C's get degree's

As I was sitting around a table a few weeks back, a young college student was talking to an impressionable high school student and made the comment, "C's get degree's" referencing how it really doesn't matter what kind of an effort you put into your school work because in the end, everyone has a degree. So if C's get degree's then why should anyone try to excel at anything?

Let me pose a few questions:

Do you want a doctor working on you who got C's in college - who studied just enough to get by, who partied all weekend, and crammed the night before, perhaps memorized it, but then it was gone the next day, week, and after a few months couldn't remember a thing they'd crammed for that one test... or a doctor who applied himself, who studied hard, who worked to learn the material inside and out, the student who not only memorized the material but learned how exactly it worked in the body, became a t.a which in turn sealed the knowledge into their memory and allowed them to teach others the same material they had been taught. Do you want a lawyer fighting on your behalf who cheated his way through school and never learned the laws of the land, the in and outs of the Constitution, the state laws, bi-laws, or amendments to those laws?

Do you want an accountant who learned the in-and-outs of the tax code, who learned about each and every loop hole, who studied numbers and equations, and appreciated and maintained a certain amount of integrity. Or do you want an accountant who cheated, who looked off his friend notes, who never read the book, who figured out way to skimp by, just giving the bear minimum to succeed?

As a runner I have often watched people run around an entire path, only to stop at the bottom of the hill and walk up. When they get to the top, they'll start running again. I am sure they receive a great deal of satisfaction at what they have accomplished through this small feat.

Unfortunately what they don't know is that, if they had only required just a little bit more they would find that their potential is so much more than what they are giving themselves credit for. I've often wished I could go run with them and at that point when they willingly give up and say, okay lets walk this hill, because I don't think I can do it, I instead tell them, sorry, you are going to run this because you CAN! I would yell... DON'T STOP RUNNING< IN FACT -- KEEP RUNNING! YOU CAN DO IT... HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF FAITH IN YOURSELF, YOU HAVE SO MUCH MORE POTENTIAL THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!!!

Even though their heart is pounding, even though they feel like they can't breath, even though their lungs are burning and they feel like they are going to pass out -- just when they think they can't give anymore, the horizon levels out, the worst of it is over, and with in thirty-to-forty feet, their heart rate has adjusted, and the path just got a little easier.

So many times we sell ourselves short because of fear, because of doubt, because of the unknown. Instead of trying and failing, we'd rather not try at all. How unfortunate this is! Each of us has so much untapped potential, we just have to dig deep enough to find it. We have to say "forget you" to all the nay sayer's. We have to stop enabling each other from what could be and start encouraging for what will be.

Fourteen years ago I was in the same place as the girl I mentioned above. The one that said "C's get degree's". I thought I didn't have what it took to follow my dreams. I allowed the doubt to consume me, and I cowered to the possibilities and settled for comfortable. 

And she is right, fourteen years ago, I was right. C's do get degree's. A "C" is average. But, is that who we are? C's are those who never realize their true potential. C's are those who never realize their true self. C's are those who wish, but never fail out of fear, they stay comfortable with comfortable. C"s are average.

Instead, be an "A". Work your butt off. Try harder than you've ever tried -- just to see if you can. Run up that hill that has kicked your butt and don't stop, not at the top, not ten feet after, not twenty feet after, just keep running. Who cares if you fall, or feel like your going to pass out... you will survive and you may just find out that you actually can do the impossible. That you are not a "C" but in fact an "A"!

If I could go back and look myself in the eye fourteen years ago, I would tell myself to stop doubting, to stop selling yourself short, to not listen to that part of you that thinks you are not capable of achieving your goals. I would tell myself to be ambitious, to work your ass off and if you fall, to get back up, scrape off the dirt, and run harder.

When I was first in college back in 2000-2001 I left with a 2.78. I had no idea that inside I had the ability to pull a 4.0 for almost 5 five years in a row. That I would have three amazing kids, go to school full time, be a VP of the Public Relations Students Society, be the Relief Society president of my church branch, support a husband as he follows his dreams, and survive! I am not saying this for bragging rights -- rather I'm saying it because I never would have thought back then that I was capable of accomplishing so much up to this point in my life.

We all doubt, we all are afraid of failing, but should that define us, or do we define ourselves by our actions, by our continued determination to try harder than we did the day before.

I love Lucille Ball. Why? Because she failed over and over again before she became a famous movie star. Even when everyone else around her was pushing her down. She had a dream and she fought for it. 

So yes C's get degree's, and doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and accounts can get by with a "C", but do you want them working for you, or on you for that matter. Do you want a doctor prescribing medicine to you who got by with C's? I can assure you those who earned their degree's through hard work and determination are those that actually are successful. The reality is, C's  never realize their true potential because they either never give it their all or because they are too worried about failing. So, rather than try, they sail through life on the easy boat. 

But, I don't want to sail through life on the easy boat. I don't want to someone else paddling for me. No I want to be at the stern, I want to lean into those waves as they crash down on me, knowing that I am strong enough to hold on. You are strong enough to hold on. 

To all you girls out there wondering if you are capable of reaching those dreams, I shout "YOU ARE MORE CAPABLE THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE, REACH FOR THOSE STARS, AND WHEN YOU GET THERE REACH FOR THE NEXT STAR... Then you will know what you are capable of. 

Is the War on Women Coming from Women?

A woman films herself having an abortion. To get herself through it, she talks about humming and thinking positive thoughts throughout. She also talks about how it feels to have the ability to give life (while she is taking it), and that if her apartment burned down, the first thing she would grab is her picture of her sonogram - before she killed the baby.

What she doesn't say, is that instead of giving life, she took life. What she hasn't said, is how it is effecting her now. What she didn't do, was be an unselfish. What she wasn't - strong.

A woman who knows her value and the value of life is STRONG and she is BEAUTIFUL.

Being strong is more than claiming women's rights, or equality. It is giving a voice to someone who doesn't have a voice. Being strong is unselfish love. Being strong is not something you can gain through selfishness - that is the opposite of strong, that is weak. Someone who purposely hurts another to put themselves ahead - is narcissistic. That, is what this world has become.

Today we have become numb. We fall in tow with the crowd. We cower at our own ability to make right choices. We find that our actions leave impressions that will remain forever. We convince ourselves that it is okay, that somehow, this choice we are making is the harder choice. We pat ourselves on the back, and we call it "standing up for women's rights." We allow ourselves to be pulled in by the current, rather than take a stance against the rushing ideologies of the world. Our so-called principles fall under "popular" or "cool." Eventually, we lose sight of who we are, why we are here. Instead... we realize we have become a facade of what we think we should be, but realize, we are not what we could have been.

The idea that aborting ones baby has no long-lasting effect on the mother is absurd. The realization that tree's are now more important than human life is also absurd. Have we become so desensitized by our world that we no longer value the gift of life?

Have women become so selfish that they - even in the most imperfect situation - can not realize the depth and gravity of the choice that they are making when they choose to kill an innocent child. I have no doubt that those who are pro-abortion have taken hold of the notion that all that matters in this world is "ME."

This is not equality, this is selfishness at its very root. Why not sacrifice a few months and give a gift that another could not give themselves. Why not be the bearer of the gift of life, rather than the one who took it. Do you really want to chose death for another who could not choose it for themselves.

I am tired of all the haters who claim that pro-life takes away a women's right. That it somehow makes her less than a man to believe life is precious, or that somehow she is weaker if she chooses to give life. This is where they're wrong.

A man, no matter what he does, can NEVER EVER give life. He may be able to save life if he becomes a doctor, but he will never have the gift that we as women have - to give another LIFE. The war on women is coming from women, unfortunately. We are taking our right, our gift, and throwing it away.

Having a baby is the most powerful gift on this planet... whether it is a moment of joy for you personally, or for someone else, there is nothing more emotional and more powerful than a woman's ability to give birth to a beautiful, capable, human being.





Other sites to check out:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/04/24/Oregon-County-Orders-Incinerator-To-Stop-Using-Aborted-Babies-To-Generate-Power

I don't usually follow or read this blog, but this I felt was the reality of the situation at its very core:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bristolpalin/2014/05/haunted-photos-of-woman-who-filmed-own-abortion/