Acceptance is happiness
Religion. What does that mean to you? Now more than ever, people need to understand what “religion” really means. Religion is defined as, “a particular system of faith and worship” or “a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.” No matter who you are, you have your own set of values and ethics. Regardless of what your specific beliefs are, people want to be accepted the way you want to be accepted. Understanding other religions is a good way to show acceptance. While you may not agree with a particular set of beliefs, understanding core values will help you come to appreciate those of whom you have little understanding.
One way you can better understand other religions is by participating in local services where you can take part in prayers, observe worship and attend Q&A sessions. You can also go to sacred sites or study on your own to better understand the religious backgrounds of your peers. By taking the initiative to increase your understanding of other religions, you’ll increase your ability to accept others.
It is possible to respect other religions and not compromise your own beliefs. In fact, it may help you appreciate and strengthen your own faith. Faith and brotherly love are universal principles, and as such supersede prejudice. As George Orwell once said, “Happiness can only exist in acceptance.”
— Cole Curry
Cedar City, Utah
Imperfect dates OK
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram. Through these apps, we try to document the best parts of our lives to show the world how wonderful we are doing. We edit, filter and perfectly caption our online lives; now we are doing the same when we date. We have expectations of perfection, which are honestly unattainable. We are hardly ever spontaneous; everything is planned to the last minute. Pick up date at 6 p.m., drive seven minutes to the restaurant, leave restaurant by 7:15 p.m., and so on. In doing this, we are editing out opportunities for growth. When we avoid flawed situations, we lose out on a chance to learn something new about our date or even ourselves.
I want to be able to de dorky and say stupid things because I’m nervous I’m finally on a first date with my crush. I want to have plans fall through and yet still have a good time because my date and I improvised. If dating has the end goal of us finding someone who will encourage us to be better and “someone who will love me for me,” then why are we putting up a façade? We need our dates to know us and our imperfections.
I propose (pun intended) we let ourselves be free. Be you! Go on dates, laugh at your awkwardness and learn from it. Allowing yourself the experience of suffering through an imperfect date will be the experience you learn the most from.
— Susanna Buss
West Mountain, Utah
On campus traffic: The uphill battle
We have all been there: Speed walking at a swift 4 mph across the JFSB quad when a zombie-like figure steps into your path. It’s a student, wielding a cell phone, walking at half the speed of traffic and unaware of the other pedestrians around them.
Everyone has experienced this. As a student that spends close to an hour a day walking and biking across campus, this can be a massive waste of time. In addition to text-walkers causing issues for pedestrians, bikers also pose a threat. Biking on roads can be unsafe, so biking through campus is the only option cyclists have. Even when bikers transit though campus, they have close calls with other pedestrians and bikers. I have almost been hit a couple of times and I have also almost hit some pedestrians while biking.
The BYU campus needs to take care of this problem. While more rules generally tend to cause more issues than they remedy, the issue of safety is more important. The campus police could fix the biking issue by allotting certain bike routes during certain times of the day. While this does make walking a little harder, the increased movement speed of the bikers would take more people off walking paths. BYU police could solve the issue of text-walkers by making rules against phone use. If it comes to it, tickets could enforce the rule. It is time to take action and make walking between classes great again.
— Colton Carter
Prescott, Arizona
