Love it.

The complexity of society is illustrated in this article:

http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html

This is a great response:

http://broadcast2.lds.org/general-conference/2010-october/2010-10-1070-president-dieter-f-uchtdorf-64k-eng.mp3

I'm in Provo. I just came from the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a wonderful time there and I'm grateful for it; but, what isn't there to be grateful for in my life? It seems like everything works for my good, or some body's good.

While in South Dakota I worked at Mount Rushmore as a Intern Park Ranger. And because I only earned $15 a day I got a second job in Keystone working at a fudge shop! Ha! Imagine that. This entire summer was a sacred enough experience that I probably won't talk about it with people. Sure, I'll tell them what I did and how great it was. But how can you talk about something you don't understand, or is so custom fitted that its explanation wouldn't fit any one else? Whatever this summer was I don't know if I'll ever get it back again. But that's ok, there'll be more of life's tender mercies and I don't believe life will now progress into a decrescendo. But it was an experience through and through and I couldn't have made it happen if I had a thousand years of planning. And I don't think I care one bit whether I deserved it, or whether it was prudent, or whether any goals were accomplished. I don't care what was accomplished; or, anything really - it felt good and right and sure enough it was good and right. I wasn't looking for much.

And here I am a year later in Provo. It seems a year ago I was heading out to Maine. I knew things were off then, but I didn't know how to work to fix them. Now a year has gone by and a lot has been fixed. . . I should have stepped out of the way earlier.

From what I've learned so far - I've got no plans, or as Abraham Lincoln said: My policy is that I have no policy. I am going to deal with my situations as I find them, with the relevant data I possess at that time. So, it will be 2 years of graduate work, and that will be fun.

Because my mom checks my blog every day, here are some of the things I've been up to:

Books I'm Currently Reading
The Infinite Atonement
Mornings on Horseback
Edersheim's Life and Times
Always the Scriptures
Walden Pond
What Lincoln Believed
The Endurance

Fun Places I've Been Lately
Acadia National Park!!!
Old North Church and some other American Revolution Sites
Boston, Salem, Vermont, New Hampshire
Pemaquid Lighthouse, Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Marshall Point Lighthouse
Walden Pond
A couple of old forts
Fenway Park
Boat Building School
Of course the Boston Temple
Camden and Rockport



Fun things I've Seen or Experienced
OAR music
Yankees Redsox Game at Fenway
Juggler juggling 9 balls
Did a polar bear jump - 3 times
A professional Clown hose me down with CO2
Canoeing
Jason Veritek hit a homerun over the green monster at Fenway
Bonfire on a rocky beach with an orange moon rising out of the ocean

Great Eats!
Tennessee BBQ! I loved it - ate there three times - I wish there were more around.
On Veterans weekend I ate 3 fresh lobsters with clams and such.
Gelatto
sushi
Pizza in Little Italy in Boston
Klondike came out with a huge ice cream Oreo we have on campus

Things I've done
Kept my standards
Woken up every single morning at 6:30 and studied
Made my bed military style with sheets folded at top every morning
A lot of break dancing for the kids.
Played a lot of Ga ga ball with the kids
Given the kids man speaches and interviews every night
Kept to myself to feel and learn

Have you ever felt like this:

or better yet, and more appropriately, like this:

Lately I have. And when I am lucky I realize some things I don't like about myself. And in answer to this, I've felt the spirit of the strenuous age. A period in American history where the nature of accomplishments were different. A day wrapping up during Gordon B Hinckley's youth and a day of Teddy Roosevelt's creation. And on even better days I'm too engaged productively to think about it. (I don't think hearts are like cars. You can't fix a heart by troubleshooting it, and you can't improve an engine by using it.)

And so on reflection of the age, previous feelings, experiences, and pictures; and, after having read Mosiah 2:22 - And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you - have you ever felt like this:

or like this:

or better yet, in admiration of this man:

I know these two men are different but they both represent to me work of forward movement or momentum.

I think I can say right now that although I make bad decisions and do stupid things - even when fanatically trying not to - I am not done, I am not forever stuck with my weaknesses. And here's the important thing, I'm not moving on in the fallacy of the strenuous age. I am not, or hope I don't, move on the strength of my own back or will power. That just won't work, William Henley was wrong. I must move on as TR would hammer, but I must move on meekly, dependent, and confident. Confident solely for the reason that the tapestry of my life is being woven by someone who has my good and benefit in mind. An omniscient, loving God who is trying to make me happy and meet my needs. And I think in some twisted way the strenuous age was or is the product of Matthew 10:39.

Polar Bear Freeze in Vermont