Mountains Feedback

My wife surprised me yesterday when she came home from the grocery store with a bag of Marshmallow Mateys. I was so excited that I had them for lunch. Now after re-reading your posts, freshman year doesn't seem like so long ago.

It's so nice to have smart friends with similar values. I really appreciated your comments, since I'd been needing to discuss this book ever since I read it. I wanted to make a few comments in response to all of the other posts.

Peter

Please thank Cami for making the virtual snacks. They're great, and I hope you don't mind if I take one for Tammy.

Good point about needing faith as well as charity. I take comfort in knowing that even if my charity isn't what it should be, at least it is proportional to my faith.

Pres. Monson is indeed more Christ-like than Farmer. (Plus, he can wiggle his ears...the video is now on YouTube!) But I still feel like Farmer is more Christlike than I am.

Naturally, I agree that the family is more important than anything else, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I maximize my value to my family by maximizing my time with them. I imagine my family might benefit more from a clear example of service and selflessness than from simply lots of together time (not that the two are mutually exclusive), but I agree that it would take a clear act from God to get me to leave them.

I saw that you only gave the book 2 stars on your goodreads list. I chose it more because I needed to discuss it than because it was great literature, but thanks for humoring me.

Jesse

I had no idea Farmer's brother was a professional wrestler. That's awesome. It's settled; my children aren't getting any sign of approval from me.

Thanks for putting this all into an equation. I'm embarrassed to say that I often have a negative beta. I love to play games, and I don't just like to win. I like to destroy my opponent. For this reason, my wife and I have stopped playing certain games together. Instead, we will work on word puzzles together or play games that don't involve hurting your opponent.

I would love to hear a debate about whether or not beta=1 is ideal or not, but I think the real point is that, as you said, I need to increase my beta.

Paul

Lots of good points. While it's not a new idea, I especially appreciated the thought that "Christ changes men, who then change their environment." I think this is the justification for serving two years as a proselytizing missionary instead of two years as a humanitarian missionary. With this perspective, there is as much meaningful work to do here in the US as there is to do in Haiti. Now, I just have to find a way to do it.

Glenn

First, thanks for doing your part to stimulate the economy. I am impressed that your career decision was influenced by wanting to have a greater impact on the world.

I loved how you included your favorite quotes. I enjoy listening to books, but this is one of the things I miss by not having the book is the ability to write down and remember good quotes. I think your quote summed up the way I felt after reading this book, "I imagine that many people would like to construct a like like Farmer's, to wake up knowing what they ought to do and feeling that they were doing it. But I can't think that many would willingly take on the difficulties, giving up their comforts and time with family."

I don't think going to Haiti is necessary, but for my life to be in line with what I wake up feeling I ought to do, it would take a great number of sacrifices that I haven't yet decided I'm willing to make. I'll keep you posted.

The next book

I am very much in favor of the idea of reading a variety of books: non-fiction and fiction, religious and secular, etc. But I'm strongly opposed to choosing a book by committee. Peter can set up a rotation, and we can each choose in our turn and everyone else can decide if they want to read it or not. If it's your turn, you can try to keep the idea of a variety of books in mind, but I don't think you should be forced to choose a certain type of book on your turn. Of course, if we read 5 of the same books in a row, we can rethink this. After reading the summaries of some of the suggested books, please note that if you choose a book you have not read yet, you are responsible for the moral content of the book.