My First Semester: Hard Work and Self-Motivation

My next two things that I learned in College are not mutually exclusive, so please forgive me if I overlap several times.

Hard work: Difficult but necessary

I really don't want to talk about this one.  I really do not feel like working to write this section of my blog.....

These are the things we say to ourselves all of the time.  Some things may be worth doing, but we do not want to take the time to work really hard on them.  Yet the reality is, humanity goes nowhere when hard work is absent.  It has been said that "we stand on the shoulders of giants".  This is phrase is largely true.  Our lives are benefited everyday from great minds such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford.  However, this phrase could be changed to something like this: "we stand on the shoulders of some giants, yet more importantly on the heads of many stacked ants."  Now, I am no professional at making new quotes (that last one may have hurt some ears in the process), but my point is, while we are benefited from the great work of really smart people, we also have benefits from many hard workers whom we have not heard of before.  Like these said ants, the hard workers before us have little control of how we use the benefits provided by them, but we nevertheless benefit from them.  Hard work, I am realizing, is not only a healthy way to run your own life, but a healthy way to protect and benefit the lives of those who come after you.  It is easy to get caught up in feelings, but the fact is, sometimes you have to "just do it".  I may have a term paper that is due in two weeks, and I may not feel like doing it, but in the end, working hard at it is the only way to solve the problem, unless, of course, you want a really bad grade.  Although motivation may be hard to come by, expecting things to get done without hard work is an unrealisticmindset.  And if you are searching for motivation, take this advice:

Self-Motivation is overrated
So far, I feel that college has been one of the most productive times of my life in many ways.  I am around brilliant professors who have a firm handle on their professional, spiritual, and intellectual lives.  I get to meet people from all over America and from other countries, giving me new perspectives.  Through lots of hard work, I am one eighth of the way towards my college degree.  That is a primary reason why I look back on my first semester of college with satisfaction.

There are a lot of self-help books out there that aim to motivate the public to gain some self-motivation (kinda ironic, huh?).  As I think about college, I was seldom motivated by myself.  I was motivated by teachers, tests, homework, and grades.  For me, motivation seldom comes through myself.  Sure, I may have the occasional off-day where I have a substantial amount of self-motivation, but most of the time, I fully understand what I should be doing yet am unmotivated to do anything.  However, motivation and prodding from others is generally beneficial.   For example, take one of my goals I had for Christmas break: doing some more blogging. However, as I said before, self-motivation is hard to come by.  Solution: write a very rough draft, send it to an English major friend at LeTourneau, and get some other friends excited about your upcoming blogs.

I say that others-motivation is much more beneficial than self-motivation.  There are 2 reasons why I think this: (1) We often have a natural tendency to be lazy and (2) it is easy for us to boss other people around.  Of course, the counter to this is that we do not like to be bossed around, and can get very angry if someone rubs us the wrong way.  When motivating others and being motivated by others, the motivaters need to be careful with their words, and the motivated need to develop a thick skin at times.  If both the motivator and the motivated can do this, the self-help book economy may not be supported, but humanity will get things done more efficiently and effectively.

P.S.  If you haven't noticed yet, I am a little of a productivity freak.

My First Semester of College: Context, Context, Context

I have finally finished my first semester of college, and have not been on the blogosphere for quite some time, so I knew it was necessary to start up again over Christmas break.  Since my first semester of college was a really great learning experience, I am going to share a few thoughts over the span of a couple blog posts.

Context, context, context

Language, literature, learning, and life happens in a certain context (yes an engineering major just made an alliteration).  This may be the biggest reason why understanding and relating to others is so difficult.  This has a definite application to literature which I experienced this past semester.  In my Classical Western Literature class (a.k.a. Comp 1) we read books written by people such as Homer, Virgil, and Aeschylus.  In many ways, these books were confusing to me, but they started to make more sense after my professor explained the ways in which the author's context dictated his writing, and how the author's writing influenced his context and culture.  Similarly, when trying to get a grasp on the Bible, knowing the context helps immensely in understanding the meaning present in the Bible.  Context both unites people with common time periods and/or locations yet at the same time separates people with contrasting time periods and/or locations.

I notice this effect of uniting and dividing most notably in the area of sarcasm.  Sarcasm is quite possibly the best way to measure how well you know someone.  Just about everyone has been in a situation where sarcasm is used, but instead of providing everyone with a laugh, it leads to confusion and/or pits people against each other.  Think of this example: your good friend makes an allusion to a previous joke or situation, and while you totally understand the reference, no one else has a clue what he/she is talking about.  Granted, we often use sarcasm on a whim without thinking, but misunderstanding through sarcasm can be explained in the nature of sarcasm.  Sarcasm implies a shared context between the people involved, and those outside of that context do not understand the language that is being used.  It is an easy example of the role context plays in our lives.

Coming back from college has been essentially a journey back into the context that I had been a part of for the first 18-19 years of my life.  Unsurprisingly, that context has changed in many ways and I do not play the same role that I used to play. This is not a bad thing, but rather the natural result of being gone for 4 months.  This has definitely taken some adjusting; sometimes I almost feel out of place since I have been gone from my Dallas context for so long.  I now understand why my older friends are sometimes so anxious to get back to school, the context in which they feel the most at home.

It takes much work and initiative in order to re-involve oneself in a previous context.  With my family, it takes a lot of talking about the events that have taken place in their lives and mine over the past 4 months.  It may seem redundant and awkward at first, but in the end, it is necessary in order to do life with your family and old friends again.  Even though you may have been great friends before, it is often necessary to "get acquainted" once again, or else your relationship may end up shallow, something that I try to avoid in my life.  In a nutshell, getting back into the swing of things at home is a lot of work (I really wish my transition sentences were this good while I was still in composition.... Check back in later for my next post).

9-11-11

This afternoon I want to share with you a few elements of the 9-11 memorial chapel that occurred last Friday at LeTourneau.  Corey Ross, the dean of students, led the 10:50 am chapel while many students and faculty shared their memories in a video.  Mr. Ross described the events of the day in a very engaging manner.  Personally, the event became real to me in a way that had not happened before.  We prayed for peace, justice, and our enemies. We thanked the firefighters and police force present in chapel. Near the end, a student played Amazing Grace on the bagpipe while we walked out to the mall (grassy area, not shopping center).

On the way out of chapel, each student present at the chapel service was given a gift. I don't remember the exact number, but LeTourneau had made over 2,200 flags, one for each person who died in the terrorist attacks. Each flag represented the soldier's country, and some flags had the names of the soldiers so that we could pray for them. These flags and names served to remind those of us at chapel that this event ten years ago was not only America's problem, it was a problem for the whole world.

So there we stood in silence, listening to the bagpipes playing, watching the flags keep coming and being placed in the ground.  The sight was beautiful of all of the flags was sobering, yet beautiful.  Once every flag was put in the ground, the only thing then separating us from lunch or our classes was a singing of the national anthem.

Here are some of the pictures of all of the flags:

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At LeTourneau, there is a bell tower in the mall. On that Friday, instead of ringing every 15 minutes, it rang every ten seconds, once for each person that died in the attacks. The bell did not stop ringing until after 8:30 that night. Again, I do not recall the exact number, but that day the bell was constantly vibrating in sound for more than 9 hours. It was a sober reminder of the suffering of many inflicted by a few individuals.  It was a sober reminder of the fragility of us humans, and for me, it was a startling realization of how much we need God.

I end with a picture from the previous week.  As you may know, the wildfires had been raging in all of Texas.  The combination of dry weather, heat, and strong winds can be explosive when a stray spark breaks loose.  In the end, this meant troubled breathing and loss of possessions by many people.  It is just another sign and reminder of the distress in our world today.  Dr. Lunsford, the president of LeTourneau, had a different perspective on the smoke that he spoke about during that memorial chapel service.  The haze reminded him of the black smoke that took place ten years ago.  Dr. Lunsford said that it was almost like God was holding a divine memorial service in memory of 9-11.

Herein is where the controversy starts.  9-11 was a terrible day for humanity.  Inevitably, God steps into the subject manner.  He is discussed in a variety of different ways.  Some people say it is religion's fault. Some others say it is the Muslim's fault.  Still others claim suffering proves either the nonexistence, flawed morality, or impotence of God.  Nevertheless, people continue to turn to Him in times of suffering.  The truth is that we have a choice, everyday.  We can choose to follow the ways of death, or the ways of life.  We can choose to follow darkness, or follow light, realizing that God is just; He lets actions have consequences.  Bad behavior produces bad results.  Humanities collective hurt is self inflicted.  The terrorists need Jesus just like the rest of us.  These are the ideas we should learn from these sad events.  This is what I thought of as Corey Ross spoke about 9-11.  I am sure that God is heartbroken over these events of ours.  He smells the smoke too.

So today, think of these things, and remember our other hurts that have been prevented by the bravery of our armed forces and firefighters.  John the Baptist once said: "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven." - John 3:27

Everything we have is a gift:

Life

Liberty

And the pursuit of happiness