Daily Gratitute

This season I am grateful for a wonderful weekend during which I saw many beautiful sites with my girlfriend. I hope to implement daily gratitude. Many people say that and don't follow through, but as a counter example to the sad thought that perhaps nobody is grateful daily-I give you my roommate's blog, updated daily with grateful thoughts: mydailygrateful.blogspot.com

A quick thought that I had first requires a simplifying (false) assumption. Let's assume that we understand and live the idea of being thankful and remembering Christ whether it is the holiday season or not. Then what makes this season different? Well, the rest of the world is remembering it too! So what could we do different? Perhaps we could invite people to serve with us or celebrate special things with us. I think that this season is a chance to create memories with people who see this season as a time to give and receive, and that might benefit them all year!

Politicians and Opportunity Costs

Some people say that the principle of opportunity costs is the only principle worth remembering from economics. The opportunity cost is the value of the best foregone alternative, it is the situation that is given up when we make a choice. If I need to choose between using my evening to do homework or write a blog or watch a movie, and doing homework seems best and the blog seems second best, then I will choose to do homework and give up writing a blog, making the blog the opportunity cost of doing homework; the movie doesn't tie in since it is neither my first nor second choice (I am actually rotating between homework and blog and my opportunity cost is giving full time to either one).

We minimize our opportunity costs by taking the best opportunity possible; inevitable we always miss opportunities, but by taking advantage of the best option, we minimize the opportunities that we lose.

We do this on our own without realizing it, and without forceful government help. Of course we choose the option that seems to bring us the greatest benefit with the lowest cost. This is part of why I think the government should be small, and does not need to decide whether people should be welders or philosophers, for example.

Sometimes mentioning opportunity costs is painful because of our tendency to want to have everything and give up nothing.

Rand Paul asked Marco Rubio about how his pro-family tax plan creates a trillion dollar deficit. Rather than saying something like "Well, I think it is worth that cost," Rubio changed topics and called Paul an isolationist.

This is also why I have rarely heard of any costs whatsoever to having a large government or debt during democratic debates. One response that I heard from a candidate when asked about the opportunity cost of a certain liberal policy was "you sound like a republican!" rather than talking about opportunity costs.

Don't get me wrong, more and more I am feeling that we have good candidates who obviously know more about politics work better than me and won't change much in our inspired constitutional system. Perhaps congress is who we should expect to rein in spending. Also, I will quite possibly vote for Rubio, but anyway, I think it is good for voters to think about opportunity costs.

Double Your Benefits

Sometimes we have to decide whether to do something ourselves or help someone else to do it.

There are times when one person helps a second person to do some task and it brings benefits to both people, and sometimes even to some recipient of the second person's action, and so the benefits of our action are multiplied by not doing the task alone.

My boss is an example of multiplying benefits. I am an intern, and he makes it seem that what I am doing is valuable to the firm. But there are times when I realize that he could do something better than I could, and he lets me do it just so I can learn and then leave with those skills in a few months. I believe that he receives joy from giving me the chance, I receive joy from learning, and despite my trouble in accomplishing tasks, the firm stays in business.

On my mission in Guatemala, one of the most exhilarating moments of my life happened by seeing somebody else do the work that I normally did. My friend had been baptized and was striving to live the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One evening, we stopped by the home of my friend's parents and happened to find my friend there too (he had moved out by then). His family agreed to listen to a message from us; we all sang a song that my friend chose, said a prayer, my missionary companion and I shared a few words, and then the best part came as my friend bore his testimony and expressed his desire that his family be baptized. I couldn't believe how much better it was to hear him pass on an invitation that he had once received rather than invite by ourselves.

Referring to Jesus Christ, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, "As we emulate His perfect example, our hands can become His hands; our eyes, His eyes; our heart, His heart. . . He not only taught but also showed us how to 'succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.'"