Favorite Quotes

The written word is all that stands between memory and oblivion. Without books as our anchors, we are cast adrift, neither teaching nor learning. They are windows on the past, mirrors on the present, and prisms reflecting all possible futures. Books are lighthouses erected in the dark sea of time.

--Robbins, Blind soldier in the TV show Gargoyles




Saturday, February 20, 2010

Everyone Starts at Zero

Yesterday I went to SLC with a friend and ended up watching the LDS Church’s movie called “Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration.” Joseph Smith is one of their most famous prophets and is credited with starting the Church and translating The Book of Mormon in the 1800’s. The movie not only showed his efforts to establish the LDS church, but it also showed his childhood and teenage years. I wondered why they put so much emphasis on his childhood. Why was that important? As I watched, I realized that even Jesus Christ, the savior of mankind, entered this world as a baby and had to learn about the world as he grew, just like everybody else.
It seemed so poignant to me, to know that all famous people in history, from Einstein to Genghis Khan, from Alexander the Great to Abraham Lincoln, had to experience childhood before they became what they were. All had to be the little kid who wondered when he’d be old enough to reach the high shelves and old enough to do adult activities and old enough to own a horse and go where they wanted to go, just like me. Perhaps there is a universal law, that in order for someone to become anything, they must experience life as a child first. All must face growing up, the turbulent times of uncertainty as a teenager, and all must figure out what the world is and who they are before they can become a man and change the world. They have to learn about the world on their own, and decide their place in it. Everyone starts at “zero,” just like me.

5 comments:

  1. That is deep and very profound. I knew there was a reason I'm so proud of you!

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  2. Hey you! (I'm aunt annette's daughter--the blonde one! Yes to all...I go by an alias name, but come visit me when you like!

    meanmommyuniversity.blogspot.com)

    THis is profound. Deep reflection is always a good thing for the mind. Keep it up!

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  3. agreed we all have to start some where and decide where to go from there.well done.

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  4. Yes, it is neat think of the commonality we share with each other famous or not. We all have the potential to become something better than we were yesterday. It can be said that from our youth the life experiences we have shape and mold us, but how we chose to deal with our circumstances is what truly sets us apart.

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  5. I love the picture of you pondering by a small lake? pond? It really gives you a feeling about what your blog will be about.

    I love this post. Everyone starts at zero, it really puts in perspective that one person who is great and will change the world, while another person is so evil they will also change the world, they all started as children, with parents who would punish them (makes me giggle to think of hitler getting spanked and sent to his room as a child), praise them and love them. It also makes me wonder what happned in their lives where they felt the need to do what they have done.

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