Saturday, January 14, 2012

Safetysuit: These Times Are Hard


My daughter wrote a blog about a song from Safetysuit called These times are Hard.  I highly recommend you read it and enjoy the song early in the post and don't miss the video later in the post.  Click here to go to her blog.

These times may be hard but hard times help us find our abilities and how to use them better than the easy times!  As the old saying goes, "As the going gets tough, the tough get going". 

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them. – Unknown

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. – Mary Engelbreit

He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity. – William Samuel Johnson

Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. – Publilius Syrus  -- Just in case you have never heard of this guy you might be interested to know he was a slave in Italy in the 1st century BC (so he knows about hard times!).  Because of his wit and talent he impressed his owner who as a result not only freed him but also educated him giving him opportunities in life that have led to us hearing about him thousands of years later.  

Maybe you will enjoy some excerpts from a talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin

The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

“Joseph,” she said (his mother), “come what may, and love it.”

I think she may have meant that every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.

Yet like everyone else, I have had times in my life when it seemed that the heaviness of my heart might be greater than I could bear. During those times I think back to those tender days of my youth when great sorrows came at the losing end of a football game.

How little I knew then of what awaited me in later years. But whenever my steps led through seasons of sadness and sorrow, my mother’s words often came back to me: “Come what may, and love it.”
How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.
If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness.

Although my mother has long since passed to her eternal reward, her words are always with me. I still remember her advice to me given on that day long ago when my team lost a football game: “Come what may, and love it.”

I know why there must be opposition in all things. Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it.


Friday, January 13, 2012

To be a Priesthood Man: Hard work pays off


I ran across this video about Tyler Haws.  Tyler Haws is a BYU basketball player (it is basketball season after all) and this video is an interview with him and his parents prior to his leaving to serve a mission in the Philippines.  This video is quite inspirational as it underlines two things that I especially appreciated.  First was that hard work is what has made him great in his basketball endeavors and will help him be successful in all his life activities.  Second is mildly underscored that being a Priesthood man, a good man, is more important than the other things he might be good at.  Enjoy the video and expect to see Tyler back with BYU maybe next season. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Making Good Men: the Noah Hartsock family

Noah Hartsock is a player on the BYU basketball team.  He has been probably the most consistent player on the team this season.  He is great with shooting percentage and points per game and blocked shots and a lot of other basketball stuff.  He was even the WCC player of the month.  But basketball isn't the point of this blog.

In an article in the deseret news that you can see from clicking here, his father, Dave Hartsock, was quoted as saying: "We're fortunate all our kids have turned out well. Noah works hard, he's got a good disposition. We haven't been trying to make basketball players, we've tried to make good men and if he turns out to be a good basketball player in the process that's good and we're really happy for him."  Noah is known for taking things as they come and continuing on just as happy as before.  An example of that was Christmas 2010 he was driving home with his wife early morning Christmas Eve and their car flipped on some ice.  The injuries were few and he finished the season with his normal demeanor and good play.  Click hear to read more. 

"We haven't been trying to make good basketball players, we've tried to make good men" -- he says.  As a parent I try to think to make that my goal as well to help our children be good women and men rather than to give them some competitive advantage in a field of work or a sport.

I would hope that all parents would do the same, try to raise their children so they are good people.  Being good people has much more advantage in life than some other training we may give them.  Having a home that trains family members to be good people has a much more long term advantage than training in sports or even accounting, engineering or even social work.  The advantages go beyond getting a job with a decent salary.  Being a good man has advantages that goes even beyond life into the eternities. 

There have been some times in my life when I had to remember that I wasn't raising a great swimmer, basketball player, world renowned artist or even spelling bee champ, but instead was raising some great girls who were just good people.  Remembering that changed some actions and emphasis we put on things in our family. 

If you really do want to know more about Noah's basketball playing and stats you can go here to see more info about that. 



Monday, January 9, 2012

Monday Music #24 :Gary Go

Gary Go is actually the stage name for Gary Baker.  He is the son of one of the producers of Jim Henson's The Muppet Show.  He grew up in England close to Wembley stadium and heard the live music concerts that played there often.  This got him interested in music and he started teaching himself how to play instruments at age 8 and began writing his own songs.  He put out a couple albums himself but his first one that was produced through a record company had some interesting songs on it as you can hear and read the words below.  This album came out in 2009 and I understand he has some new songs coming out later this month. 

Gary Go: Wonderful

Here are the words for the song that can be used to encourage one to not give up on themselves and to remember they are indeed unique and worthwhile.


Wonderful by Gary Go

The person that you were has died
You’ve lost the sparkle in your eyes
You fell for life - into its traps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you want that person back

And all your ammunition’s gone
Run out of fuel to carry on
You don’t know what you wanna do
Cause what you want does not want you
If what you want does not want you
And you’ve got no pull to pull you through

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful"

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful"

If what you’ve lost cannot be found
And the weight of the world weighs you down
No longer with the will to fly
You stop to let it pass you by
Don’t stop to let it pass you by
You’ve gotta look yourself in the eye

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful”
Oh you are

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful”

Cause we are all miracles
wrapped up in chemicals
We are incredible
Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
Oh we are

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful”
Oh you are

Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
wrapped up, yeah we’re wrapped up
Oh we are wonderful

Gary Go: Open Arms


Another interesting song recognizing that things change and not always for the better.  His song seems to say we just need to accept the changes that we can't control and move on rather than reject the changes and let them have a negative impact on you for extended time periods.

Gary Go: Open Arms

Whatever happened to truth
Lost without a trace
Whatever happened to the mirror
That showed me a happy face
Whatever happened to sorry
You know it’s never too late
Whatever happened to good things coming
Coming to those who wait
Whatever happened to this city
It’s not like it used to be
Whatever happened to you
Whatever happened to me

Gotta look myself in the eye
And say it’s gonna be alright
Maybe everything won’t be alright
All the time
I’ve gotta take these chances where they are
It’s gonna be alright
I’ve gotta see things for what they are
At the time

Lost with no place to begin
I’ll slowly adjust to the sun just face I’m in

Whatever happened to the list
of things I wanted to be
Whatever happened to you
Whatever happened to me

Gotta look myself in the eye
And say it’s gonna be alright
Maybe everything won’t be alright
All the time
I’ve gotta take these chances where they are
And it’s gonna be alright
I’ve gotta see things for what they are
At the time, at the time

Yeah the words are on the seam
Ready to receive
I’m the ocean you’re the stream
Ready to receive
It’s like open arms to me
Ready to, ready to receive

Gotta look myself in the eye
And say it’s gonna be alright
Maybe everything won’t be alright
All the time
No, I’ve gotta take these chances where they are
And it’s gonna be alright
I’ve gotta see things for what they are
At the time
I’ve gotta see things for what they are
At the time,
At the time

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Manly Man #28 : Medal of Courage



The Medal of courage pictured above is a medal given by the Israeli army in combat times for gallantry in the risk of life to save others.  This medal has six crossed swords with an olive branch.  The red ribbon represents the blood and fire of battle.

The Kings Medal of Courage from the English Government was given primarily to foreigners during WWII who endangered their own lives to help English citizens escape or be safe from the enemy.

The Medal of courage from Armenia is awarded to those who show courage in defending the fatherland, show courage in rescue operations or for performing their duties in life threatening situations.

Awards_MedillMedal
The Medill Medal for courage in journalism is given for those who work for media outlet and show moral, physical or ethical courage in the pursuit of the story.

Manly men must be courageous as well.  So if there were a medal to give to a manly man of courage what would it look like?  What would it be symbolic of?  What would be the requirements to achieve it?

If you are an artistic person please draw or make a medal that could be used for the Manly Man of Courage Medal.  Or help me decide what the criteria should be.  Write and tell me what you think.

If you are have strong thoughts about the criteria for such and aware: The Manly Man Courage Medal, then please write me about that.

If you are both artistic and thinking strongly, then let me hear from you about both.

Here are some quotes I found about courage: 

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.  ~Winston Churchill

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon

Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.  ~Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you're scared.  ~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.  ~C.S. Lewis

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.  ~Alfred North Whitehead