Friday...is there any possible way to describe what this day means to me? Perhaps not. After a long week of school work and waiting for the weekend, I finally have my night and two days of rest and relaxation. It's so nice to come home and think, "I don't have anything to turn in tomorrow. I don't have to do any homework, no essays, no studying. I can relax and sit back, enjoy a book, write in my blog, go to my cast party...."
The cast party...It's here! The cast party, my last chance to see everyone together again. I'm going to miss the play. The last entry I started with the idea of writing just what this play has meant to me, but I had to stop before I had the chance. Well, I don't want to get into detail of how it affected my personal life, but I will mention what it has done for my faith and belief in the Gospel and those who have gone before me in defending the faith.


It's a clear nght out on the plains by the Arkansas River. Along the waters, the fires of the Mormon Battalion are scattered, reflecting the random pattern of stars above them. A young man sitting beside one fire stares up at the stars, wondering, "Are they out there, looking at these same stars at this same moment?" While he is sitting, pondering this question, one of his companions begins singing,

"Why should we mourn,
or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so, all is right."

One by one, the men sitting around the fire join in,

"Why should we think
to earn a great reward
if we now shun the fight?"

Campfire by campfire, the chorus swells as the song sweeps through the rest of the camp,

"Gird up your loins,
Fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake.
And soon we'll have
This tale to tell
All is well
All is well."

Few eyes are dry this night as the men, young and old, think of their families somewhere out on the plains and wonder, "Are they out there, looking at these same stars at this same moment?"


This is my heritage, the Mormon Battalion, the saints crossing the plains. My ancestor, David Pulsipher, if this story were fact, could have been that boy. My family, the family of John Pulsipher, was out there. Zerah and John, as far as I know, were involved in all the major events of early Latter-Day Saint history: Kirtland, Far West, Nauvoo. There example, the way they kept their faith despite all the persecutions and diffuculties, has inspired me.
And, to bring this full circle, I was glad to pay them my respects by being a member of the Mormon Battalion in the play. As an honor to David, I used his name for my character. Being in the play, I spent much of my time reflecting on the experiences of David while he was in the Battalion. That is how I came up with the little story I wrote. Well, time to "gird up my loins" and do the work of my generation. Write me if you've got comments.

Two months ago, I started a play for my church. I wasn't sure about it. I didn't know anyone, I didn't know anything about it, and I'd never been in a play before (not counting small little ward plays and road shows.) Tonight I practically cried saying goodbye to everyone. I'm gonna miss this play so much. Tonight was another set of goodbyes in a long summer of goodbyes.

Two years ago, 6:25 AM- I am in the car of a neighbor, picking up a friend on the way to school. As this friend climbs into the car, he exclaims, "World War 3 just began!" "What?" We all give him quizzical looks and he explains himself, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center."
I didn't believe it. Well, I should be more clear- I didn't understand it. I'd never been on a plane before. I'd never seen, up close, the World Trade Center towers. What did a plane crashing into them mean to me? I had no idea the horror just unleashed on this country. The reality of the situation didn't hit me until I was in my first period English class and I saw the footage. By then the second plane had crashed into the towers. I saw it over and over, the first tower in the foreground with black smoke billowing out and then a plane disappearing into the second tower. For a second it doesn't seem that anything happened. Then fire, huge red and orange flames, large enough, probably, to destroy several blocks here in suburbia, explodes out of the building. Later, I watched people running through the streets with clouds of dust following them. What's going on, I think? Then they show the towers collapsing. These two citadels of modern mankind, two symbols of capitalism and global economy, symbols of freedom, symbols of prosperity, symbols of America, crashing down onto a city that represents America to all the world. A scene that has never before been witnessed in the world. A scene never imagined on American soil.
It couldn't be real, how could someone do this, how could it happen? Why? Many lost their faith in God. Many found their faith in God. Lives were lost, lives were changed. Patriotism abounded. Debate began, war began, politics entered the picture. No collapse of economy followed. It faded. People forgot. Tuesday is just another day now. What did my school do? The choir sang before school started. Many people ignored them. The principal spoke over the intercom during first and played a second-rate country song about the attacks.
The most touching tribute I witnessed was the class I T.A.'d for fifth period. The teacher brought out a poem she wrote on September 11 and read it to us. Then the class wrote in their journals about how their lives have changed since 9\11. Being the T.A., I did the work the teacher had given me at the start of class, I didn't write in a journal. So the question remains, how have I changed in the past two years?
I'm an American. I am part of a family line that has lived here since the 1600's. My ancestors have fought in every American war since the Revolution. I have stories written about the Revolutionary War written by ancestors. I am descended from a Mormon Battalion member. My grandfathers fought in World War II and Korea. Today my cousins fight in Iraq.
The Mormon Battalion member was my age when he left his family on the plains at a time that they greatly needed him. When the Mormons were chased out of thier homes by mobs, their pleas were ignored by the government. An extermination order was signed by the governor of Missouri. When the country which had scorned and rejected them called for their service, however, my people freely gave it. They sent 500 of their strongest men on a march to California at a time when they needed them the most.
So, do I have an obligation to support and serve this country? My ancestors and countless thousands of others gave up the greatest gift they could, their lives, so I could live in the freedom and prosperity I live in today. Should I spurn this this country because it is dedicated to peace and liberty for all? Should I disrespect and defame the president and the laws of the land I live in, despite the blood spilled for it? What greater insult could I pay to those who have fought for Amerca. I support this country with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. If duty called me to it, I would fight for it. I would give up my life for it.
"Greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends."- John 15:13

Ok, here's a little article about Bush's speech urging Congress to give more freedom to police to combat terrorism: War on Terror. I have to say, giving even more freedom to police sounds dangerous to me. Yes, we need to protect our lives and well-being, but more importantly, we need to protect our liberties and rights. Yes, we must fight terrorism, but will we ever wipe it out completely? No, because we have an ideology that goes against the basic beliefs of much of the worlds population. The only way to stop terrorism completely would be to wipe out those beliefs that conflict so much with ours. Yet, to do that would be to tear down the entire basis of our entire society. So, how could we ever possibly win the war on terrorism without becoming a totalarian state? So, keep on fighting for our liberties, but don't take them away because we aren't winning fast enough. We will be fighting this war for decades, centuries to come.

Ok, here's my thoughts on trust. This is kind of a reply to my friends blog. Check out the link. Trust is a difficult concept, one which most people never truly understand. I don't have the concept quite down myself. Being only 16, that makes sense. I happen to be a very trusting guy, extremely trusting, and so far I've been blessed to not have had that trust broken yet. I know, however, that it will happen. I will have a good friend in which I feel I can confide or I will trust to do something for me, and that promise, that trust will be broken. It's funny how I can look towards that event, knowing it will come, but I don't do anything, I don't get more picky with my trust. Why? Because it is my nature to trust. It is part of my personality to see through people's faults and see their strengths.
Yet, I consider myself a judgemental guy. That is, I am far too ready to judge people based on what I've heard about them or how they look. A problem on which I need to work. How do I see through people's faults? If I meet someone that I haven't had a chance to build up an opinion of ahead of time, then I am blind to their faults. I can befriend many people. But if I have heard a lot about them, sometimes I won't take the time to really get to know them, I'll just continue using my assumptions based on what I've heard. This is not a good habit and I must break it.

Maybe they should put this guy in charge of reconstructing Iraq: NY Times article

War...The war in Iraq has been a difficult subject. My friends at school have argued with me about it many times. I was in strong support of it. I believe that what we did there was right. Perhaps things are difficult now, but what do you expect from an uneducated and formally oppressed republic? Do you think that they will just calmly accept everything that is happening? Why would, after years of poverty, suppression and starvation, accept people they have been brainwashed to hate? And without the dictatorship, they now have the freedom, as they see it, to release all the anger and hate they have built up over the years. There is no possibility that our situation in Iraq would be calm and peaceful. Americans just have to accept that in doing the right thing, people may and will die. That does not mean that it is the right thing. Should the colonists have stopped the revolution just because of the atrocious death rate? Should the Union soldiers have let the Southern states secede just because tht was the bloodiest war on American soil? Should we have let Germany conquer Europe during either of the World Wars just because we were losing thousands of men? Why should we not have gone in to defend the rights of Iraqis then? Is it not our duty as the sole superpower in the world to protect others? As I once read, maybe the world needs someone to police it. If we let dictatorships run loose merely because we feel it is not our place to interfere, merely because we don't want to die, then the crimes of those evil men will be placed on our heads. We have the power to crush oppression. We have the power to help other countries rise to our level. It is our duty. Future generations will not fault us for sacraficing ourselves for others. That is called love and charity. We Americans, in all our riches and slothfulness, seem to have forgotten that our ancestors fought and died for something called liberty, not just for themselves, but for all men.