Important Announcement

I'm sorry to announce that this particular blog is on indefinite hiatus, due to the inevitable suckiness of school. All of the sudden I found many other things that demanded my time. Most of them things I don't particularly enjoy. Thanks for reading, I might post the odd post every once in a while. Buh-bye.

DCFC and the Military

Death Cab for Cutie is one of my all time favorite bands. They are one of the few groups out there with lyrics that are on par with high quality poetry. Combined with the music, it's quite the experience. Now not all their songs are poetic or anything, but the depth of their lyrics are something that's hard to come by these days. Two of my favorite examples of this are:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/whatsarahsaid.html

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/soulmeetsbody.html

Additionally, they also have a knack for telling a story in their music, these lyrics are less like poetry, but serve a different purpose. They can tell a story and really convey the feelings felt by the author. These songs use a more simplistic style, and it's quite effective. To get the full effect you have to listen to the song, but for now the lyrics will serve as a teaser.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/titleandregistration.html

Ok enough about DCFC. So I originally planned on making this post about how boring my life is, but I steered away from that option mostly to avoid repetition. I also don't want to make this a journal. That's much to personal for the internet. Before I know it I'll have a 40-something year old man from Colorado making creepy comments about my personal life. Brilliant. I love the internet. Lately I've had trouble reading. Not my actually ability to read, mostly just my ability to sit down and read a book. It's quite frustrating. I managed to get through Of Mice and Men (like 100 pages) and the first 20 pages of Lord of the Flies before I lost interest. Oh and I read The Kite Runner. That was a good book, I recommend it to....people.

Most people that know me know that I plan on joining the military. More specifically, I want to become a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, sometimes referred to as the "Green Berets" (though if you call one of them that, they will promptly tell you that they are not a hat). I first started seriously thinking about becoming a soldier when I was 14, and it's one of the few consistent goals I have maintained. Among those being:

-Be worthy of temple marriage (in case you don't know, it's a Mormon thing)
-Graduate from college (preferably BYU)
-Become a "Green Beret" (the specifics of this goal are subject to change, but not much)

Throughout the past 3 years, a lot of thought has been put into the military and the various implications of being a professional soldier. I am constantly researching and analyzing the technical aspects of joining the military, however much thought has also been put into the religious and ethical implications. If I indeed become a Green Beret, the chances of me not taking lives is minute. Looking at the scriptures, I have come to the conclusion that taking a life is only justified if it in the defence of one's home, country, religion, or family. I have many motivations for wanting to become a soldier, and honestly, patriotism is not really one of them. Neither is wanting to "kill people". So I must ask myself if serving my country in the military really is defending my home, country, religion and family. I believe we are subject to our respective governments, but is taking out some communist guerrillas in Brazil really defending my home and family? Or is it furthering the agenda of corrupt men? These are difficult questions for me to face, so maybe I should think of it differently, maybe the military is a way for me to gain the skills and traits necessary for me to defend my home should the need arise. It's also kind of annoying when I tell people I plan on joining the Army and they say totally ignorant things like "Why do you want to kill people?" or "Why do you want to do that? You'll just die". I usually don't say anything back, I just mentally mark them as complete idiots. A while back I was having a discussion with my brother regarding the morality of torture. He stood firm on the idea that some things should never be done, no matter what the circumstances. I argued all sorts of situations like "well what if one man has information that could save 10,000 lives, and torturing him would yield that information, how is that not justified?" However, after much thought and months later, I decided that if I was to enter into a profession in which it is likely I would find myself in morally questionable situations, I must commit to a set of standards that could never stray from. I believe that if I promise myself and the Lord never to commit actions such as torture, than the Lord will ensure I am never forced to compromise that standard. In closing I'd like to share a few quotes,

“Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.” ~ Bertrand Russell

“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.” ~ Bertrand Russell

"The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason." ~Ernest Hemingway

Family? Oh, and Love and Futility

I recently returned from a family vacation to Montana and Utah. My father's family lives in a small town in Montana, and to put it neatly, it's a totally different world. As I attended the commemoration of my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, I thought about the nature of family. Were these people around me my family? Technically...yes, they are my blood relatives. However, when I re-examined the definition of family, I came to a different conclusion. If a family member is someone you love, care about, and would personally sacrifice for, then nearly none of these people were my family. Shoving aside the notion that I was being hard hearted or insensitive, I decided to be honest with myself. I didn't care about these people. I cared a bit sure, but I cared much less about the well-being of my so called extended "family" than I did of friends at school. And honestly, they probably feel the same way. Blood bonds people together naturally, but if you talk to the person once every two years, the whole family relationship thing usually just doesn't click. So that got me thinking about who is really family? For me, my family is my immediate family, my sibling's spouses, and their children, as well as a few of my friends.

In church, I grew up being told that I should love everyone, like Jesus does. I never really understood how that was possible, or at least feasible. That is, until I tried. I realized that society's definition of love is both deceptive and shallow. I also realized that if love was defined as the willingness to sacrifice for another, then I did indeed love a lot of people. I am still working on the whole "love your enemy" thing and I'm definately still working on the whole concept in general. It's amazing though to see how it changes your perspective about everyone. Try it.

And finally, I was thinking about how much of what we do is totally useless. Either useless in a very direct literal way. Like being on Facebook when I could be learning and reading something, or in a more abstract long term way. Like why am I doing what I am doing with my life? What should you be doing in your life? Well, the answer is here in this post.

I know everyone is anxiously awaiting my next post sooo...

Hello everybody (I'll just be optimistic and say "everybody" instead of "those few of you who actually read this"). I left last Thursday to drive to Montana where I was unfortunately disconnected to this marvelous thing we call the internet. Right now I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah, visiting family. You'll here more about family in my next post I promise. Anyway, I don't have time for a real posting but I just wanted to let everyone know that I did NOT in fact forget I had made a blog. So, for now, just sit tight and wait patiently for my next brilliantly analytical and insightful post (again with the optimism).

A bit about perspective, science, religion, and death.

What really matters? What do you care about most? You can learn a lot about people, or yourself, from the answers to these questions. For me, my beliefs define my life and the way I live it. Sometimes I forget what's important, like everybody, and I get caught up in the world. I'm a person who needs a vision, a purpose, a clear, attainable goal. Sometime it's hard to maintain focus on the fact that this life is a preparatory state, a time to prepare to meet God (and yes, I'm getting into religion, it's Sunday, so sue me). I think a lot of peoples' problems could be solved by simply taking a step back and putting things into their proper perspective. Try it next time you find yourself in conflict with someone else, or facing a personal problem or crisis, with the proper perspective you may realize that perhaps the entire issue is unimportant.



It bothers me when people are like Steven, Nacho Libre's sidekick, when he says: "I don't believe in God, I only believe in science." God and science are not opposites, nor by their nature are they in conflict. And I would make a logical argument here, but I'm braindead at the moment and no one cares anyway.

Now, on to more interesting things, I saw the Dark Knight yesterday. Good movie. I must say I had no respect for Heath Ledger going into that movie. But dang, now I know he's at least a good actor. Maybe he sold his soul to the Devil to play that part, and that's why he died afterwards. It was a lot different from the first, and thinking back it made the first look like more of a prologue than anything else. It also made me think about how Batman never kills anyone. Only in comic books and movies does that work out. Sometimes it's just better for everybody if the bad guy dies. In the words of Joseph Stalin: “Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.” While this is a terrible philosophy to base a life or a government on, it has a morsel of truth. My favorite part of Orson Scott Card's novel Shadow Puppets, is when the protagonist has the villain on the ground with a gun to his head,
"Achilles laughed nervously. 'Come on now, Bean. We've known each other a long time.'. . .'I know you, Bean,' he said. 'You can't just kill a man in cold blood, no matter how much you hate him. It's not in you to do that.' 'Yes it is,' said Bean. He aimed the pistol down at Achilles's right eye and pulled the trigger. . . It didn't bring back Poke, or Sister Carlotta, or any of the other people he had killed. . . It didn't end the wars Achilles had started. It didn't make Bean feel any better. There was no joy in vengeance, and precious little in justice, either. But there was this: Achilles would never kill again."

And there's a lot of truth in that. Sorry my posts are so ADD but whatever. No one is making you read this.

Opinions, Hypocrisy, and Much Much More!!!

Due to peer pressure unknowingly applied, I have created a blog. I'm not a great writer, and my life isn't really that interesting, but whatever. I kind of avoided making a blog because it always seemed to me like the only people who had blogs were the people who were in desperate need of someone to listen to the garbage spewing out of their brains as well as their useless opinions. But after thinking about it, everybody seems to be desperate for that anyway, so here I am, spewing garbage as well as my opinion.

Opinions are funny things. For most people, they are difficult to change by force and argument, but suprisingly easy to mold through influence and example. Just look around, nearly everyone's opinions and beliefs are based upon their parents', either formed from their parents' ideas or in opposition to them. An educated opinion is based upon the largest amount of information from the most varied sources possible. It really bothers me when people spout their opinions about things in which they have absolutely no knowledge on which to base their opinion. Actually, it's a lot of fun to challenge people who make hasty claims such as, "George Bush is an idiot". I don't necessarily agree or disagree, but when followed up with a simple, "Why?", usually the ensuing reasoning is not only unfounded, but you make the other person look like a bigger idiot, which of course is exactly what you want.

Everyone is a hypocrite to some extent. I am a hypocrite. That being said, hypocrisy bothers me, especially coming from religious people. However, thinking about it, perhaps the reason so many so called "Bible believing Christians" are hypocritical is because they simply set their moral and ethical standards higher and therefore find themselves struggling to practice what the preach. So perhaps hypocrisy isn't the worst thing, maybe it's simply a byproduct of perfecting oneself. I think I despise hypocrites so much because I see so much hypocrisy in the way I live. I could make a list, but I won't. I think I need to live in poverty. In that regard, I hope I go somewhere poor and underdeveloped on my mission. Anyway, I live a highly priviledged life, and so do most of you. Don't forget it.