
Dave: I'm the President, and as they say, the buck stops here. So I take full responsibility for each one of my illegal actions. But that's not the whole story. And I think the American people are entitled to the real truth. I have here evidence in the form of notes, letters, and written memoranda, proving that Bob Alexander was involved in each of these illegal acts, and in most cases planned them as well. Allegations of wrongdoing have also been made against Nance. Allegations of wrongdoing have also been made against Vice President Nance. Now, as this evidence will prove, at no time and in no way was the Vice President involved in any of this affair. Bob just made all that up. Vice President Nance is a good and decent public servant, and I want to apologize for any pain that this has caused him or his family.
[Shot of Bob Alexander, watching TV alone]
While we're on the subject, I'd like to apologize to the American people. You see, I forgot that I was hired to do a job for you. And it was just a temp job at that. I forgot I had millions of people who were paying me to make their lives a bit better. I didn't live up to my part of the bargain. There are certain things you should expect from your president. I ought to care more about you than I do about me. I ought to care about- more about- what's right than I do about what's popular. I ought to be willing to give up this whole thing...for something I believe in...because if I'm not...if I'm not.... If I'm not, then... maybe I don't belong here in the first....

The Fugitive:

Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.

Snow Falling On Cedars:

Nels Gudmundsson: I am an old man. I do not walk so well anymore, and one of my eyes is close to useless. My life is drawing to a close. Why do I say this? I say this because it means I ponder matters in the light of death in a way that you do not. I feel like a traveller descended from Mars, astonished at what passes here. What I see is the same human frailty passed from generation to generation. We hate one another. We are the victims of irrational fears.You may think this is a small trial. In a small place. Well, it isn’t. Every once in a while, somewhere in the world, Humanity goes on trial. And integrity. And decency. Every once in a while, common folks get called on to give the report card for the human race. In the name of humanity, do your duty as jurors. Return this man to his wife and children. Set him free. As you must.

Chariots of Fire:

Eric Liddell: You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, "Believe, have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.

Amazing Grace:

Lord Charles Fox: When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon - men of violence. Rarely do they think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles. Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, a man who's achieved the very summit of earthly ambition. And yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war. William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head on his pillow and remember: the slave trade is no more.

Apollo 13:

Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

The Two Towers:

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

The Inundation of the Spring


THE INUNDATION of the Spring
Submerges every soul,
It sweeps the tenement away
But leaves the water whole.
In which the Soul, at first alarmed,
Seeks furtive for its shore,
But acclimated, gropes no more
For that Peninsular.
---Emily Dickinson

I might not really understand that poem, but yesterday was truly an inundated spring day. After working for almost eight hours scanning teacher/course evaluation forms, I really needed some exercise. Luckily I'm a member of the Coolest Ward Ever, and we had a hike planned to the Wind Caves up Logan Canyon just that very evening. So we went!

Now, if you're from around here at all, something might click into place at this point and you might ask, "But Beckie, how could you go hiking last night? Didn't it...rain last night?" To which I might reply, "Yes. But when has a little rain stopped a single's ward?" To which you might reply, "Dumb." But only if your name was Heidi Lamb.

Of all my roommates only Jenny came, the rest opting to stay clean and home. Yes, it was a little cloudy when we left, but hiking's always better when it's overcast. And the ward...well, it's only the first week of summer, but already this is looking to be my favorite summer ward EVER. So many people showed up, even with the threatening weather!

Anyway, so we carpooled up there and set off. I only brought a thin hoodie jacket, which I removed halfway up because the pace was brisk and it was quite warm. Then I put it back on at the top because the wind was brisk and the rain was quite cold. Within a space of three minutes it went from cool and clear to complete cloud surrounding us and hard, pelting rain.

The Wind Cave, by the way, was beautiful, though more likely formed from the receeding waters of Lake Bountiful than from wind itself, but hey, that's just what the sign said. It also told us to bring water bottles and wear sunscreen, and who ever liked that song anyway?

So we headed back down in the pouring rain. Jenny decided the mud made a "squooshing" sound. I asked her if squooshing was spelled with two 'o's or with one 'o' with an umlaut. Then we somehow started talking about zeugmas ("he ran track and for president") and sharing gross-out stories of dead and/or castrated animals - stories which I shall refrain from repeating here, or ever. It kept raining. We got wetter.

Well, you'll be happy to know I never slipped, nor did I see anyone else fall. We all made it down safely, although soaked to the bone from bukkits of rain. The weirdest was comparing the backs of our pant legs. Everyone was muddy but for some reason....mine were completely filthy. Soaking wet, and totally caked in dirt. It was awesome!

Bad news: for some dumb reason, I took my phone. One of the warning signs that you're overly cell phone dependent? Bringing it with you on a hike. You don't even get reception up there! But I had it, in my pocket the whole time. It, too, was wet, very wet. So if you know me and you're reading this and you haven't been able to reach me in some time...know that my phone is currently turned off and drying in a bag of rice. (My friend Lucas told me that's how to dry it out even faster...) I'll let you know if it works! If you don't hear from me in a few days, it probably didn't.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Music is my boyfriend
Music is my girlfriend
Music is my dead end
Music is my imaginary friend

You've probably heard that song. (Thanks, iPod commercials!) Except this time it's true. Music keeps you company when you need it. As Jimmy says, "I'm not alone 'cause the TV's on, yeah." When you're walking with your headphones, you're not walking by yourself. When you're sitting in your room, your speakers sit beside you. When you're driving, the radio's driving with you.

Music is my brother
Music is my great-grand-daughter
Music is my sister
Music is my favorite mistress

It says what I want to say when I can't say it. It reminds me of good times and it makes new times. I listen to it in my head even when my ears hear nothing.

Music is my beach house
Music is my hometown
Music is my king-sized bed
Music is where I meet with my friends

All that being said...let us not forget what Elder Russel M Nelson said on Sunday about the "power and protection provided by worthy music." Music has the power to facilitate spiritual nourishment, it has healing power, it can overcome language barriers.

And "Overindulging in loud music can make you spiritually deaf."

And "Don't degrade yourself. Listen to music worthy of you."

And "That which does not edify is not of God."

And

"Delete the rubbish from your minds and your iPods."