A Great Task Laid Upon the Backs Of Simple Youth

Today in Seminary we read a talk by President Gordon B. Hinckley that was given at the dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley building at BYU Idaho on October 22, 2002.  The whole talk was absolutely brilliant, but one part stood out to me in particular.  He said (speaking to the youth) "There is no end in sight for the good you can do.  Do you know it?  You are just simple kids.  You are not geniuses.  I know that.  But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses.  It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way people of your kind who can do these things."

Hearing this reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by J.R.R Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. “The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.” - J.R.R. Tolkien 

One of the most prominent themes in The Lord of the Rings is how by "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."  (Alma 37:6)  As youth, we have a great responsibility and work to do just as Frodo and Sam.  Our generation is counting us.  This responsibility is ours and we cannot change that. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”  - J.R.R Tolkien  

Of course, we cannot do it alone.  But nothing is impossible with the Lord.  "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:2  

The amount of good we can accomplish is infinite.  We must only trust in Christ the Lord.  

Does Having Natural Talent Really Give You an Advantage?

If you have two students with whom you were teaching a fine art, and one was naturally gifted in that art, and the other was not, which student would you expect to do better in the long run?  Most people would guess that the gifted student would; but is that really the case?  

In Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind he explains his point using horses.  "In our scriptures, it is said that there are four kinds of horses; excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver's will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones."  

Everyone wants to be the best horse, but this cannot be done, because perfection is impossible.  If one cannot be the best horse, then we would want to be the second best.  However, Master Suzuki believes this is wrong.  He believes that “when you learn too easily, you're tempted not to work hard, not to penetrate to the marrow of practice."  To him, the bad horse has the advantage because if it puts forth the effort, it will learn the skill much more deeply than the other horse would.  I believe Master Suzuki is right and that when you learn easily, you are tempted to not exert the same amount of effort, but I don't believe that the slow learner is inferior to the fast learner.  One type of learner is not dominant over the other and each has equal potential, but for the fast learner "to achieve his or her full potential, this person will have to work just as diligently as those with less innate ability." George Leonard.

So in conclusion both types of learners are equal, and both can achieve maximum efficiency, but the obstacles for each learner are different and must be overcome to ultimately reach that level of proficiency.  

Imagine Dragons Radioative feat. Kendrick Lamar

When I first heard that Imagine Dragons had made a remix of Radioactive I was pretty stoked.  For me Imagine Dragons is one of those bands that you can never get tired of listening to.  They are plain and simply just that good.

If any of you don't have a clue what I'm going on about, recently Imagine Dragons preformed a remix of Radioactive and m.A.A.d city  at the 2014 GRAMMY's featuring Kendrick Lamar singing or more accurately, rapping a third verse.   

Kendrick begins:

Bury me alive, bury me with pride

Bury me with berries, that forbidden fruit and cherry wine

Thank you berry much, but tonight's my night and I'm Barry Bonds

Swingin' for the fences, barbaric Kendrick in idle time

He begins with bury, to berry, to barbaric in a sort of stanza.  Then he likens himself to Barry Bonds, who was a famous pro-baseball player.  

Everything in life's subject to change, change whip, change grind

Change clothes, change opinions, right before I change my mind

I don't really know yah business, been in there since I was bendin' Lego blocks

Now you tell the world about me, dry snitch

Kendrick tells about how everything is subject to change, be it something as trivial as clothing, or a more significant alteration like changing the world.  "Dry snitch" refers to someone tattles on another person, unintentionally or possibly for more shrewd means.  However, Kendrick does not mean it quite like that; he means that his fans are publicizing his work for him.  

Tater tots on my shotgun, now I gotta pop one at the stars

Sky's the limit, I gotta finish as the first rapper on Mars

Mark my word, I'mma make my mark, even when they start their Martial Law

Even when these Martians alienate, my mental state is still at heart

This line I found most hard to understand, but after reading on Metro Lyrics, and a few YouTube videos, I learned that a makeshift silencer can be made using a potato.  He uses this analogy to say that he plans to shoot down every other rapper (career-wise) and to ultimately become the best.   

Look in my eyes, tell me I died, tell me I tried, to compromise

Tell me you love me, tell me that I, don't give a f*** and can barely decide

Wishin' good luck on my enemies, all of my energy go to the almighty God

I could drown in a bottle of Hennessy, f*** your amenities, I'm gettin' better with time

Kendrick is literally telling you to look into his eyes and tell him he's not the best.  He wishes his competitors luck because he claims to be unstoppable and is growing stronger "with time."

My first impression was that Kendricks part out of place, and carelessly thrown in.  So I listened to it a couple more times and my feelings toward it began to change.  I've come to the conclusion that my first assumption was inaccurate because I was biased after loving the original so much.  Do not stumble into this pitfall as I did.  Before you listen to the performance, remove any previous expectations of this song from your mind.  Drop the window down to prevent the video from becoming a distraction from the audio.  Sit and listen with an open mind.   

In conclusion I quite like this remix.  It's definitely not as good as the original, but has a nice twist. If you’re interested, you can watch the live performance of this remix HERE