Chapter 17: Christmas Spirit

President Thomas S. Monson said, "To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ." One of my favorite Christmas stories illustrates this point extremely well. Maybe you've heard/read it. Maybe you haven't. If you have, it doesn't hurt to read it again. If you have not, please enjoy The Symbols of Christmas.

Symbols of Christmas

Late one Christmas Eve I sank into my easy chair. Admiring the tree with its decorations, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing... The kids were in bed, the gifts were all wrapped, the milk and cookies were in their place for Santa. It wasn't long before the tiny twinkling tree lights lulled me into a deep sleep.

I don't know how long I slept, but all of a sudden I opened my eyes and there stood Santa Claus himself next to my Christmas tree.

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot just as the poem described him. But he was not the "jolly old elf" of Christmas legend. The man who stood before me looked sad and disappointed with tears in his eyes.

I had to ask, "Santa, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" "It's the children," Santa replied sadly. "But the children love you," I said. "Oh, I know they love me and the gifts I bring them," Santa said. "But the children of today seem to have somehow missed out on the true spirit of Christmas. It's not their fault. It's just that the adults, many of them not having been taught themselves, have forgotten to teach the children."

"Teach them what?" I asked. Santa's kind old face became soft, more gentle. His eyes began to shine with something more than tears. He spoke softly. "Teach the children the true meaning of Christmas. Teach them that the part of Christmas we can see, hear and touch is much more than meets the eye. Teach them the symbolism behind the customs and traditions of Christmas we now observe. Teach them what it is they truly represent."

Santa reached into his bag and pulled out a tiny Christmas tree and set it on the fireplace mantle.

"Teach them about the Christmas tree. Green is the second color of Christmas. The stately evergreen with its unchanging color represents the hope of eternal life in Jesus. Its needles point heavenward as a reminder that man's thoughts should turn heavenward as well."

Santa reached into his bag again and pulled out a shiny star and placed it at the top of the small tree. "The star was the heavenly sign of promise. God promised a Savior for the world and the star was the sign of the fulfillment of that promise of the night that Jesus Christ was born. Teach the children that God always fulfills His promises and that the wise will still seek Him."

 "Red," said Santa, "is the first color of Christmas." He pulled forth a red ornament for the tiny tree. "Red is deep, intense, vivid. It is the color of the life giving blood that flows through our veins. It is the symbol of God's greatest gift. Teach the children that Christ gave His life and shed his blood for them that they might have eternal life. When they see the color red it should remind them of that most wonderful gift."

Santa found a bell in his pack and placed it on the tree. "Just as lost sheep are guided to safety by the sound of the bell, it continues to ring today for all to be guided to the fold. Teach the children to follow the true Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep."

 Santa placed a candle on the mantle and lit it. The soft glow from its one tiny flame brightened the room.

"The glow of the candle represents how man can show his thanks for the gift of God's Son that Christmas Eve long ago. Teach the children to follow in Christ's footsteps... to go about doing good. Teach them to let their lights shine before men that all may see it and glorify God. This is what is symbolized when the twinkling lights shine on the tree like hundreds of bright, shining candles, each of them representing one of God's precious children, their light shining for all to see."

Again, Santa reached into his bag and this time he brought forth a tiny red and white striped candy cane. As he hung it on the tree, he spoke softly, "The candy cane is a stick of hard, white candy. White to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus. The shape 'J' to represent the precious name of Jesus who came to earth as our Savior. It also represents the crook of the Good Shepherd which he uses to reach down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like sheep, have gone astray. The original candy cane had three small red stripes which are the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed, and a large red stripe that represents the shed blood of Jesus so that we can have eternal life. Teach these things to the children."

Santa brought out a beautiful wreath made of fresh fragrant greenery and tied with a bright red bow. "The bow reminds us of the bond of perfection which is love. The wreath embodies all the good things about Christmas for those with eyes to see and hearts to understand. It contains the colors of red and green and the heaven turned needles of the evergreen. The bow tells the story of good will towards all and its color reminds us of Christ's sacrifice. Even the wreath's very shape is symbolic, representing eternity and the eternal nature of Christ's love. It is a circle without beginning and without end.

These are the things you must teach the children."

"But where does that leave you Santa?" I asked. The tears gone now from his eyes, a smile broke over Santa's face. "Why, bless you, my dear," he laughed. "I, too, am only a symbol. I represent the spirit of family fun and the joy of giving and receiving.

If the children are taught these other things, there is no danger that I'll ever be forgotten."

"I think I'm beginning to understand at last," I replied. That's why I came," said Santa. "You're an adult. If you don't teach the children these things, then who will?"

-Author unknown-

In this season of commercialization of Christmas, let us teach our children (and adults) to remember the Spirit of Christ. I testify that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. I know He lives and I know His gospel is true.

Chapter 16: Good vs. Evil

While watching a TV show recently, and remembering a comment that a friend made a while ago, I have come to the conclusion that whenever there is a fight between good and evil, it is never a one-on-one fight.
Good never fights alone, and Evil never has friends. Let me also say that I am arguing with the assumption that Good has multiple primary heroes, whereas Evil generally has only one primary villain.

If you think about it, you realize I am right. Let me elaborate with examples from a few classic books. Harry Potter had his friends Hermione and Ron and Hagrid (to name a few). Sure, Voldemort had his Death Eaters, but were they really his friends? They were more like his slaves. Also, think back to the last book, where Harry and Voldemort were duking it out and Voldemort "kills" Harry and they end up in what Harry describes as the train station. Harry had Dumbledore (who for the sake of argument I will say represented all of Harry's friends), but Voldemort was alone.

Next example: Chronicles of Narnia. In the first book, the White Witch kills Aslan. Lucy and Susan were nearby. However, when Aslan returns the favor, she dies alone.

Next: Lord of the Rings. The primary heroes are the Nine Walkers, and the primary villain is Sauron. You can argue that Saruman was a primary villain, and I will (somewhat) allow it, because they were in different parts of the world with different purposes.

Now I come to the comment that a friend made to me once. This friend had made the observation that in every book/movie is...I believe the word I am searching for is archetypical... of Jesus Christ, in that everybody needs a Savior, or in other words, someone (a hero) to do what nobody else can.

To elaborate this point, I return to the previous examples. Harry Potter was "the Chosen One". Frodo was the Ringbearer. Aslan died to save a traitor. All of these characters did something that nobody else could do.

I conclude this chapter by saying that there may be flaws and gaping holes in this theory of mine, but I don't really care. It is nothing more than the interesting ramblings of an interesting mind.

Chapter 15: Movie Music

This chapter may be shorter than some of the others, but that's okay. It makes for easier reading.

I am of the correct opinion that music can make or break a movie. If you think about all the movies you've seen, you will agree that I am right.

Some time ago, my wife and I watched a horrible movie. This movie was called Chronicle. It had no plot, very little special effects, no credits, and absolutely no music whatsoever. Basically, it looked as if a couple of kids had picked up a camera and started filming with no idea what they were doing. Now, maybe if they had had some music it might have been better (although I rather doubt it). The point is they had no music and so "broke" the movie and ruined it for us.

On the other hand, you have the movies that everybody loves: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and so forth. Why does everybody love these movies? Because the music made them exciting. Every time something exciting, creepy, eerie, or sentimental happens in a movie, the music is there to back it up and intensify the emotion.

So to summarize, I repeat what I proclaimed at the beginning of this chapter. Music can make or break a movie.

Chapter 14: Idiomatic expressions from a Veggie's point of view

Some of you may be wondering about the title of this chapter. At the end of this chapter, the title will become clear (I hope).

Anyways, some of the idioms that we use in American English can sound somewhat ridiculous if you think about them. I will include a list of some idiomatic expressions, along with my thoughts on some (not all) of them.

First is the phrase "up a creek without a paddle". Personally, I would rather be up a creek than down it because downstream, or down the creek if you will, is where all the waterfalls are. But if you are up a creek, you still have time to get to shore before arriving at said waterfalls.

Next, the term 'pet peeve'. You can have pet dogs, cats, rats or any other animal. You can even have pet rocks! So now imagine the absurdity of having a pet peeve. Can you put a leash on it and take it for a walk? What does it eat/drink?

I follow that with the phrase "drive me up the wall" or "drive me crazy". They mean the same thing, they are just different ways of saying it. If something (or someone) is driving you crazy, I just say one thing: Take away its license. If that doesn't work, take away the keys. Then you must question when and how did this person or object learn to drive?

Next on the list is 'shoot the breeze'. This presents to me a rather comical mental picture of a redneck hillbilly (stereotypical of course) with a shotgun aimed at the wind that's gusting through his yard. Need I say more?

Some other expressions are "head over heels" and 'train of thought', along with a classic "human race". "Head over heels" makes me think of a loaf of bread, and the thought of bread that has a head is just creepy. I know that you can make bread into shapes including heads, but that's different.

Switching gears now (which by the way is another idiomatic expression that sounds ridiculous). My wife showed me a video of  what I will call a rant about vegetables. This made me think of a song I heard years ago that goes along the same lines. So I included it in a video playlist, and then added one more video that goes with the phrase "train of thought". So hopefully you now understand the title of this chapter...

Chapter 13: Zoo Wisdom and Other Stuff

So, while reading the scriptures with my wife the other night, we came across a verse in the Book of Mormon that intrigued me. The verse was Alma chapter 2, verse 5. (For those of you who don't know, the Book of Mormon is a book of scripture for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as Mormons). So this chapter is talking about a man who wanted to be king, but an election denied him. The verse in question reads thusly: "And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every man according to his mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another." Amlici was the man who wanted to be king. The phrase that caught my attention is "wonderful contentions". Since when are contentions wonderful? Later in the Book of Mormon, the Savior Himself teaches that "contentions are not of me, but are of the devil" (see 3 Nephi 11:29). Wouldn't that imply that contentions are the opposite of wonderful?

Like I said, I was intrigued, and so I decided to research the word wonderful as it would have meant in the year 1830 (which is when the Book of Mormon was translated and published). I came across an 1828 version of a Dictionary of the English Language, which gave me this definition of the word 'wonderful': Adapted to excite wonder or admiration; exciting surprise; strange; astonishing.

I chose to focus on the word 'strange', so when you replace wonderful with strange, the verse makes sense to me. Just so you know, that is one of my methods of studying something I don't quite understand.

On to other things. My family's recent excursions to the zoo inspired me to watch (again) the movie We Bought a Zoo. I found three nuggets of wisdom that I am choosing to include here. Nugget #1: Girls will talk to you about anything. The secret to talking is listening. I think it should be fairly obvious why I chose that nugget.

Nugget #2: Sometimes, all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. This nugget actually goes well with something you can read in Chapter 3 of this blog.

Nugget #3 is something you'll have to puzzle out for yourself, if you can: "Why not?" You might have better luck understanding this nugget if you actually watch the movie...

On a final note, I have completed my Teaching Technology Portfolio, which I have been working on all semester. It is here for those who wish to view, comment, and/or criticize. Thus concludes Chapter 13.

Chapter 12: Inspiration and Creativity

This is something that one of my early professors taught at BYU-Idaho. I had forgotten about it until now. Well, that's not entirely true. I had put it on my Facebook notes, which is where I found it recently. After forgetting about it entirely, I found it again. I am putting it now in this blog so that it is more accessible to everyone who wishes to view it. Enjoy the reading. Feel free to disagree or agree as you choose.


 1.   All truly inspired ideas come from God, and the consciousness of being inspired by him. Your religiosity will make you more conscious and aware of that fact, and of the fact that God is nearer to you than others in your craft, and that you can consort with him without fear.
 2.  The contact of inspiration though God cannot be done merely by will power working through the conscious mind, which is an evolutionary product of the physical realm and perishes with the
body. It can only be accomplished by the soul-powers within - the real ego that survives bodily
death. Those powers are quiescent to the conscious mind unless illumined by Spirit.
 3.  To realize that we are one with the Creator, as Beethoven did, is a wonderful and awe-inspiring experience. Very few human beings ever come into that realization and that is why there are so few great composers or creative geniuses in any line of human endeavor. All this should always be contemplated before commencing to compose. This is the first step.
 4.  When the urge to compose is present, appeal directly to the Maker and ask Him three most
       important questions pertaining to our life here in this world - whence, wherefore, whither [woher, warum, wohin]? This appeal will immediately manifest feelings of vibrations that will thrill your whole being. These are the Spirit illuminating the soul-power within, and in this exalted state, you can clearly see what is obscure in your ordinary moods; then you feel capable of drawing inspiration from above, as Beethoven did. These vibrations assume the forms of distinct mental images, after you have formulated your desire and resolve in regard to what you want - namely, to be inspired so that you can compose something that will uplift and benefit humanity - something of permanent value. Straightaway the ideas will flow upon you, directly from God, and not only should you see distinct themes in you mind's eye, but they also will be clothed in the right forms, harmonies and orchestration. Only with divine inspiration will finished product be revealed to you, measure by measure.
5.  Most of the time you have to be or will be in a semi-trance condition to get such results - a
condition when the conscious mind is in temporary abeyance and the subconscious mind, which is part of Omnipotence, that the inspiration comes; and to be careful, however, not to lose
consciousness, otherwise the ideas will fade away. That is the way Mozart composed, and when asked what the process was with him while composing, he replied: "The process with me is like a vivid dream". He then went on and described how ideas, clothed in the proper musical setting, streamed down upon him. God and His Omnipotence, His awe-inspiring grandeur. His glory, and above all his closeness to you are things that should be pondered on just before commencing to compose. It is most stimulating and inspiring process to think along those lines before entering that trance-like state in which inspirations come.
6.  The dream-like state is like entering a trance-like condition - hovering between being asleep and awake; you are still conscious but right on the border of losing consciousness, and it is at such moments that inspired ideas come. Then it is of the utmost importance to put the ideas down on paper immediately. Then they are fixed and cannot escape; and when you look as them again, they conjure up that same mood that gave them birth. This is a very important law. Themes that occur this way usually are the ones that will endure.
 7. Spirit is the light of the soul. Spirit is universal. Spirit is the creative energy of the Cosmos. The soul of man is not conscious of it's powers until it is enlightened by Spirit. Therefore, to evolve and grow, man must leam how to use and develop his own soul forces. All great creative geniuses do this, although some of them do not seem to be as conscious of the process as others. Beethoven was aware of the fact that he was inspired and he left records to that effect.
  8. All true inspiration emanates from God, and can reveal Himself through that spark of divinity
     within - through that psychologists call the subconscious mind. Any composer capable of entering into that state can create immortal works, only in believing in which no less an authority than Jesus, Himself, says, in John 14:10 "The Father that dwelleth in Me,
     He doeth the works, and in the 12th Verse of the same chapter. He adds, "He that believeth Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do". All these things mentioned here have a direct bearing on the mental, psychic and spiritual processes when attempting to compose. The powers from which all truly great composers like Mozart, Schubert, Bach and Beethoven drew their inspirations is the same powers that enabled Jesus to perform His miracles. We call it God, Omnipotence, Divinity, the Creator, etc. It is a power of All that created our earth and the whole universe, and Jesus taught us that we can appropriate it for our own upbuilding right here and now and also earn Eternal Life. Jesus is very explicit in Matthew 7:7, saying, "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto  you". There would not be so much good music paper wasted in fruitless attempts to compose if those great precepts were better understood. That is why atheists works are utterly lacking in inspiration. Their works are purely cerebral. The great Nazarene knew that law also, and He proclaimed it in John 15:4, "The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine." No atheist has ever been or will be a great composer. Jesus taught us that there is true supreme hope for all. He came not as the great exception, but as the great example for us to emulate. Adherence to can create nothing but divine values and an alliance with the Creator, that is capable of a life on earth full of inspiration and masterpieces of music to accompany that life for others to witness. This is the secret of inspiration; which is the ability to synchronize the conscious and subconscious minds, just as Jesus did, but on a much higher level.
 9.    Inspiration is of such importance in composing, but by no means all that there is to it. Structure is just as consequential, for without craftsmanship, inspiration is a 'mere reed shaken in the wind' or 'sounding brass or tinkling cymbals'. Great compositions are not the fruits of inspiration alone, but of severe, laborious and painstaking toil. No composition will live long unless it has both inspiration and craftsmanship, which Beethoven had to a superlative degree. There also must be in relation, with inspiration and craftsmanship, a natural aptitude, where ideas come to you with more or less no conscious effort, with a sense of comfort and relative ease, like a aspiration beingfulfilled. But parallel to that, as seen in Beethoven's sketchbooks, comes the proof that he toiled incessantly in order to leave us such masterpieces. Only with your religiosity. God's inspiration, and the utilization of all three, can one achieve mastery of classical music composition and achieve true fame and immortality, which is what oblivion constantly tries to challenge. This is the proven universal formula for success in music and any and all other endeavors of human life.
10.    Another aspect of this art which is extremely vital and demands great emphasis, is privacy. It should be unthinkable of attempting to compose unless you are sure you will not be interrupted or  disturbed. The Muse is a very jealous entity, and she will fly away on the slightest provocation.
 11.    A composer who wishes to write worth-while music must devote his whole time and energy to that one occupation.
12.    A composer in order to study, learn and absorb all that the masters have to offer, and put to use that knowledge in his own works, must have the capacity to judge objectively an individuality that differs from his own.

Chapter 11: Reflections (and ramblings) of Assistive Technology

So in order to help you understand the comments of this chapter, I have placed the source of my ideas in this blog. It is a video playlist about assistive technology. I think watching this video will help my ramblings make more sense. Be warned, this video playlist will take about 15-20 minutes-ish to watch fully. So watch the video (if you dare), then enjoy the ramblings.

So, the first person I want to ramble about is Lukas. Lukas is just awesome. He was born with a disease with a jaw-cracking name. I'm not even going to try to pronounce (or spell) it. But this disease did not stop him from learning to play euphonium! His assistive technology was a joystick that pressed the valves of his instrument because his limbs were too weak to do so themselves. By using this technology, he was able to participate in three different ensembles. That's the kind of student dedication I like to see!

Susanna, the first person mentioned in these videos, is a more common case. She uses a voice activated system on her laptop to help her do her homework. Voice activation is one of the more common tools that can be applied for assistive technology. Susanna impressed me with her ability to referee soccer from a wheelchair. Isn't that cool?

Vishal used an on-screen keyboard to type his homework, which I think is becoming more and more common as technology advances. Years ago, touch-screen technology (which makes an on-screen keyboard possible) did not exist. I am sure that all these students are grateful for these devices, because without them, schoolwork would have been much more difficult and stressful.

I am going to skip to the second video now, and ramble about Josh. Josh just wanted to read, but lacked the capability, until his teacher showed him Bookworm, and then he rapidly caught up to the rest of his class. It was kind of interesting to see how they discovered his interests and devised methods of permitting him to express those interests. What I thought was really cool, though, was how these devices actually improved his performance in the classroom and his sociability both in the home and at school.

OK, I think that's enough rambling for now. If my ramblings made sense without the videos, great. If not, watch the videos and then come back and see things click into place in your mind.