Hello! So I've been back in the States for exactly three months which is absolutely mind blowing to me. I cannot believe how quickly the time is going by.
I didn't know what to do with this blog since I don't really have any noteworthy adventures on a daily basis now. So I figure I'll just update it with random ideas and things I've written. I'm an English major so I imagine I'll have an interesting piece to share every now and then.
Today's post is an essay I wrote for the BYU Brimhall Alumni Essay Contest. I have no idea if I'll win but, considering the fact that I started writing it three hours before it was due and the winner gets $1500, I think it was worth my time.
If you want to read my short essay, please keep a few things in mind: the prompt was to incorporate the teachings or writings of former BYU president George H. Brimhall, the Homecoming theme ("A Season for Courage"), and my own personal insights; it is for BYU so it leans a little more to the religious side than your typical essay; and I wrote it in two hours. Please enjoy!
Making
Your Own Chocolate Milk
I was two years old
when I decided that the carpet in front of my television was the best place to
make chocolate milk. I do not mean I made my glass of chocolate milk while
sitting in front of the TV. No, I decided to pour the milk and Nesquik powder right
onto the floor and stir my ingredients into the fibers of our white carpet.
It
took a lot of courage to tear my two year old eyes away from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, climb
onto the countertop to reach the chocolate milk mix, lug the milk jug into the
living room, and start creating my chocolaty pond. It would have been so much
easier for me (and my mother) if I would have just waited for her to make my
beverage. And, honestly, this is where my metaphor starts to fall apart
because, yes, I probably should not have made chocolate milk on the carpet
simply because I was too impatient to wait for help. And then the doctrine of
choice and accountability comes into play and all of a sudden I am the bad guy
for displaying initiative and a self-sufficient nature at a very young age. But
it all makes sense if we just remember that I did not choose the easy route by
making my mother get my drink.
This
year’s Homecoming theme, “A Season for Courage,” points out something that so
many young adults struggle with today. For most of us, it is not easy to be
brave all the time so we are constantly faced with the choice between what is
easy and what it courageous.
According to a Huffington
Post article from June of this year, the average unemployment rate for recent
college graduates is 7.9 percent. And half of those who are working have jobs
for which their degree is unnecessary. BYU’s church FAQ page says “. . . researchers project that about
one-third of recent U.S. LDS marriages may end in divorce.” And it seems like
the news stations are only around to report the horrific details of terrorist
attacks, natural disasters, and war. Sometimes
it makes me want to drop out, move home, and convince my mom to make me a glass
of chocolate milk.
George H. Brimhall, former president of BYU, would not
think much of this decision. He said “It is possible for a
person to draw the ills of life so close to their eyes that they entirely shut
out the possibility of the entrance of sunshine. You have much to live for. You
were intended to perform a mission of usefulness on the earth and it rests with
you to see that every prediction that has been made concerning your success is
fulfilled—that is a part of your mission.”
President
Brimhall saw very clearly what I and many other young adults struggle with. We
were all born with talents and gifts. By hiding them, we would not only let
ourselves down; we would also let down the Heavenly Father who gave us our
gifts and the people around us who are meant to benefit from our talents. As a
child, I never thought the New Testament story of the three servants and their
talents made any sense. Why would the one servant hide his talents when he had
the opportunity to make more? The answer, of course, is fear. Fear of failure
and the allure of lazy inactivity lead us to hide our talents. As a result, we
fail in our “mission of usefulness” that President Brimhall believes we are all
meant to fulfill.
Every
single person, no matter how old they are, where they live, or how much money
they have, should think of their present moment as a season that requires
courage. Stepping outside of that warm and cozy comfort zone never gets any
easier. The first day of a new job will always be nerve-wracking. Attempting to
change a girlfriend into a fiancé will always induce slight nausea. And putting
faith in an unseen Heavenly Father for the first time will never be easy. But
the more you bravely take that first hesitant step, the bigger your comfort
zone becomes and the more likely you are to make your life a mission of
usefulness. Never wait for someone else to make your chocolate milk. Go out and
get it yourself.
