So I know my blog is getting views. I posted the Familiarity Breeds Contempt article last wednesday, and since then, my homepage has received 74 visits over 6 days, 20 views being today.
I know I don’t post very often, but apparently you people are looking. That’s awesome. I’m honored.
What I’m confused about is that no one is commenting or subscribing. 🙂 How can I thank you if I don’t know who you are? I’d like to read your blogs too, friends!
Be happy!
Nephi bound by Laman and Lemuel. Artwork by Walter Rane.
I just made that up for my title, and then I realized it sounded familiar. Lo, behold, it’s a common phrase. Huh. One website defined it as follows:Â Proverb — People do not respect someone they know well enough to know his or her faults.
That’s not how I want to define it today. I wrote it mostly as I mused on how easy it is to be frank, blunt, and perhaps rude and angry to people that you know really well.
For example:
I wouldn’t say I’m quick to anger, but I can harbor grudges, which is a horrible thing to do. People may offend me, and on the surface, nothing is wrong. But ofttimes, on the inside, I can feel hurt or wronged.
And why do I feel this way? I shouldn’t. In a General Conference address in October 2006, Elder David A. Bednar counseled that to be offended is a choice we make. And besides, I’d reckon that most “offenses” are merely highlighting areas in which I may improve the quality of my life, no?
Specific example time. I was talking on the phone with my mom this afternoon, and we discussed the fact that I still don’t have a driver’s license. She mentioned that she spoke to my younger brother, Ryan, about how I drive, and he reported that I thought I was a good driver, but in his opinion, I still have a lot to learn. My mom suggested I finish Driver’s Ed and do the driving sessions so I can have a professional tell me on what to improve. She also said, “You should have someone you don’t know teach you so you can’t get angry at them for correcting you.”
I was hurt. Internally, I was at war with myself. “Hey! I don’t get angry at people for correcting me– waiiiiit. Yes I do. I’m doing it now. Dang it.”
And it’s true. I can get frustrated with and angry towards my siblings and parents if they correct me on something that I feel is okay and they know is not. That’s not cool.
And what if I’m not familiar with the one correcting me?
Right now, I’m taking a Latin Ballroom dance class with Brent Keck. He is known by dance students as one of the most straightforward and blunt dance instructors at BYU. You will get critiqued and torn apart and disappointed. He will not give you happiness and sunshine and unicorns who eat rainbows and poop candy. But you know what? Here’s the secret:Â you get better.
It’s 1000% true, right? If I run through a dance routine or a test or anything feeling like I’m going to completely rock it, usually I will perform horribly. If, however, I feel like I have much to improve upon, stay humble, and work hard, I… okay, I might still perform horribly, but it’s more likely that I’ll improve my abilities in this way.
I’ve kind of strayed from my original path. The point is, it’s interesting that I’m more prone to accept the advice and correction of someone I don’t know more than I am likely to accept the advice of a family member. Optimally, I will accept both parties’ advice equally, eagerly, and easily.
Most of the time, when people correct me, their desire is to make me become better, not to prove that they are better than I.Â
In closing, the words of Lehi to his sons Laman and Lemuel, they who responded angrily to Nephi’s correction:
“. . . I know that he hath not sought for power nor authority over you, but he hath sought. . . your own eternal welfare.
And ye have murmured because he hath been plain unto you. Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which he call anger was the truth. . .” (2 Nephi 1: 25-26, emphasis added).
I need to stop acting like an immature little boy and taking others’ corrections as a personal attack. And so I shall. [You now have permission to gruffly remind me to do so if I fail. Thanks. 🙂 ]
You saw the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, right? Hermoine seems to get SO MUCH accomplished — how does she do it?
Oh, that’s right. She hacks the time-space continuum. I’m glad that magic can do that. That’s seriously how I feel so many times in my life, but especially right now. I just want to jump around and wave my arms like Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels:
“This! THIS! I want THIS!! THIS… is what I want.” *
Its day-to-day practical uses are virtually limitless. You need to go take a test, but you want to ask that cute girl on a date? Sure. Friends are going to Denny’s at 2 A.M., but you really need to get some shuteye? Just flip that hourglass and fill that belly with a delicious breakfast platter. You accidentally asked Ashley and Holly out on dates for the same night? Just — wait. No, I don’t recommend that at all. You’re bound to get caught. Especially if you’re in Provo; everyone gossips.
I wish I could use Hermoine’s time turner without the mindbending consequences of seeing yourself.
“Hey David, how was astronomy class?”
“Eh, it’s going all right. I fell asleep a few times, though. My bad. You heading to work?”
“First, I’m going to go dance with my partner, Whitney. Then I’m going to work.”
“Sweet, so I’ll catch you later, then?”
[I think passersby would be very confused. “Are they… twins? Or just really weird dudes? Or the same weird dude? Or maybe… hey look, Taco Bell!”]
Anyway, I’m taking way too long to get to the point of this blog post.
I have too many worthwhile ways to use my time, but I don’t have enough time to do all of these things.
I don’t have any money, so I should probably be working as close to full-time as I can during the summer.
My dance partner Whitney and I want to enter some dance competitions this summer, so we need to practice a lot.
I want to be more athletic. My gymnastics class helps, and I go running after that. Dance also is very productive.
I want to be involved the advertising lab this summer and get some good hands-on experience there. I’m majoring in this field; I better get used to it!
I allocate 4 hours a day  (M-F, maybe Sat) for the athletic and dance categories, and depending on the second job I hope to attain, I’ll be working close to 40 hours a week. So currently the only category that is getting shafted is advertising, which is pretty ironic considering that’s my major.
I just want to be like Hermione: ridiculously smart, organized, and diligent. And to be able to hack time-space. Then maybe I’ll even get a girlfriend? Who knows.
*By the way, you know that feeling you get when you look at a specific word for too long? When it stops seeming like a real word? That just happened with “this.” This this this.
If you’ve been living under a rock for a while, I should let you know that Osama bin Laden has been killed by American forces.
I was stalking viewing a friend’s Facebook wall and one of those account hacking spam things was posted.
My morbid side was intrigued, so I googled the image. I could tell it was Photoshopped [Warning: graphic image] [Warning: lame pun with “graphic” and “image.”], but the abject fanaticism over the picture is what really piqued my interest.
I for one am glad that Osama bin Laden has finally been killed. He masterminded the attacks that killed thousands of innocent people. He has incited a message of hate that has spread across the world.
I’m glad that he is dead. But I don’t rejoice over his death. I am somewhat disgusted by the partying and celebrating outside the White House and throughout the United States.
How animalistic can we Americans be? Isn’t this exactly what radical Muslims did when the Twin Towers were destroyed? Don’t we claim that we’re better than they? More humane, more civil?
Apparently not.
It’s true, this man needed to die. I feel like justice has been served. Despite his international status as a harbinger of terrorism and hate, he is still a human. I am disturbed that people get so excited and bloodthirsty over a photoshopped image of a bloody and dead Osama. Yes, he’s dead. I know. Let him stay dead.
Now it’s quote time!
My friend Elisa says, “I am not in favor of violence. But terrorism will not go away on it’s own. It needs to be destroyed.”
In the words of my roommate Riley, ‎”I do not, and should not, rejoice in the death of my enemies. But I can rejoice in the freedom and the welfare of my country and my people. . . . As President Obama said, may God bless us all, and may God bless America.”
A passage from the Book of Mormon, in 1 Nephi 4:11-13 reads as follows: “Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.
Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.”
As a final thought, the words of Martin Luther King Jr, with forward by Jessica Dovey:
 ‎”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.” “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
May we as human beings be civil and kind to others. That is my plea.
You can play around with this. You won’t be disappointed. 🙂
Patience and Procrastination 
