Graduation

Alright, so it's been a little while since I last wrote something so I thought I should try to catch you all up. Yesterday was USU's 118 commencement and I was finally able to graduate. It took me three years to do it but I finally made it.
The commencement ceremony was actually really good. F. Ross Peterson the Vice President of the university was the speaker and I thought that he gave some really good advice. He talked about how often we've been told by others that we should look to the future, and cherish the past. He said that we should spend our time in the present, dealing with the hear and now. We should learn from the past and plan for the future but it all is worthless if we fail to live in the present. I've been thinking about how I can change my outlook on life to reflect this advice, I haven't come up with anything specific yet but I'm sure I will.
After the commencement I got together with my family. Tara, Dov, Matan and Sienna were there along with Jana, Mom, and Dad. It was a blast to get together with them all, it was the highlight of the day to just sit around the house and chill with them all. The only thing that could've made it better would be if Brooks, Bonny, Nate, Malory, and Landon could've been there; but they all had good excuses. Plus I've still got my law school graduation so they can totally redeem themselves.
It feels a little strange that I don't have to worry about school next semester. I know I'm not done with my education just yet but it certainly is a relief to have my undergraduate degree behind me. It was an important step and I look forward to my final destination - law school. I don't know where I'm going, though I do have my information together for the applications. I just am waiting on some more forms so that I can send all the applications out and not have to worry about it. Don't worry I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on the whole process cause I know you're all waiting with bated breath.

Presidential Nominees and Past Transgressions

There has been some publicity lately of Barack Obama's 'youthful' transgressions in regards to drugs. He spoke to a high school in New Hampshire and discussed his drug use when he was a teenager and a lot of people have gotten on his case because of it. They say that he is telling the kids that it is ok to do drugs that they can always quit. They say that because he has done well that he is telling kids that they can do drugs and it won't ruin their lives. Mitt Romney has stated that he doesn't think Obama used very good judgment and that he knows no one is perfect but that he shouldn't have been so candid with the kids.

Personally I feel it refreshing to hear that a presidential nominee would be so open, honest, and candid while running for president. I read the quotes that news agencies gave on their websites and what Obama seems to be saying is that he made a mistake in high school to do drugs and he realized that he wasted a lot of time in high school which he could've put to better use. I do think that past problems are an indication of a president's abilities but it depends on the situation. For example President Bush during his first campaign, not sure about the second, had allegations of cocaine use and drinking. I wouldn't hold this against him if he had been willing to accept his mistake and deal with it. I think it has been quite indicative of his presidency, he has made mistakes and has not been willing to admit it and deal with it. Not only is that irresponsible it is dishonest and as the president that's not a good mix. That's not a good mix in anybody. Thus I see Obama's candidness as a sweet breeze of fresh air that I think we should expect and demand from our leaders.

What are your opinions? Should we hold a nominees past transgressions against them? Should Obama's drug use be an issue in the presidential race? Let me know what you think.

Letter to the Editor: Faith v. Religion

This is a letter that I wrote to the editor of the Utah Statesmen in response to an column written by their political opinions writer. The article basically stated that religion is on a crash course with reality. That science proves religion is wrong and to prove this he points out the fact that the LDS church changed the introduction to the Book of Mormon to read that the Lamanites are some of the ancestors of modern Native Americans. Before it said that they were the principle ancestors. I have plenty of arguments for that, but I thought rather than starting an argument in the paper over the church that I would attack the idea that religion and science battle each other as polar opposites. Anyways here is the letter, I would love to hear comments whether they agree with my thesis or not. And leave any comments about the whole Lamanites thing as well.

So in a no holds-bar fight, you know a steel cage death match where two people enter and only one leaves, who would win, religion or science? Personally I would have to say religion, it seems to have had most of the muscle and political clout in world history, but unfortunately we will never know for sure because there is no mystical duel between religion and science as many people believe there is today. The truth is that this argument is promulgated by the two extremes; the antagonizing scientist, and the religious fanatic. The former supports science as the sole source of truth, and the latter supports their own misconstrued ideas of God as absolute reality. The truth is that science and religion have worked together to further our knowledge of the universe and to broaden our understanding of God and the way He works. Take the ideas of the Big Bang and the Creation as told in the Bible. Before science postulated the general age of the Earth many thought that it took God literally seven days to create the Earth. Now we know that when the Bible says seven days it is using figurative speech and that it would be better to say seven separate periods of time. Science and Faith aren’t in a showdown. For those who are religious, science is one more way to better understand the Bible, and to further cultivate knowledge of the way in which God operates. If you, as a religious person, decide to neglect science because it scares you, you are blinding yourself to an important tool in your pursuit of spiritual wisdom.

Thus to say that faith and science are at odds with each other in a legendary clash of might is quite imprudent. The objective individual will find that the argument isn’t black and white as portrayed by the extremists but rather reality is a colorful combination of both sides. For once you can have your cake and eat it too.

Brief Intro

So I thought that I would start out with a little intro about my life in general right now. I'm in Logan still and I'm going to Utah State University, the best school in Utah. I'm studying Law and Constitutional Studies and I'm graduating in December, finally. I'm super excited for it to be over, but I will definitely miss Utah State, especially the basketball games but I guess you have to move on sometime. Right now I'm starting the application process for law school and man is it fun...that was sarcasm. I'm applying mostly to schools out East, and my top four picks are New York University, University of Chicago Law, William and Mary, and Boston University/College. I'm going to apply to a dozen other schools as well but those are the ones at which I would really like to be accepted.

My family and I just went to Hawaii on a family trip and it was a blast. Honestly I want to go back as soon as possible, and next time I'm going to learn how to surf. We went to visit Pearl Harbor, we went snorkeling, and I went para sailing. It was a really fun trip.

I also went out to Georgia this last weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. He completing his MBA and really enjoying it. He got me a ticket to the football game between Georgia and Kentucky, it was a blast. There is a huge difference between football out there and here. You don't know tail-gating until you see Georgia. We started at 9 and went till 12:30 and people didn't stop until early the next morning. I had the opportunity to check out the law school while I was there too. They took me on a tour and just kind of told me about their law school, but the best part was that I was able to sit in on a class. It seems like a really nice school with a good environment, not too cut throat like other schools.

Well that's about it. It's college basketball season again which means that it's like Christmas until March. Aggie basketball will keep me entertained for months! Take care of yourselves and I'll try to keep you up to date on everything else. I'd love to hear from you all so write me and let me know how you're doing.

Chris

The Begining

So I decided that I would start a blog so that I could keep my friends and family up to date. You all know I'm not a huge talker so I guess this is a good way to let you all know what's going on with me. Also this will be good for me because now I'll know what I've done and just what I've told people, better communication, what more could you want. Anyways I'll try to keep posting so you all know just how...exciting...my life is...or isn't.