Get out of your comfort zone!

Change. That’s a word that we’ve heard a lot of recently. As the big buzz word during the elections, people acted excited for change, and even said they wanted it. It’s even been the slogan of a politician in Afghanistan recently. But have you ever noticed that the only change people will support, is something that gives them something?

When it comes to change, most people don’t actually like it. In many cases even if it makes things easier in the long run. For example, I have dealt with a few clients recently that switched over to a new computer software. For the first year or more, everyone who used the old software hated the change, even if the new stuff was better, faster, and could do more for them. It required a shift in thinking, and put them outside of their comfort zone, and people don’t like that.

I heard an interesting idea. If you have something you have to do, that you are nervous about, find something you are scared of more, and do that first. Then when you get back to the thing you have to do, it won’t be so bad. The example they used was, if you need to do a presentation in front of someone that makes you nervous, find someone who makes you more nervous and practice your presentation on them. I don’t think I will be following that advice, but it is interesting to think about.

My mission president challenged us to get out of our comfort zone many times. (I’m sure that’s a common theme among mission presidents) He was pretty specific for about a month. He challenged us to go into businesses and talk to the manager about giving a presentation about the Book of Mormon to their employees, on the grounds that it would help them be more productive and happy. We actually did it a few times – well, we talked to the managers about it, but we never got a meeting set up. But that was probably the farthest outside of my comfort zone I got on my mission. I don’t know why it is harder to talk to a businessman about making a presentation. Probably because it felt a lot more formal, and I don’t do well in formal situations.

Anyway, I just looked back over what I wrote and realized that I really haven’t said anything that y’all haven’t heard already. It’s good to be reminded of these things occasionally, though.

Independence

Independence is a very important concept here in the U.S. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is the concept that made America great.

Now, I’m not actually talking about the independence that we celebrate on the fourth of July, though that is important, too. I’m talking about the independence of the checks from the balances.

I’ll get back to that, but let me start a little smaller. Have you ever gone to a used car dealership and had the salesman tell you how great a car was? Do you just believe them, or do you take it to a repair shop to get it checked out? Obviously, the salesman has a conflict of interest between selling the car and telling any defects.

I don’t know how many of you deal with the issue of independence in your career fields, but as an auditor, it is vitally important. As an auditor, I am required to be independent of the companies that I audit. This means that I can’t have any business dealings with the company outside the normal course of business, and I can’t have family members who are in any sort of decision-making positions within the company.

For example, let’s say I audit a shoe store. I can buy shoes from that store at the regular price, but I can’t be given shoes as a gift from the owner, or own stock in the company, or be in any position to effect management decisions. I also can’t have a family member who works there as the store manager or the CFO or anything like that. Basically, I cannot have or do anything that would cause someone else to think I am biased in any way toward the company.

I was appalled to hear recently that elected judges do not have the same restrictions as auditors. There was a case heard before the Supreme Court this last week that highlights the importance of independence. The facts were these, as far as I remember them: a small company sued a large company for something (okay, so I don’t remember all the details, but it’s not really relevant). The small company was awarded around $50 million in damages. It went to appeal, of course. However, between the time that the original judgment was passed and the appeal was heard, the appellate judge ran for reelection. The larger company donated around $3 million to his reelection campaign, and – surprise, surprise – he overturned the $50 million judgment against that large company. Anyone else see a conflict of interest here? It was appealed to the Supreme Court, and luckily a slim majority of them saw the damage that could be done if this was allowed to stand and ruled that the judge could not here the case. It baffles me that a judge would not have to be independent of the parties in something like that.

There are many other professions where this isn’t required, but the consumer uses the same general principle. Second opinions on medical diagnoses, for example. But perhaps one of the most important is the established government.

The constitution set up three sections of the government, as you all know. These three sections, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial are set us as a set of checks and balances, with each section intended to be independent of the others, and this is what has allowed our government to be so successful. Yes, it can be argued that a monarchy could be more efficient, (in fact, the book I am reading about Martin Luther said that the peasants in most cases were better off in a feudal system because they had direct access to the person in charge – the duke or whatever), but if you get a corrupt person in charge of that type of government there are too many chances for them to mess everything up.

More Rambling

Shirley and I bought another computer ($30 on Craigslist!) so I guess I should take advantage of it. This way we can both be on the computer at the same time. Not that we’re either on the computer very much, but it’s nice not to have to wait.

So, today in primary we watched a video of the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors. I got to thinking about how awkward the conversation would be between Joseph’s brothers and his father when they told him Joseph was in Egypt:

“Hey guess what, Pops! You remember your son Joseph, your favorite son, the one you were always going on and on about? Yeah, the one we told you was eaten by a goat or something? Well, it’s a funny thing. It turns out we were wrong! He didn’t die like we wanted him too – I mean like we told you. It turns out that we sold him and he was taken into Egypt as a slave and he worked his way up to being a prince! Yeah, and he saved us all, too, ‘cause he actually listened to the Lord and did what he said. Imagine that! . . . What? Oh, the money we got when we sold him? Oh, they wouldn’t pay much for him, but you remember that nice racing camel that Levi bought? You know, the one with the racing stripe, and the nice silver accessories? I remember you liked it because it had enough cup holders for everyone. Anyway, we thought it was a good trade for a bratty younger brother who talked too much and had delusions of grandeur. Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess those dreams of his did come true. Who’d a thunk it? So, when do you want to go see him?”

I’m sure Jacob was just took it all in stride . . . not! I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like for a parent to hear. Especially after 21 years!

So that’s what I got out of church today. How about you?

Unschooling

All right, here’s my rebuttal. And, please don’t take this as me being argumentative. But it’s kind of fun to see everyone’s different views.

Okay, so first off, I agree with what both Dad and Holly said, to a point. Holly, we haven’t seen many cases of this working well, but we have seen a few. There is at least one family in the ward that does this that have very good, well-adjusted kids.. Dad, I’m curious as to what sort of guidance the college kids got. Were they told that they would need to understand the basics of chemistry? Either way, it doesn’t surprise me at all that they would just pick the easiest courses, and that’s because of the way we are trained when we are young.

So many people these days learn that all that matters is the grade. In elementary and high school, most places won’t allow kids to be failed any more. So the kids learn that it’s not the work and the learning that matters, but the end result. For example, there was a policy in the Nashville area for a while, that everyone would get 50% on every test, whether they take it or not. This, of course, led to many students not taking tests, because they could get away with it and not fail the class.

The focus is on the degree or the diploma, not on what is learned in between. So the students take the easiest courses they can get away with.

This has passed over to home schooling to a degree. If parents decide to try the Unschooling, many are focused on the end result rather than the journey. The mindset seems to be: leave them alone, the books say they will learn it on their own. The parents have the same mindset that students have – taking the easiest route.

So while I think it is hard to find examples in real life, I would argue that it is very possible for it to work. The problem is that it needs more effort from the parents than just regular home schooling.

In our situation, we have elected to use a ready-made curriculum, with books that need to be completed and facts that need to be learned. This is easy, in the sense that all we need to do is get Taylor to complete the work, and then it’s done.

If we were to try unschooling, it would require some real work. First, it’s probably best if you start when the kids are young. Then they don’t get into the bad habits of just doing the work instead of actually learning. Then we would need to be able to show an example of how enjoyable it is to learn. This entails reading good books, discussing them with the family and others, and being an example of how to learn on your own. And doing this in full view of the kids. This means that the housework needs to be done quickly (because most of this example falls on the Mom, since she is with them all day), so there is still time during the day to read and discuss and learn.

Then, once this habit is established, you need to find out what the kids are interested in. This doesn’t mean find out what they want to do, because that is always going to be the easiest thing. But if you can find out what they are passionate about, and then provide them with guidance and materials they need to be able to learn about that. If Dad’s example, that would mean making sure they know that they need to know chemistry to know physics, and then find a way to keep them interested in that subject even when it is normally boring.

Shirley read through this and gave me the following example: There is a family in one of the wards here that Shirley has met, that is very much into unschooling. Their son is very passionate about car washes (of all things!). This started at an early age, so they have used this to teach everything. The reading is about car washes. They teach math related to car washes, they have leaned about how to build a car wash, and the mechanics behind it. They have learned about running a car wash business. Etc. etc. Basically any of the basic knowledge can be related to whatever it is that the kid is passionate about, and they will be interested to learn it. The problem is finding something they are passionate about, and this can change.

So you see that this is a much more intensive method, and most people don’t really recognize that.

From our (Shirley’s) experience, there are many families who do very well at homeschooling, that use many of the ideas behind unschooling, but change it to fit their families, which I think is the key to a successful experience.

To me, the aspect of unschooling that I agree with the most, is that if kids want to learn something, they will learn it much faster than otherwise. So instead of waiting for them to decide they want it, learning needs to be encouraged. And the best way to do this is by example.

The Dark Ages

Recently I have been reading a biography of Martin Luther called Here I Stand. Prior to that I read the story of Joan of Arc. It has been interesting to learn more about the Middle Ages, and some about why they are often called the Dark Ages.

Joan of Arc lived in the 1400s. She lived in France, and lived for her first sixteen years as a shepherd girl in a small village. For the last year of her life, she was God’s messenger and leader of the French armies. Think of that. At seventeen she was the commander in chief of all of France’s armies. That’s as impressive as Moroni leading the Nephite armies at 16. If not more so, due to her being a girl. She ended her life at the stake. Burned for wearing men’s clothes. (Not to mention the political reasons people wanted her out of the way)

Martin Luther lived in the 1500s. He started life as the son of an upper/ middle class family, who entered a monastery as a young man (early 20s, I think) and went on to be called a “son of iniquity” by the Pope.

You might wonder what these two people had in common. Well, I’ll tell you. Both of their lives were dictated by the church.

The catholic church held such a sway over everything, that when Joan of Arc said she was sent to lead the French armies, there was an inquiry to look into whether her visions were from God or from the devil. No questions about her ability to lead an army, no questions about military knowledge or strategy. Just questions about whether she should wear men’s clothes, and what the angels in her visions were wearing, and what language they spoke in.

Martin Luther, as a monk, of course, kept the rules and precepts set forth by the church. In fact, he kept them more strictly than most, neglecting his physical body in search of spiritual enlightenment. However, he always felt inadequate. He found that even keeping all the rules and laws to the best of his ability, he never felt sure that it really did any good. Apparently, this thought bothered him so much that he actually turned to the scriptures to find out what he was missing.

I have always been curious about the evolution of the doctrines of the Catholic Church in the middle ages. For example, the doctrine of indulgences (that’s paying the church money to reduce your time in purgatory) has always baffled me. But I think I can actually understand how it came about. According to the biography of Martin Luther, the doctrine of indulgences started as part of the crusades. Those knights that went and fought in the crusades were rewarded by the Pope with a reduction of the time to be spent in purgatory, or something. Anyway, there were knights or other nobles who were sickly or just unwilling to go fight in the crusades. So the Pope decided that if they would pay to help finance the war, then that counts as much as actually fighting, right? From there it was only a matter of time before they decided that the money didn’t need to be for the crusades, but could be for anything that would support the church: building cathedrals, etc.

This is what set Martin off, and apparently he wasn’t the only one that felt that it had gone too far. You know something is wrong when they put together a jingle to entice people to pay for indulgences:
“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings
A soul from purgatory springs”

I think what set Martin Luther apart from the other people of the time that opposed the excess use of indulgences, was that he carried it farther to say that the Pope didn’t have authority to spring people from purgatory. He even went so far as to say that indulgences discourage actual repentance, and that the institution of the Pope was the Antichrist. Needless to say, the Pope didn’t like that.

This is a very good example of the importance of reading the scriptures instead of relying on other people’s interpretation. Apparently, at the time Martin Luther was alive, the study of the Bible was not a common thing among the monks. Instead they studied the commentaries, etc., of other people, who had studied other commentaries. This really distorted the truth to the point that indulgences, etc. were considered doctrine.

The other aspect of religion in the dark ages that I have a hard time understanding, is that even though everyone knew that many of the Popes and other church leaders were corrupt, they still thought that God would listen to these people concerning the salvation of the common person. If a member of clergy took a dislike to you, and they got you excommunicated, that was it, there was no hope for you. On the other hand, they could bestow church leadership positions on anyone that paid enough money or that had political power they needed. The whole concept of having authority from God was warped to the point that it was unrecognizable.

It makes you glad for ongoing revelation, doesn’t it?

Where Have all the Flowers Gone?

Hugh Jorganson shuffled out of his front door and leaned heavily on his cane as he picked up his morning paper. He glanced around for his neighbors briefly, out of habit, and was struck again by the change around him. He should have been used to the towering structures that had replaced the quiet neighborhood in the last few years, but he tried not to look outside much anymore.

Hugh turned and shuffled back inside, where he pored a cup of coffee from the old coffee maker on the counter. His back was to the fridge unit as always, but he imagined he could still feel its disdain at his insistence in using such a simple machine. He glanced at the fridge and huffed at it. He had never wanted the new fangled machine anyway. The deliverers had just shown up one day, barely pausing to knock before removing his trusty, simple old refrigerator and replacing it with this new one. They had even taken away his old stove. Not that the new fridge would have allowed him to get uncooked food, but it was the principle of the thing.

He had never gotten the hang of all the new gizmos the Artificial Intelligences kept coming up with. Ever since they had been created, and given charge of everything, anything that involved manual labor was replaced with a machine or new update. No simple human had worked for anything for years. Maybe that’s why the obituaries were full of suicides these days.

Hugh sat and reminisced for a few minutes while his coffee cooled. The first AI’s were heralded as a breakthrough. They were expected to be the quick fix for all humanity’s woes. After all, they were just machines, right. That was before the ACLU declared that AI’s were people, too. Once they got the same rights as everyone else, they took over all the jobs, because they were more efficient and harder working that any human could be, but they didn’t need as much money to live off of, so the extra went to support those that lost their jobs. After twenty years, the world was basically a welfare state. Although people had plenty of money, and what ever they wanted, they were not content.

First there were riots, efficiently put down by the AI’s in charge. Then there was an upsurge in creative efforts, but there was only so much time that most people could spend writing poems. Meanwhile, the human population decreased every year, with more and more of the deaths due to suicide than to old age. People couldn’t take the boredom, or the lack of purpose once everything was done for them.

Lately the obituaries had been getting smaller, though, Hugh thought as he turned back to his coffee and paper. What he saw on the front page stopped him mid-thought.

Half of the front page was taken up with a picture of himself as he stood on his porch that morning. The caption said “Hugh Jorganson, age 98, was the last human alive. Record show that he was still in good health on Wednesday, when he died by doctor assisted suicide. When asked, his doctor said, ‘he was just tired of being alone.’”

Hugh stared, perplexed, until he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Hugh,” he heard the voice of the AI doctor. “It’s time for your annual checkup.”

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I just finished reading the story of Jekyll and Hyde. Before I get started, I want to warn you that I am going to give away the plot, so if you have been living under a rock somewhere and don’t know the story, and don’t want it ruined, you can stop reading until you have read the book. It is a pretty short book, so it shouldn’t take too long.

Okay, so you’re back already? Well, on to my review. I already knew the story, so I wasn’t expecting much out of the experience of actually reading the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Before now, I had no idea why Dr. Jekyll would keep taking that potion that basically separated all of his good traits and got rid of them, leaving him without a conscience or remorse until it wore off. However, I think I can relate, a little bit, to his dilemma.

How many of us have heard, “The loto jackpot is $20 million!” and have wished, just for an instant, that we could by a ticket, but knew that it was wrong? I can kind of see the draw of not knowing that something is wrong to do. On the surface, it seems like it would be liberating to just be able to do whatever you want with no guilt. Fortunately, we know better, and know even without reading this book, that there are consequences even if you don’t feel guilty.

Another lesson we can take from this story is how Dr. Jekyll became so used to being Mr. Hyde, that he found himself becoming Mr. Hyde without the potion. That evil part of him became so strong that he could not keep himself from changing whenever he slept, and later, at random times during the day. This illustrates the effect that giving in to these worldly urges has on us. Like any bad habit, it is easy to fall into but very difficult to stop.

So that’s my insight for the day. “Don’t make bad choices.” If you didn’t know that already, I would suggest you go get some help. Or maybe chase some ducks.

Ramblings:

Taylor had a meeting of her club yesterday. They had a special treat. A person in the neighborhood owns horses, and agreed to give them rides in his carriage. It was an authentic carriage, about 100 years old. Then they took turns riding the horses. It was a beautiful day, the birds were singing, the weather was just right, and I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to have that life. Lots of open air, caring for animals that the kids love to be around, lots of open space for the kids to run around in.

Then I thought about the work. The man that owns the horses says he gets up at 5:30 every day to feed and care for them for about an hour and a half. Then he takes another hour with them in the evenings. The stalls have to be cleaned, the fields cared for, the horses cleaned and exercised, etc. etc. I’m sure Dad knows better than me, though I suppose horses wouldn’t be as bad as milk cows.

I would love to have my kids grow up where they would learn to work hard and enjoy being outside. But for that to work, I would need to be there with them, which means that I would have to find a way to make a living at it. Maybe after I’m rich I could quit my job and have a ranch or something. Maybe a Bed and Breakfast with some riding horses or something.

I have been trying to decide what I will do with my money when I am rich. (Yes, that’s right, when). It would be fun to travel around a lot. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and New Zealand! At the same time, I should probably use it to help people, instead of just squander it on me. So I can’t decide if I would keep enough to live comfortably, and give the rest to the church, since you know the church will use it right, or if I should start a charity or something. Shirley and I have talked about starting a ranch for handicapped kids. There are so many people that need help in so many ways; it’s hard to settle on one. But you would have to to be effective. I would need to find something or I’m afraid I would spoil our kids rotten!

On a side note, if any of y’all are looking for an essay topic, I‘m curious to know what you would do if you were rich. I’m talking Bill Gates rich; with enough money to do just about whatever you darn well please.

Shifting gears again, Taylor woke up this morning to the sounds of birds singing. She just had to call me at work to tell me how sweet they were to wake her up like that. But then they hid so she couldn’t see them. It’s fun to be reminded of the simple things in life.