Friendship

How many people do we touch throughout our lives? We've all seen "It's a Wonderful Life." We have seen the consequences of wishing we were never born. But I wonder if they were to make a movie of me how many people would be there to be interviewed? I like to think that I had at least an average number of friends growing up. I don't think I was ever the outcast but I don't think I was mister popular either. I had some really good friends and I had some casual acquaintaces.

Growing up I never had what you could call a confidant. I don't really remember being able to share deep dark secrets with anyone. Then again I don't remember having any deep dark secrets. My friends and I did a lot together. We played ball, rode bikes, built forts, what every kid did. We played video games and stayed up all night watching MTV (back when it was videos). We talked about girls, mountain bikes, the NBA. I had a good childhood.

When I got older, mostly after high school started, some of my old friends drifted away. We just didn't click in the same way that we once did. I think it was different sports that took us in different directions. That and girls. I started getting girlfriends, they started snow boarding. But I gained new friends in high school. I had more friends in high school then ever before. The friends that I had then weren't the same though. We hung out at school and we went to dances as big groups but we never hung around together outside of that. I rarely went over to their houses and they never came over to mine. I was busier then. I had school, a lot of honors classes and I had to work or lose my car. I had big plans so I couldn't change school and I needed my freedom so not working was out of the question.

After high school we all went in seperate directions. I got married, some of my friends travelled, some went on missions, while others went off to college somewhere not Utah. It wasn't until my 5 year reunion that I reconnected with a good friend from high school and we still are in contact today. My adult friends are the smallest group of friends yet but I think that some of them will be friends for life.

If they ever make a movie about me they will interview my family. My mom and dad will say nice things about me like I was a really smart kid and always had lofty goals. My older sisters (not older than me just older than the youngest one) will recount all the times I teased them by taking the heads off of their Barbies or whatever they come up with. My youngest sister will say how we were buddies and attribute her love of video games to me because that was something we connected with. Hopefully my in-laws will have nice things to say about me. I like to think that I've been perfectly pleasant to all of them. I really do enjoy having them as my in-laws. I couldn't ask for a better group. But I will be most interested to see what my friends will say about me. I think they saw me for who I truly was. I never hid anything from them. They saw me at my darkest and brightest. We argued and disagreed and sometimes even came to blows. But that never stopped us from being friends for long. I miss a lot of my old friends and wish we could reconnect at some point. Family loves you because they have to. They're stuck with you. Friends love you because they want to. They choose to.

Left Behind

I've often wondered what my life would be like if my family was taken away from me. Call it morbid curiosity but that's just the way I think. Maybe I'm subconsciously preparing for the day if it were to ever come. It is a huge comfort to know that someday we will be a family again. I don't want to discount that. But how hard would it be to have to watch those left behind to struggle with finances, to deal with their grief, to try and carry on with their lives. This happens on a daily basis. People who go out the door in the morning and never come back. Sure it's hard to imagine, most of us probably think it would never happen to us. I've always thought that people who died "before their time" would somehow know. That they would have some inkling in the back of their mind that they would live a full life. That could just be my paranoia because I've had feelings like that before. There have been times where, when thinking about my future, I would get this feeling that I wouldn't have to worry about it. That something would happen to take care of it. I don't have any rich family so it's not an inheritance that I'm going to be getting. My future is still up in the air. With bills and student loans I don't know when I'll graduate. Maybe that's what my feelings are all about, that I should just work a menial job all my life instead of doing what really makes me happy or keeps me interested. Or maybe I will die early and all this paranoid thinking about inklings is really true.

I don't need to sit here and talk about how devastated I'd be if I lost my family, even one member of my family. But how would I feel knowing I left them here to fend for themselves?

I make Cheryl nervous because of the things that I like doing. Mountain biking, motorcycles, etc. are all dangerous and could get me seriously hurt of killed. I've always had the thinking that living life safe is not living life. I'm not saying to take unnecessary risks but I think everyone should experience the freedom of riding a motorcycle. And not a small motorcycle that can only do 35 mph. Get out on the freeway and gun it up to 90 and see how you feel. The rush and adrenaline are amazing and addictive. I wager that it is nigh impossible to feel bad while riding a motorcycle. It should be prescribed to depressed people. I've only driven 2 motorcycles and 2 scooters in my life but that's all the experience I needed. I'm sold.

You know that pain you get in the front of your head when your kids call you at work to tell you that they're hitting each other? Gone when you get on a motorcycle.

Yes I understand the risks associated with a motorcycle. As my dad likes to remind me it's not if you get hit it's when. My aunt and uncle were in a accident riding their Harley and my aunt almost lost her foot. She'll have problems the rest of her life. 4,376 people were killed on motorcycles in 2010. That may seem high but in that same time 32,708 people were killed in car accidents. 65% of all deaths not caused by natural causes happen in the home. I'll take my chances. I'll live without fear. I won't worry about those I may leave behind because I know they'll be taken care of. I've made sure of that. They will probably be better off financially then when I'm alive. I really am worth more dead than alive. Ouch.

I don't feel fulfilled.

I am once again having some issues with my Sunday religious activities. I don't know why but I am starting to feel really disenfranchised with the whole Sunday school thing. Here's what I mean: when sitting in said class I want to have a discussion. Not about what you did at girl's camp, scout camp, or how you were driving along and the spirit told you to turn before you normally do and you found out later that you missed a car accident. Good for you. I want to discuss the more philosophical points that religion brings up. I have been a member my whole life. I get bored hearing the same lessons over and over because the teachers are too lazy to come up with a new and creative way to teach a topic. I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about the LDS church, what I am saying is I keep hearing the same lessons week after week and that stereotypical seminary answer of read your scriptures and pray seems to apply to a lot of the questions that are asked. Last week in elders quorum the subject of speaking out against legislation that we find morally wrong came up. That's fine, whatever. My problem with that is we want to legislate morals. The only way to do that is to tread on the rights of others. Abortion, gay marriage, foreign wars, health care reform, just pick a hot button issue, no matter what the laws are you are going to infringe on others beliefs. So how do we fix this? We give everyone the choice to choose what they believe to be right. That's where I want the discussion in church to come in. We can do what we believe at that point but to take away that choice I have a problem with. 11th article of faith: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." This is one of our fundamental beliefs. And no one thought to mention it. I have a history of ticking people off when I bring my opinions and thoughts to a religious discussion so I keep quiet in church. Maybe I should speak up. That could be interesting.

But this is more what I think Sunday school should be, a debate of what the scriptures mean, what the idea of a higher being means, what is morally right, what are the ramifications of our actions not just to ourselves but those around us. Those are things the elders of the church when it was formed would discuss. Not because they were trying to form a religion based on the thoughts of man but because they were trying to understand what had been put on their shoulders as priesthood holders. Any religion requires more than the ability to read the scripture. It needs to be interpreted by people who are educated in history, philosophy, ancient customs and traditions. Anyone who's read the Bible knows that it is a very difficult book to read. It is very easy to misinterpret what is written. Having the knowledge that the Bible was translated over and over and things were left out and other things added, plus they were written down from oral records that were already a hundred years old or more when they were written down, and the fact that they come from societies that are vastly different from ours makes it a little easier to understand why this knowledge needs to be possessed by those who are teaching it. We have to have that understanding or else we are just making it up as we go.

We have an advantage having a living prophet who is there for us to learn from. I am grateful that we have the teachings of the prophets books that are used as manuals. But with those it comes down to presentation. Let's have a little excitement people. Let's present something that we've actually put some time and effort into, something that you learned from the lesson. It's not that hard.

Maybe I'm asking too much. Let me simplify this. I want a discussion about not just the lesson but I want it to go in a more academic direction, if that makes sense. And I want it presented in a way that you keep my attention. If you don't keep my attention I'm going to be reading my comic books in church instead of listening to you drone on about how He sacrificed for our sins and loves us all and you need to repent to live in heaven again and you should love your family and remember to keep Christ in your heart at all times and go to the temple to receive blessings and pay your tithing and do your home and visiting teaching and love one another etc. etc. ad nauseum. Please give me something I can grasp onto. I'm at the point where I might just stop going to classes because I really don't get anything from them.

Something about church that bugs me

This is going to be short and sweet. Last week in church we had a discussion about how to keep our families safe from outside influences. It turned into political activism where everything we deemed evil and inappropriate should be banned. Instead of outing myself as the LEEBRAL that I am I wrote this down in my phone.

Even though we have all these things going on in the world that we may not agree with we can't loose focus on protecting our families in favor of protecting our community. Is our community important and worth protecting? Yes. Is it worth protecting at the cost of our families? Of course not. We must understand that we can't control everything that happens in our world, country, state, community, but we can control what comes into our homes. We need to focus on our families first. We need to make sure our children can deal with the outside world before we can have any affect on what goes on outside of our house. as long As we are teaching our kids righteous principles and raising a righteous generation the outside world will take care of itself.
We can't legislate morality. It will continue to happen no matter what laws are passed and what things get blocked. In countries where morality is legislated we've seen the results. Pick any country in the middle east and you'll see what I'm talking about. Once you start legislating morality everyone's choices become limited by the moral beliefs of the people on charge. We need to maintain our free will. That can't be taken away through law nor should it be.

rebirth

This time of year comes around and everyone gets the urge to make new years resolutions. Why do we do this? What compels us each year to make goals that we know we most likely won't keep? They're goals that are supposed to make us better in some way; make us thinner, stronger, quit smoking, eat better, to be better people all around. But why do we wait until the new year to do it? What is it about this time of year?

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” That's a quote from, of all people, Oprah. What does New Years mean to you? Is it a chance to get it right, or is it a new beginning? I know that people like to see the new year as a signal for change. Out with the old and in with the new. "An optimist will stay up until midnight to see the new year come in. A pessimist will stay up to make sure the old year leaves."

Here is a different way of thinking about it: "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." So there are some arguments. But what about the notion of rebirth, the idea that we can become new again? There is talk of rebirth in religion. All men should be reborn in the spirit of Christ. That means our eyes are open to suggestion from the spirit and we are more willing to do what is right and what is needed. At least that's how I perceived it. But what about a rebirth in general? "All souls must undergo transmigration and the souls of men revolve like a stone which is thrown from a sling, so many turns before the final release... Only those who have not completed their perfection must suffer the wheel of "rebirth" by being reborn into another human body.” Does that mean literally born into another body? Not necessarily. It could depending on your religious views but I'm going to use it this way; being born into another human body just means that your rebirth hasn't really occurred. You're still the same, a human. You haven't changed into an enlightened being yet. We go around on our wheels and we keep doing the same things. We make the same mistakes, the same choices, we do the same things that we believe are the safe choices. So every year we make resolutions and goals at the new year. Sometimes we are successful but most times we aren't for whatever reason.

"It quite often happens that the old man is subject to the delusion of a great moral renewal and "rebirth", and from this experience he passes judgments on the work and course of his life, as if he had only now become clear-sighted; and yet the inspiration behind this feeling of well-being and these confident judgements is not wisdom, but weariness .”

How true that is. We set goals on how tired we are of something. I'm tired of being fat, I'm tired of being sick all the time, I'm tired of my stressful job. What if we set goals to gain more of the things we love? Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.

So let's put this together. Why do we make new years resolutions? Because it is a new year, out with the old and in with the new. What kind of resolutions should we make? The kind that make us better but also brings us more joy than the previous year.

And rebirth? Well, that can happen anytime of the year. If we see ourselves going the wrong direction we can change direction and choose another path. We can be reborn as many times as we see fit. That's the beauty of it.

"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn."

— Mahatma Gandhi

GMOs, OH MY!

Genetically modified organisms are becoming more prevalent in our society. There are a plethora of companies now that are breaking into the business in one form or another. They can now modify plants, animals, and bacteria and viruses to help humans with research, creating medicines more easily, and producing food with greater yields and are more resistant to bugs. There are many benefits with the modified organisms and there are many controversies that have come up. Basically there are a lot of people out there that aren’t sold on the benefits of these organisms and the businesses involved aren’t putting enough into the research of long term effects to put those fears to rest. Aside from all of that there are financial reasons to be for or against genetically modified organisms. Some companies control huge portions of the market and can thus dictate how it is used. Also, there are a lot of governments from around the world involved. Government intervention can make or break this industry. So what is a genetically modified organism?


A genetically modified organism is a plant, animal, and bacteria or a virus that has been modified using DNA modification or “an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology is the ability to combine DNA molecules from different sources into the one molecule in a test tube. Thus, the abilities or the phenotype of the organism, or the proteins it produces, can be modified through the modification of its genes” (Wikipedia). There are a couple ways that they do this: They can attach a gene to a cell using a virus, physically insert the gene into the nucleus with a very small needle, or by using a gene gun which fires very small particles. The reason that they do this is to introduce into an organism positive traits that can help make that organism more useful to humans. The most commonly modified organism is crop plants. They modify it by making it pest resistant and also to have higher yields. They can also have them produce vitamins and nutrients not natural to that crop making them healthier. Other organisms have been modified to produce medicines such as insulin and Atryn, an anticoagulant. These are just a few of the many benefits that modified organisms can provide.

Here is a short list of pros of genetically modified organisms: Production of human insulin, use in gene therapy, creation of neo-organs, and usage in agriculture. For the production of insulin human cells are transplanted into another mammal such as a goat which acts as a medium for the human genes. The cells produce the insulin in the medium and are then the insulin is extracted and given to patients with diabetes. With gene therapy, modified viruses are used to treat genetic disorders like sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis. Neo-organs are perhaps one of the most important benefits. Organs for transplant are hard to come by. With the help of genetic engineering new organs could be grown for transplant from the cells of the patient so that no rejection occurs. This leads to safer transplant procedures. In agriculture some of the benefits have already been touched upon; greater yield, more nutritious, and pest resistance to name a few. With these benefits there are also some potential risks associated with this technology.

Some risks include: Harmful effects on crops, GM animals, Unnatural methods being used, risk of misuse, disruption of natural genetic information, and preliminary stage of research. The harmful effects on crops include the fact that all the crops have the same genetic makeup. If a strain of bacteria is especially harmful to one it is harmful to all of them. There is no genetic variety to protect the plants. With GM animals there are other problems that could be present. Animals are used to produce proteins, medications, and human organs. The animals could be cloned and if anything goes wrong they could be born with deformities and not live very long. Plus, there is the threat that if a pig is carrying a disease and the heart is used as a transplant, the disease could be transferred to humans. Genetic modification is not natural and some would argue that by going around the natural reproduction methods more problems could arise. And last of all genetic modification is still in its infant stage of testing. We are still finding out how it all works so we can’t be sure of what the long term effects will be. But what about the economic impact that these organisms can have on countries?

In 2009, of the 14 million farmers growing GMOs, 90% were resource poor farmers in developing countries: 7 million in China, 5.6 million in India, and 250,000 in the Philippines, South Africa, and 12 other countries. The global worth of biotech crops in 2008 was estimated to be $130 billion (Wikipedia). So where do these crops come from? There are a few firms around the world with ties to the industry but the largest of them is Monsanto. In 2007, Monsanto's trait technologies were planted on 246 million acres throughout the world. Why is Monsanto holding the largest portion a problem? Well they have patents on the seeds that they sell. To control that patent they have developed “Technology Protection.” There are two forms of this: One is the “Terminator” which means that the crops yield sterile seeds, and two is “Traitor” which requires the farmer to spray a chemical activator on the seeds to activate the genetically modified traits. These protectors will require the farmers to pay yearly to have the privilege of growing these crops. With farmers already under burdens such as shrinking land space and growing populations to feed paying to grow these plants on a yearly basis could become quite costly. It might also make these crops unattainable to the small farmers in under developed countries. On the other side of the spectrum it could be a boon for farmers because the extra cost of having to pay yearly for the modified seeds could be offset; they could cut down on the land needed to grow the same amount plus the money saved on pesticides and weed killer because those traits are engineered into the crops. There are definitely some economic risks and rewards associated with it but all of it could be for naught if world governments and activists have anything to say about it.

As of 2007 the US, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil accounted for 94% of all GMO plantings (Council on foreign relations). The European Union accounts for 1% of all GMO corn grown in the world. Japan has no GMO products grown in the country and consumers continue to resist importation of GMOs. A bylaw was passed making it almost impossible to grow GMOs in Japan. The Consumers Union of Japan participated in the Planet Diversity Conference in Bonn Germany where Kokestu Michiyo was quoted,” We don’t only need networks between people, but between people and plants, and people and planet earth.” In New Zealand no GMOs are grown and no medicines containing live GMOs are allowed. The list goes on. These governments at the behest of their citizens have cried aloud that they don’t want these GMO products in their countries whether that is due to the fear of the unknown, the lack of understanding of what a GMO is and what it can do, or if it is for economic or environmental reasons they are currently against using this technology in most all of its forms.

There are many benefits both economically and for the general welfare of the citizenry that could persuade governments and farmers to use these genetically modified organisms. But if the technology is embraced to quickly without the proper studies and test performed there could be damaging consequences in the future. It is such a new technology that we just can’t know what may lie ahead. Some issues that need to be addressed are what effect will this have on bio-diversity? Will the benefits of having a pest resistant crop outweigh the possibility of producing more resistant pests? Are we really better off doing it this way than the old traditional ways? For now the technology is pushing forward with more acceptance gained worldwide everyday. The fact of the matter is we are seeing benefits and we are reaping rewards for our technological ingenuity.

Humans Being

It's been a couple months but here is my newest post. I decided to flex some linguistic muscles with this post and rather than raise some ethical questions or spark political debate I decided to explore something more abstract. Here is the question for your pondering pleasure: What makes us human?
I want to get down to this question and start by saying or rather asking is being born a human enough to make us human or is it something greater? There are two black and white categories here that need to be dealt with: first is human and second is inhuman. What separates the two? Where is the line drawn? Let me give you an example. Throughout human history there have been heroes and villains; Hitler, Stalin, Vlad, etc. These I would consider inhuman. The acts they oversaw were despicable to say the least. What human being could have carried out such heinous crimes is beyond me. That is why I will put them in that category. But that is easy, anyone would agree with me. Now where do we put criminals? Rapists? Murderers? Thieves? Druggies? Where is the line. It becomes less black and white and now has shades of grey. So you can't base it solely on what they do.
Let's shift gears a little and look at our society. If you look at it from a conservative point of view you have producers or capitalists and you have moochers and leeches. You have one group that is creating jobs and opportunities and the other side living off of the government and the goodwill of the people. Which of these groups would be considered human? How about if I rephrase and say which group is humans being and which are humans existing? If you contribute to society in a positive way does that make you more human? Does making a lot of money and controlling the wealth of a society make you less human? There is still something more to it.
The question of what makes us human is not a simple one as you can see. So at what point do people start pointing to God and all things spiritual for the answer? Before I do that let's play pretend. Let's assume there is no God and there is no all powerful being of any sort moving destiny and creating the situations that we find ourselves in. Where does our humanness come from? Is it something we are born with, something inherent in our species that sets us apart from all other life forms on Earth? If aliens were to visit would they be able to distinguish us from apes? This could happen if they had a small group of which to observe. After all our DNA differs from apes by such a small margin, something like 2%. Let's say they observe a tribe in Africa. I'm not saying they are animals, savages, or uncivilized in any way. I'm just saying that the lifestyle that they lead is very simple and to an outsider it could be construed that they are indistinguishable from some animals. Is there something that sets them apart to an outsider? Is there a humanness about them and is it visible from the outside?

Back to God. I know there are people that will argue that what makes us human is our spirit, our soul. Is that what makes us human? Did Hitler and those others have a spirit or soul and didn't that make them human? Is being human a question of good or bad? And if it isn't then what is the difference between human and inhuman?

I don't want to hear replies saying that this is a much deeper topic than I have put down here. I understand that. Philosophers have written libraries worth on the subject. And I don't expect to answer the question here on my humble little blog.

My sister had a baby last night. Little Mollie. I wonder if right now she has all the attributes that will make her human or if she will earn them through her life. To be human isn't about right or wrong. Everyone is human and because of that they all have human actions. It is their actions that we can attribute human versus inhuman. It is their character that can be judged. Simply existing cannot be either good or evil and so humans existing can't be good or evil. No child is born bad. They are born with potential. It's like Mahjong; as you clear away tiles you lose the ability to do some moves while gaining the ability to do other moves. If you have gain more moves than you lose you will ultimately clear the board. That is our goal in life. To act human we must work toward clearing the board. Hopefully we will and if we don't let's try to keep the tiles left on the board to a minimum.