My Gratitude List

Some time ago I started a harmless parody of something I noticed was taking place on Facebook: people publicly announcing what they are grateful for. Though it can be a little sappy and completely irrelevant at times, I really appreciate this trend as I often do not express my gratitude as I should. So, in honor of this trend, I have written them down. All of them are things that I am honestly grateful for, but hopefully most of them are more humorous than deep. They are labeled by date of when I put them on Facebook:

August 27 - Two things I'm grateful for today: a guy dressed as a storm trooper on the side of the road holding sign: Death Star destroyed, out of work; and my niece try to lick my toe without me noticing.

August 28 - Today I am grateful for three things: Alec Baldwin's anger issues, go karts, and the fact that certain raptors in the time of the dinosaurs era had feathers - not to fly, but to stabilize themselves on the back of their flailing prey as they ate them alive.

August 29 - Today I am grateful that I really can't understand what most rappers say since I'm pretty sure most of it is Ludacrisly offensive.

August 30 - Today I am grateful for three things: gravity wells, public transportation, and the fact that Nikola Tesla actually had plans to make a doomsday machine.

August 31 - Today I am grateful for cream cheese.

September 1 - Today I'm grateful for three things: diesel engines, air brakes, and how easily John Phillips is annoyed.

September 3 (posted twice) - Today I'm grateful twice: one for being able to say I'm grateful for things yesterday.

-I'm also grateful that John Phillips played a game that got him physically abused.

September 4 - Today I am grateful for two things: the fact that bears aren't sentient, and that my niece calls for her dog Rosie and demands she is there when having family prayer.


September 5 - Today I am grateful for the fact that Futurama made an actual mathematical algorithm to help explain a plot device.

September 6 - Today I am grateful for three things: student loans, Trogdor, and air mattresses.


September 7 - Today I am grateful for apocalypse level rains, good lighting, and pizza rolls.

September 8 - Today I am grateful for a lack of apocalypse like rain.

Septermber 9 - Today I am grateful for copious amounts of Nutella that ended up on my desk, green bouncy balls, and 117.

September 10 - Today I am grateful for three things: the facts that mosquitoes aren't inherently poisonous, that I do not have the ebola virus, and that Kaiju aren't actually attacking earth at this very moment.

September 11 - Today I am grateful for the men and women who serve to protect and serve this country.

September 12 - Today I am grateful for three things: a series of dreams that continue a story set in the Walking Dead universe, a similar set of dreams that are set in the Harry Potter universe, and for good stories in general.

September 13 - Today I am grateful for four things: carpet, that i am not a vacuum cleaner, that Adobe lets me perform service for work, and the potoo bird.

September 14 - Today I am thankful to have a fiance that smashes me in racquetball... While using her left hand instead of right... And only having to walk while playing. Basically I'm grateful to be humbled.

September 15 - Today I'm thankful for lazy Sunday afternoons.

September 16 - Today I am grateful for two things: the creation of Ender Wiggin, and the literary death of Voldemort.

September 17 - Today I am grateful for what the Fox says.

September 18 - Today I am grateful that Google just does whatever it wants on its homepage.

September 19 - Today I am grateful for this joke: sometimes I squat on the floor and put my arms around my knees and lean forward - cuz that's how I roll.

September 20 -Today I am grateful for three things: rivalry week, BYU beating U of U in so many things, and the fact that Adobe is playing the highlights of the blessed rivalry on the Adobe TV circuit, which is about ten feet from my desk.

September 21 - Today I am grateful for two things: football, and awesome paintballing with the family.

September 22 - Today I'm grateful for the comfort of laying down in a bed, and for prisms.

September 23 - Today I am grateful for avocados and taxes.

September 24 - Today I am thankful for the power of Photoshop and Youtube.

September 25 - Today I am grateful for snow on the mountains!

September 26 - Today I am grateful for three things: pumpkin chocolate chip bread, spinach, and the fact that Yoda was not named Bucky as was originally written.

September 27 - Today I am grateful the British aren't coming.

Hopefully we can all learn to be a little more grateful for everything we have in our lives, including and especially the little things.

PS. The genesis of this project came from a discussion with my friend Jake Allred. Here is the relevant discussion here:

I was thinkig about what we were talking about yesterday, and I was thinking about some things regarding apostasy, and why they apostatize, and one of the main ones I came up with was a lack of gratitude.

and then I realized that whether one believes in God or not, a lack of gratitude is a the source of many ills in modern society.

so I decided to do my part and change myself by being more grateful.

and then it evolved from there.

                  -snippet taken from gChat (August 28, 2013)

Importance of Timing on Earth

The following is an excerpt between my roommate Jake and I while sitting in church. The speaker made reference to an oft quoted saying that our generation has been saved for this time on Earth, alluding to the idea that our generation of souls is somehow more special then others. Our question and response is as follows (slightly edited for clarity):

Me: Has everyone who has ever lived been foreordained to come to Earth when they do?

Jake: So you are asking if everyone was sent at a set time for a specific purpose, are we really special?

Me: Correct.  Personally, I don't think so. I feel it is rhetoric by some members of the church to make us feel better about living in such a time. But, for the sake of argument, let's suppose these people are correct. Does God then send a person to Earth at a specific time to do a specific work?

Jake: Yes. We have the examples of Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, Moses, etc. They were sent at specific times to do a specific work. However, it is hard to see in such a seemingly non-consequential lives as ours such a thing happening. Just like a mission, I think that wherever or whenever you go, you can have a good experience. Some places and times just maybe are more beneficial than others.

Me: So you suppose all man has a reason for being here at their given time? Or is it just a crap-shoot for most when they arrive?

Jake: A specific reason? No. Not all men are sent for specific reasons. However, I would like to believe God sent us at times and to places that are most beneficial for us and mankind.

Me: So God is a consequentialist? Interesting. So essentially only a few individuals are foreordained for specific time periods to influence the whole of humanity? And the rest were sent at their time because they were best suited for that time?

Jake: That is correct.

Me: So these people were foreordained to do something in this time, but only because they fit it well? Is it then true that the marginal benefit of their placement on the Earth greater than anyone else? Or such that their marginal benefit is most in that position given that someone better went somewhere else because they had a higher marginal return? This keeps with the idea that God is a consequentialist.

Jake: Most of us could have been plugged in at any other time and done the duty necessary. We don't believe in a soulmate, but we do believe that many people would fit as a spouse for anyone person. I don't see why it would be any different for our placement on earth. In regards to the marginal benefit, I don't know, but I feel it varies from person to person.

Me: I agree, humanity is ultimately variable. So is there not a "hardest" time or a "most valiant" generation?

Jake: I believe that there is not.

Me: Do you then also believe that humanity falls into wickedness so easily because the majority of us are wicked? Or does God send people down into pockets where the disposition of the majority causes them to fall into wickedness? Is there a lack of valiant people there for a reason? Is God placing these people there because they were the least likely to succeed anyways, thus most beneficial to get them out of the way?

Jake: There is a lack of valiant people for a reason, but not because God made it that way. He works the best with the constraints he has (our own valiancy). I don't like to believe though that God packages the less valiant people together in certain times; however, it's somewhat hard to deny given historical precedence of apostasy, or even the groups of people who blatantly turned from God found in the scriptures. Why did those exist if not for the planned placement of souls?

Me: Exactly my thoughts. Now, if God plans the placements of souls in such a way, is He doing it to spare the righteous and to condemn the wicked? I think not, for that would imply a partial God, one who places some of His children in a no-win situation. I believe God doesn't actually put pockets of wicked souls on the earth, but rather allows like-minded souls to gather and then to propagate their wickedness. Do the children of these wicked men receive the same condemnation as the parents merely because they were taught to live that way? How much of our own wickedness is from our personal choices and how much comes from our upbringing?

Jake: So are you implying that possibly we chose to come down at a certain time with souls we associated with? You've tapped into the nature vs. nurture debate. I believe some comes from nature and some from nurture, but I don't dare attempt to define in what proportions. On an earlier question, if God does plan the placement of souls, maybe it's not to condemn the wicked but rather to spare them. Are they not better off sinning due to lack of knowledge and prophetic guidance than with it?

Me: That was what I was attempting to get at with my last question. If a wicked person sins in darkness of truth, how much is it accounted against him? Can/will the atonement bridge the gap of knowledge and light they have received to allow that weak/wicked soul a chance at full redemption?

Jake: If a wicked person sins in darkness of truth, they can't be held quite as accountable. I understand why certain information is withheld, but completely shunning someone from any gospel truth to merely lessen their punishment when they would have been more guilty if they had an "equal" right to knowledge as anyone else seems to be artificially inflating salvation. You can't deny that everyone is not given an equal chance in this life. That is because the Spirit World is in place to give everyone an overall equal chance. But couldn't this have been averted if everyone was given an equal chance in this life (not considering the fact that we are given resurrection)?

Me: Ignoring the fact that you are attributing something to the Spirit World that doesn't make sense in this context, you are essentially saying that everyone is given an equal chance to sin as all others, and, by extension, an equal chance to do good? By this logic, every destitute, poor, and starving person should behave like Valjean if they are to be saved.

Jake: In the grand scheme of things everyone is on equal footing, but not in this life.

Me: If this life is inherently unfair, then would God placing the weak in hard, unfair places to protect them against the full extent of the law really inflating salvation, or is it wisdom in God to maximize the number of souls who will return to Him?

Obligatory Gratitude

This past Sunday during church we had a lesson on gratitude. The comment was made that service is designed to make us grateful for the things that we have. Comments like these have always been given in church without much thought or remark, almost as though this was a given fact. However this time I noticed what was being said and thought about the ramifications behind that statement. After jotting my thoughts down on paper I handed it to my roommate Jake who was sitting next to me. The following is written conversation that Jake and I had about gratitude:

Me: Isn't there something inherently wrong with the idea that service is supposed to make us grateful for what we have? Isn't that like saying you serve to realize you have it better than someone else? It almost seems that it boils down to the concept of competition - I serve to realize that I'm better than others.

God does not want us to serve so we realize He has blessed us more; He wants us to serve because we realize beforehand that we have been blessed for the intent of blessing others.

{I can see a flaw in this idea as well}

Jake: How?

Me: 1) Did God bless us only for the intent to bless others? If so, why doesn't He just bless everyone?  2) Is it really being gracious if we follow the commandment to bless others? Shouldn't gratitude be given freely?}

Jake: In reply to 1) I think God did bless us so we could bless others. By blessing others we are able to garner chartiy, etc. In the end, we will be gods and this gives us an opportunity to practice blessing others.

In reply to 2) It depends on your motives. It's not altruistic if you're doing it based on command. How does one give gratitude?

Me: In response to Jake's reply to 1) I agree He blessed us to bless others for that reason, but does that mean we are showing gratitude when we serve others because of this blessing? It seems like doing service for this reason is done not because of gratitude, but for obedience. Since this is the case, the response to 2) is that gratitude is expressed without obligation or external pressure. Though we are commanded to be grateful, one cannot be grateful if obligated to do so. It must come from our own will and desire.

Jake: So are you saying it's not pure to serve others for the purpose of expressing gratitude for our blessings? Do people really feel obligated to serve others when feeling gratitude? Possibly, but I feel people want to bless others when they are grateful for what they have and they want others to have the same blessings.

Me: I think it is possible to serve out of gratitude and that many serve because they want others to have what they have. However, to say that we must serve to show gratitude is fallacious because it wouldn't be gratitude but instead it would be obedience. As soon as one serves out of obligation instead of gratitude they have lost the ability to show gratitude in that service. Gratitude can compel a man to serve, but obligation cannot create gratitude. A man can be obedient and still show gratitude though his service, but the obedience must just be a natural consequence of his actions expressing his gratitude and not his motivating factor.

Fin
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This was the conversation we had. I found it interesting to notice very strong Kantian ideals and logic in my arguments. I have just finished reading his book "Metaphysical Principles of Virtue" where he lays the foundation for the categorical imperative. Clearly he has had a profound affect on my thought process.

Any thoughts or comments on the above conversation would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to tear it apart - I would love to know where this logic is wrong or what you think.