The Stone Cutter

Once upon a time in Japan, there was a poor stone cutter named Hofus who used to go every day to the mountainside to cut great blocks of stone. He lived near the mountain in a little stone hut and worked hard and was happy.

One day he took a load of stone to the house of a rich man. There he saw so many beautiful things that when he went back to his mountain he could think of nothing else. Then he began to wish that he too might sleep in a bed as soft as down with curtains of silk and tassels of gold. And he sighed: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only were rich as he!" To his surprise, a great voice was heard: "Have thou thy wish!"

When Hofus returned home his house had become a palace filled with beautiful things. Hofus decided to work no more, but he was not used to being idle and one day as he sat by the window he saw a carriage dash past with a prince inside. It was drawn by snow white horses.

When the stone cutter saw this, he began to feel unhappy, and he sighed: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only a prince might be!" And again the same voice that he had heard on the mountain answered: "Be thou a prince!"

Straightway Hofus was a prince. He had servants dressed in crimson and gold, and for a short time he was happy, but one day, as he walked in the garden, he saw that the flowers were drooping, the grass was dry and brown. And when he rode out he felt the hot sun burn him in spite of his umbrella.

"The sun is mightier than I," thought he, and then he sighed: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only the sun might be!" And the voice answered: "Be thou the sun!"

Straightway the great sun he became. He burned the grass and rice fields. He dried up the streams.One day a cloud came and rested in front of him, and hid the earth from his sight. He was angry and cried: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only a cloud might be!" And the voice answered: "Be thou a cloud!"

Straightway a cloud he became. Then day after day the cloud dropped rain. The rivers overflowed and towns were swept away. Only the great rocks on the mountain side stood unmoved midst the flood. The cloud looked at them in wonder, then he sighed: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only a rock might be!" And the voice answered: "Be thou a rock!"

Straightway a rock he became. Proudly he stood. The sun could not burn him and the rain could not move him. "Now, at last," he said, "no one is mightier than I."

But one day he was wakened from his dreams by a noise, "tap! tap! tap!" down at his feet. He looked and there was a stone cutter driving his tool into the rock. Another blow and the great rock shivered; a block of stone broke away.

"That man is mightier than I!" cried Hofus, and he sighed: "Ah me! Ah me! If Hofus only the man might be!" And the voice answered: "Be thou thyself!"

And straightway Hofus was himself again, a poor stone cutter, working all day upon the mountain side and going home at night to his little hut. Yet, he was content and happy and never again did he wish to be other than Hofus the stone cutter.

*Story Courtesy of Alisha*

Zuzu's Petals

Quiet seems to pervade the library, hugging the corners of the stacks, sweeping down the stairs in the atrium, and collecting in tiny piles on the carpet. The only reason I know it's inhabited is the fact that I am still sitting at my desk, on the first floor, in Special Collections, with a few other student employees who pass by here and there. There's not much to do; I've finished my project, pandora just informed me that our computer has used up its 40 hour limit for music, and I've resorted to looking at old pictures on facebook.

As I've clicked through the hundreds of pictures of me and my loved ones, I can't help but smile at all the crazy things I've done. Christmas pictures of us gallivanting around Disneyland, Derek and I building a snowman at 3 in the morning, pictures of me standing beneath Big Ben. All of these are fabulous memories, of course, but I often wonder where the "real life" is in these snapshots. Where are the days when all I did was curl up with Harry Potter and read it from cover to cover? Where's the sandbox I spend hours, even days, in? Where are the breakfasts in our pajamas, or Derek and I curling up to watch a movie on the laptop? I guess the sad thing is, these pictures all depict the big bang moments. But reality is that life is a gradual creation, a collection of moments that turn us into people.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Russell in Disney's movie UP. He said, "Sometimes, it's the boring stuff I remember the most." And I have to agree with him! It's the "boring" stuff that make us who we are, that connect us to our loved ones. I mean, how would Sam have been my best friend until just about forever if we hadn't jumped on our beds all night? Why would I want to go home if I didn't have a million and one nights of eating dinner together to bring me back to my family? How on earth could I have made it for two years without hearing Derek's voice if I didn't have hours spend on my apartment love seat, talking about what type of furniture or Tupperware we would be? Sure, you might look at all that and say: that's really boring. And perhaps it is. But let me remind you of something.

In It's A Wonderful Life George Bailey is given the incredible opportunity of seeing what the world would be like without him. In the end, when George "lives again," the first thing he wants is confirmation and what does he look for? A few petals from his daughter's flower: "Zuzu's petals." That small simple thing brought a huge smile to his face, laughter, and enough energy to run home through the snow of Bedford Falls. Those seemingly insignificant petals were confirmation that his wife and children lived, that they loved him, and that they wanted him home.

I can't help but think that it truly is the "small and simple things" which bring great moments and great love to our lives. And I'm grateful for all of them. I think back on all the moments of barbies and mermaids in the pool and realize that without all of that, my sisters and brother would just be human beings to me. Sure, I would still see their worth, but how much of it would I see? A surface of paint, not the layers and layers that make them who they are.Thank goodness for Zuzu's Petals.

The Grendel of our Age

Ok, I have found something I am morally opposed to that is said to become "all the rage." Amazon called it the "Hottest Gift of the Season." No Amazon- it is simply the newest thing to murder the beautiful experience of sitting down with a book on a cold winter's night, caressing the pages of literacy that give us power in this universe.

What is this horrible atrocity, you may ask?

It's called the Kindle, a hand-held electronic device on which you can upload books. It's nice and thin and so convenient! It only takes 60 seconds to get a book! LIES! A book is not a small piece of cold plastic and metal! It's a beautiful collection of pages and ink, pressed together to create another world in which to escape. It turns pages just like a real book! Once again, it does nothing of the sort. A screen displays a page turning, but your finger doesn't caress the edge, you cannot possibly feel the satisfaction of anxiously awaiting the next page, the next moment, the next scene within a beautiful reality that brings relief from the world. The Kindle is nothing more than a farce, like Communism, the devil's version of something beautiful. I cannot help but connect this horrid thing, Kindle, with the name of the long feared Grendel, the monstor of Beowulf, who has haunted the dreams of millions for millenia! Stay away from it! It will take a piece of your life!

I hate it. Mostly, I hate what it represents. The world is quickly retreating into technology, robbing us and future generations of the most beautiful experiences in life. Nothing can replace a tattered book, full of love and hours of enjoyment. It holds within its wrinkles and dogeared corners love and true devotion. How can you possibly say that you LOVE your Kindle? Where is the proof! Well, there is none! But books...ahh, you can love them. You can hold them, you can stick them in your purse or backpack and hold them, touch the pages, smudge the ink with your tears! It's a beautiful relationship, one that I say cannot be replaced with electronics.

Do not consider me an Amish snood who hides behind her butter churn and wash basin; no, I appreciate technology as quickly as Bill Gates does. But technology is meant to IMPROVE our lives! Not rob us of beautiful things! Elder Bednar spoke of the farce realities of the internet in his CES fireside in May of this year. I would submit to you that this is just another contribution to the evil of technology, taking away beautiful expereinces and making you believe you are getting something valuable.

My friends, take care. Don't rob yourself of a lovely expereince with the display of man's greatest invention! Embrace the pages and print of books and shun the false reality of a piece of metal that pretends to be something it is not!

Broken Glasses

I work with a lot of fabulous people in the Special Collections. Every morning when I come in, I say "good morning!" to whoever got lucky enough to unlock the doors at 8:00am. Today, when I gave my cheerful greeting, he said, "I guess!" and I fired back (with my usual spunk), "Well, what's bad about it?" "What's good about it?!" And I started listing things off: "You're in a heated building, you have clothes on your back, you have glasses to help you see..." and he brought up how his glasses were broken, and I said, "Oh so-and-so, of course there are things that aren't perfect: but must everything be PERFECT for it to be good?"

The answer to that is: NO! Not everything has to be perfect for it to be good! I look at our car sometimes and think, "We could use a better car." But why? Sure, it sometimes smells funny because oil leaks on the exhaust pipe, the paint is chipped and peeling, our back window is made of duct tape and license plates, but it runs! It gets us to our families, it takes us to the Temple. It warms our hands and cheeks during the winter. Is it perfect? nope. does it work? YES! And so, it is good!

I guess I've been thinking about Bishop Burton's talk this past Tuesday, where he talked about being "glass half-full" kind of people. So, I'm determined to be just that...half FULL!

Wordle

Ok, so I found out about this awesome website called "Wordle". It makes a bunch of words into a "word" cloud.
Here's one I did of the Cougar Fight Song.
Check it out:
Wordle.net

mmmm Hmmmm

A friend of mine had this posted and it made me laugh.

Yikes!

So, my boss at work showed me this video today.

Dude...it's awesome.

http://yikebike.com/

Invited!

One of my absolute favorite Professors at BYU sent me the following email yesterday:

Dear Jennifer,

forgive me if I wrote you about this already, but I wanted to invite students who had the highest grades in History 202 to consider applying to this programme for Summer 2010:

http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/ip/pkp/

If you are interested, I am available to answer your questions and help you to apply.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Kerry

Absolutely YES I want to go!!! A friend of mine went a few years ago and she said it was beyond amazing.

Well, I saw a few problems with it:
1. I'm married and don't want to be without Derek all summer.
2. Tuition is about $3500 for the summer term (YEOUCH!)
3. I'm married.

Sadly, I sent an apologetic email back to Dr. Kerry, but he fired back almost immediately saying that married students have worked it out! So, Derek and I started talking about it yesterday and I started to fill out the application last night.

Do I want to go? YES!
Do I hope I get in? YES!
Does Derek want me to get it? YES!
Will we actually be able to do it? -------------??

So...here's hoping. I'm going to talk to Dr. Kerry after class today, or sometime this week, and get his input on what he thinks will work. I hope it works out....what an adventure for us!

In other news...it's supposed to Snow Saturday. :D

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

I realize that some of you who read this blog have absolutely no idea who Guy Fawkes is. Allow me to shed some light on this subject:

Guy Fawkes (the word "guy", meaning "man" or "person", is derived from his name) belonged to a group of Roman Catholics from England who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Their aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I and the entire Protestant, and some Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside.

The Gunpowder Plot was initially led by someone else, but Fawkes was the guy (haha) in charge of the execution of the plot. He was arrested, however, a few hours before the explosion was to be set off. Apparently, Scotland Yard was notified by an anonymous letter.

Now, on 5 November in the UK, there is Guy Fawkes Night, aka bonfire night. In commemoration of this magnificent plot, the people burn an effigy of Fawkes and the celebration is often accompanied by fireworks. OOo!! AAAaah!

So, Happy Guy Fawkes Day.

Palaces of Work

There are usually very few actual textbooks that I enjoy. Probably because most text books are horribly written (but that's another story). However, once in a while, a textbook will reach can reach past the traditional rhetoric that horrifies most readers, and touch me. I was reading in my World Civilization Text this afternoon (about 20 seconds ago) about the rise of industrialization. And Fernandez Armesto wrote something that makes me long for the old days; the pre-industrialization days.

"In the past, small groups of workers had shared intimate surroundings: workshops in which a few equals or near equals collaborated, or households in which a master craftsman marshaled apprentices who lived together like a large family. Now seismic social upheavals raised factories like "smoking volcanoes" (as contemporaries said), burying the world of artisans and flattening traditional social hierarchies."

"Like a large family..." goodness, doesn't that sound fantastic? I have been privileged to work for several employers who create that type of environment. But I must say, that those types of atmospheres have diminished and aren't the norm any more, just as Armesto describes. We look to the capitalist mentality and look for efficiency, not family. We want a place where people work: keep the spheres separate. Which of course, I agree that once you leave work, you must LEAVE work and be with your family. But why can't the ideals and love within your family be spread into the workplace? Can't fellow employees bond together, care about each other, love one another, and feel on equal ground? I think they can. I think it happens. I've been there, in fact, I'm lucky enough to be there right now with my job in the Library.

I guess I'm writing this to encourage you to create this type of environment in your own workplace. Make a difference. Make your Palace of Work a place where family values and feelings flourish. Share the love inside of you with those all around you. Don't mix up work with your family, but certainly mix the care and love for children of God with your fellow employees-they deserve it.