Education True Meaning
What makes me an individual, what will set me apart from the rest of my peers, what will enable me to progress and find prosperity in this life? The answer to these questions is education. It is only through learning profound truths that one gains power and expertise enough to face all the challenges of life with a smile. When I am asked what will my education do for me I say exactly that, my education will give me the knowledge in what joy is and how to find it. Life is about becoming a well rounded individual being able to always find the good in wherever you are. Education particularly and education obtained at a University will greatly help you on your road of finding things not just worth dieing for but truly living for.
Getting an education at a university to me means options. I have never wanted to live a closed up life where I cannot make any of my own life changing decisions. I hate putting the rains into other peoples hands. Studying at a university also allows you to find out a small portion of who you are and what you are naturally excel in. Before attending this university I was under the impression that my math skills were well below par. Throughout middle and high school a struggled in this subject and no amount of tutoring could help. I remember hating math class and wishing to never see another number as long as I lived. After starting a university math course I found that I was not only capable of doing the work but that I was also quite good at it. My whole perspective on what a can and cannot do has changed because of the way knowledge was presented to me on a university level. I still cannot say I enjoy math but I can say that I am very good at thinking out the equations and finding their applications.
Having options and finding knowledge now applicable in day to day life has made me a better individual. Knowing that through hard work and some natural skill I can not only get through school but find gainful employment in the future. Growing up I had a number of odd jobs and none of which paid more that minimum wage. After one day of washing pans at a bakery I worked at I came home to find my dad smiling at me. He asked me how my day went and why I was so tired. Then I remember vividly him saying, “you know this is why we go to college son.” It donned on me then that I hated working hard and not getting a lot of money for it. I have never loved money but I do love my time and if I have to work I might as well make as much money as possible and studying at a university opens more doors to a better paying future.
Having a university education is not just about making money it is also about appreciated the world and people around us. I am a man of faith and studying at this particular institution of Brigham Young University Idaho has truly expounded this fact to me that the more education you get the more you appreciate living on this planet. When I read the Book of Mormon I see a huge contrast in the way the people of Nephi live in comparison to their sister nation of Lamanites. The Nephites enjoyed making things and creating works of art while the Lamanites only loved the practice of war. The first people to truly listen to the message of Ammon and Aaron were the more educated kings. The kings were able to appreciate what the missionaries were saying because they had been taught to think and to question the world around them. I found this a major theme while on my mission to Hong Kong. In the intercity it was always those or the more educated class that listened to the message of the gospel with an open mind. Those that were less educated usually but not always disregarded what the we would say because they could not see how another culture could help their lives for the better.
I never want to live a dull and mundane life. Being here at a university has given me great insights on what some of my future goals in life should be. I have always been good at rock climbing and I would love to travel the world doing it but since my attendance at this university I have changed my mind set greatly. No longer do I always want to climb mountains but I want to expand my horizons and see the great works of art in the Sistine Chapel. I have never really had a gift in music or I have yet to find anything in music that I am good at but I do enjoy listening to the master pieces where as in my youth I would rather bash my head into a wall. Education allows us to see a more colorful world around us. It gives us the knowledge that we really do not know everything and that it is ok. That there is always something new to try and accomplish all the days of our life.
I have to be honest in saying that the university education has truly helped to broadened my horizons but with that said I now have no idea what I specifically want to do in the future. I intend to continue my education at least in tell I am able to graduate with a Masters Degree. I would really like to leave an impact on those around me as well and know that I am living a life with purpose. I have a huge fear of wasting time and since my young adolescence I have always coined the phrase “you can sleep when your dead.” I am fairly sure this phrase explains that a really want to be successful in whatever field of profession I chose.
I have always wanted to know what makes one successful in anything and I have found this constant theme. Those that are successful never stop learning how to become better. I hope that I have learned enough lessons in self humility to know my lack of omnipotence because if I have to eat another piece of the humble pie I will explode. I hope to always have the ability to set goals and make plans to meet them because anyone with an imagination can dream but its those rare individuals that can make plans to accomplish their dreams that get everything done. I don’t want to grow up and look back on life and see the glass half full with all the “if onlyies” that never got done. I know that life is not forever but it is long enough to make most of my dreams come true. Only after one semester of university study gave me the wisdom to choose and serve a full time mission. It was on my mission I learned I could learn not just one but two very foreign languages and that I could learn to love a people so very, very different from my own. I intend to learn everything I can about everything that interests me and then some things that do not interest me just to say that I tried.
I have learned the most in life by throwing myself into a subject and absorbing as much of it as possible. I was never very good at getting used to the water before I jumped in and this is the same approach I take in my learning. I have the firm belief that if you want to learn you cannot fear the subject at hand. If I would have continue in my fear of math I would never have received an A in math here last semester. As Winston Churchill stated, “the only thing to fear is fear itself.” From past experience I have also learned some restraint in this learning method. I have to many times burned myself out of a subject because I fascinated over it for far to long a time. I feel that one needs the wisdom to see the importance and application of the knowledge he is learning. I have learned a lot about Star Wars but I also understand that his knowledge might not be the most useful in my future employment but I also have not closed my mind to the idea of working with the Star Wars franchise in the future.
I will become an educated individual by continuing in my worship and following precepts taught in this church. We are taught to become as the Lord who is Omnipotent. Even after eons and eons of time after I leave mortality I will still have a long road ahead of me to reach this lofty goal of perfection but there is no better time than the present.
I once heard that the purpose of life was to find something worth dieing for. For a long time I agreed with this principle in tell it donned on me that dieing was easy. Well once after one believes in an afterlife dieing becomes a little more bearable a thought. I have decided however that the purpose of life is finding something worth living for. Something that will get me out of my bead on those days where the head cold will not leave and I feel like dieing instead of going to work for another ten hour shift. Getting a University education help me to put life back into a personal perspective. I plan on living more than just a few more years and I need to prepare for all those rainy days where I wished the world would just stop for me. The knowledge that I am qualified at a University level will comfort me greatly when self doubts arise. Graduating with a college diploma is a big deal and something to do the right way. I have heard many wise men say that there are far to many people who spend so much money and do not work in getting a good education. To me this is an oxymoron, it seems very uneducated to spend money on something that will not be a treasured investment because a University education is just that an investment. After you are done here you will need to keep adding upon this investment in tell one day in a very long time you will have learned everything. After you learn everything it is then you know that your mission has always been to help those around you learn and with your perfect knowledge you will finally be able to truly teach and help those around you.
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