Think with Witt

This semester, I am taking a religion class titled Judaism and Islam. These two religions are significant because they are the longest surviving monotheistic belief systems. They also know their heritage as descendants of Abraham: Judaism through Jacob and Islam through Ishmael. I took the class because I wanted to understand these groups better and my connection with them as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every year, my professor hosts BYU's Passover Seder service. I attended yesterday and was inspired and uplifted by the experience. His goal is to make the seder as authentic Jewish as possible. I'm inspired by Jews who live their religion and traditions with sincerity. They play a big role in preserving the Passover. The seder service consists of a variety of ritualistic eatings, drinkings, and prayers and a retelling of the Exodus story. It focuses on praising God for his creations, specifically the harvest and the vine, and celebrates...

Can you think of a time when someone did something nice for you? It could be anything from a nice note to taking you out for lunch. How did the act of kindness make you feel? This week, we received a specific assignment from our instructor to buy a stranger a coke and write about our experience. I put a reminder on my phone so that every morning I would think about this challenge and try to be more aware of the people and opportunities around me. My prayer was that when I performed this act of service, it would touch the heart of the recipient.  An old Mormon Message reminds me of the positive and possible ripple effect of service. Sometimes you never know the good you do or can do. I believe our potential to have a meaningful and positive impact on others is extensive. My experience of buying someone a coke was on Friday. I was in the Cougareat grabbing lunch. I bought my food and a soda fountain cup and told the cashier to give the cup to the next person in line. Whil...

Choosing and deciding on a major to study has been a timely process for me. This week, I switched it for the third time, finishing another round of trial and error. The process has taught me a lot about myself. We are often faced with multiple roads and decisions in life. Sometimes the decision is crucial because there is one road we should take. Other times we are faced with many good options and it is up to us to decide. I've learned that often we must start down a path and then realize it's the wrong path, in order to confirm that the other path is the right path to take. When this happens we can quickly change gears and start on the correct journey. Walking in faith is like walking in the fog. We can see enough in the distance to take a few steps comfortably. I've had times in my life where I've feared taking wrong steps. Sometimes this fear caused me to take no steps at all. I think it is healthy to realize that trial and error is not bad.  From infancy, we aren...

This week, I was reminded of how fun it is to perform. I'm in a ballroom social dance class and we were encouraged to compete in Dancesport, a national competition that BYU hosts every year. It was my first time competing in dance and I loved it. I participated in the triple and west coast swing events.  Ballroom dancing is a passion of mine that I discovered within the last year. Not only is it fun swinging to music but it teaches life principles and skills like self-confidence. It is a great way to meet friends and get outside of your comfort zone. I was impressed and inspired by the major participants at Dancesport. BYU's dance program is one of the best in the nation and the students here are extremely talented. They show how Dance is both a sport and a form of art. BYU students who have any interest in dancing should take a dance class.  I've talked to many people who discovered a passion for ballroom dancing just because they decided to take one class. The clas...

A tsunami of sickness seemed to crash on BYU this last week. Many of my co-workers were getting sick, my roommate got the flu, and I started feeling very ill. One morning, I was talking to my roommate and said, "every time I get sick I realize how amazing it is to feel normal and have a normal day." He agreed and we both recognized how easy it can be to take for granted our health and even the ability to complete mundane daily tasks. For example, in my experience of being sick, I've reflected. How often am I grateful for the ability to exercise without having a coughing attack after a minute of moving? How often am I grateful that I don't have to blow my nose constantly while I'm trying to sleep? Experiences like these can open our eyes to new obstacles, some of which people in the world face every day. We are all unique with different challenges. I believe it can be beneficial to take a moment to reflect on the things we are grateful for in our life.