New Beginnings

I want to continue with the trend of writing about the new year, and as I write I want to focus on the things that I am going to change and make better in my life. I want to really go off into 2013 ready to face a new day and work hard. I am going to school and that will bring its own group of new experiences and challenges. I am going to make my life happen and I am going to believe in myself. 

I want to continue to do all of the things that make me happy, and I want to do away with those things that weigh me down. I am going to stop with the useless and utilize more of my time. If I falter, I will rise again and work even harder than before to make this year the best yet! I know that things won't be easy. I know that I can't promise myself that I will be perfect (I mean, who can?) but I can promise myself that I will always do my best! I will not allow myself to fall short or give up! 

My goal in life is to make a difference and help people know that they matter, and that's what I am going to do! To all of you that read this, thank you for an amazing year. Thank you for doing the good things that you do. Thank you for caring. I hope that the year to come is filled with wonderful blessings and that we can all do our part to make the world a brighter, happier place! Let's represent humanity in the best way! 

As always, 

Doug Knuth

*Happy 2013*

Keeping it Short-ish- Politics and the End of the World

I don't want to take up a lot of space or time with this post, so I will be to the point. 

I do not mind if you think that we need more gun control. I don't mind if you think we need less. I don't mind if you agree with the president or not. I don't really mind if you are for or against same sex marriage or stand for heterosexual marriage only. 

I know and acknowledge that everyone has their own right to express their respective opinions about the things they find important. 

HOWEVER!

I am really tired of people attacking over the internet. Really America? We are an amazing nation that was founded on the principles of equality and justice, not those of whining and bad mouthing. 

I know that this post might not make a difference, but I want everyone to know where I stand. 

It is not acceptable to trash on the president, his officers, or those that govern us even if you didn't vote for them! Sure, you don't agree with something, that's FINE! Don't go overboard and act your shoe size rather than your age about it though! 

It is not acceptable to discriminate or actively persecute anyone because of their beliefs! YES, THAT MEANS EVERYONE! I don't agree with you on something. MOVE ON. Don't make it a point to argue and tell me why I'm a bigot for thinking differently! That's WRONG!

Just because you CAN post it doesn't mean you SHOULD! You know that thing that is almost funny but has a bad word in it? That isn't what I am talking about. I'm talking about the rumors. I am talking about the over exaggeration about current events!

GROW UP!   

Stop being a baby about it and really just stop. The world is in a hole right now and if we want to get out of it we need to work together. That doesn't work when you're too busy offending or being offended to notice that things are falling apart! 

I was once asked by a great friend of mine if I thought that 9/11 was a good thing or a bad thing. He told me upon my response that out of the many people that he had asked I was the only one that had ever said that it was both. 

Why would I say such a thing? It is actually quite simple. Although the tragedy will always remain and the death and destruction were immense and horrible there had not been a time in which we as a nation were more unified. When had any of us ever seen so many american flags proudly displayed everywhere? We all forgot our differences and came together to fight for what is right. 

Have we forgotten that? I think we have. We are too busy quarreling over petty and stupid things to see the big picture. 

I would like to somehow give everyone a wake-up call. The world is moving all the time. If we don't come together and put aside the small things we'll have to be reminded the hard way again. History has proved that time and time again. 

If you are still reading this I thank you and hope that you have an amazing day. 

I challenge you to make a difference for the better, right now. 

Thank you and as always, 

I care, and I believe in you. 

-Doug Knuth

Les Misérables, Doctor Who, and Christmas!

Again I wish you all a Merry Christmas, now that it is over. We have spent time together as families in whatever size and shape they may be, and on this night I find myself reflecting quite a bit!

I'll start off with Les Misérables! What a fantastic production! The acting and the music were brought together in a truly breathtaking way. I felt very involved with the characters' lives and I felt that I could learn a lot from them. We can learn (or rather remember, being that we generally know things and only need to be reminded of them) about life and why it is so important. We can understand more about what it means to grow up and watch children make their own lives. We can see that sometimes life deals us a rough hand. We can be grateful for the things that we have and for those that we do not have to give up. We can learn that obsession, even if for a good cause, can sour and ruin a life. As is the case in love, we see that true love can overcome any barrier, and that unrequited love is still as it shall ever be- the saddest story that shall ever be told. We can remember what true courage is, and ponder over when it is truly courage, or when it becomes an ignoble cause that does not merit our support. We can see the weighing of mercy and justice. We can learn of grief and pain and of love and sadness. There are so very many things that we can find within this exquisite piece of film that really is so much more than just that.

As with the Hobbit I have thought much on the messages that are presented to us and I can tell that there is an amazing common theme. We can see the depth and simplicity of life. We can see that true joy comes not from a tantalizing forbidden pleasure that brings hate and deception into our lives, but that it comes from the heart. It comes from true feelings, those not masked by worldly gain or the fulfillment of a rancid appetite. That which is sweetest is the love of the heart. Not of a physical persuasion but something deeper than that. When we dig deep and find nothing but shallow roots we must pull the weeds and plant a seed that will grow. When we dig deep and find unknown roots that run deep into our souls we can tap into an endless fount of all that is good in us. How is it so? Simple. Character.

We are all beings that can choose. We have the infinite power to make so many decisions and change so many little things. Those little things in turn change the big ones. It isn't something that happens overnight, but so it is in life as well. Bilbo Baggins didn't just walk down the road and come back, he was gone for a long time! Jean Valjean didn't spend one night in a cell and then claim his reward. We can't allow ourselves to be caught up in having every little thing we want right now. We cannot and must not be content to just have the shallow roots. We need to dig deep into our character and grow. Growing causes pain and is not easy. It isn't something that happens all at once, but over time.

We need to look around ourselves! The world is brimming with potential. That's why the Doctor chooses to save us all the time. That's why all the heroes that have ever lived, either in history or our hearts, were created- because they believed in us.

This Christmas I want you to know that I believe in you, I want you to succeed, and I am here for you. I know that it may seem a small gift, but it is the best I can give. I give myself, as your friend. I want so much for all of you (and yes, I mean YOU) to know how much I believe in you. Thrust deep your roots. Tell me of your successes, I want to know! Talk to me when it is hard if you want, and I will do my best to help.

The point I want to make is that no one should have to be alone, and I don't want you to be, if you're feeling that way. If not, then I am even more happy to hear so and want to help you shine even brighter than you already do!

There is something to be said for the power of believing. Otherwise we'd never have so many books about it.

Merry Christmas everyone.
-Doug Knuth

Merry Christmas!

Each year we celebrate many things. We celebrate life and love, beginnings and ends, and everything in between! We celebrate things to help us remember them. We people have so very many things to think of and remember that it isn't easy to do all at once! We need time to focus on one thing at a time now and then and that is one of the reasons that we have holidays!

I know that I haven't spent enough time thinking about my Savior, but I know that I have time to do so still I love my family and friends, and I know that Christmas is about much more than what we give and what we receive. It is about the things that we can't see. I hope that we can all remember that around this time of the year.

I love you all, and hope that you have wonderful festivities with your families and friends in this special time of the year!

My name is Doug Knuth, and I care.

The Hobbit

Dear Readers,

This evening for my dad's 50th birthday we went to the movie theater and saw "The Hobbit". This work of literary genius has long been one of special import to me because of the amazing influence of my mother. When I was small she decided to read it to me. It was the first book without pictures that she was going to experiment with and in so doing she helped to create the way that I am today. She told me that it was a magic book and that to see the pictures I would have to close my eyes and see in my head the things that she was reading. This helped me in many ways and although small, I remember some of the things about which I dreamed, owing to this work's spectacular quality.

J.R.R Tolkien is a true silver-tongued wordsmith, and I can think of no higher compliment than this. He didn't just write books or stories. He didn't just tell us about how an ordinary person did something that made a difference. He changed the world.

How is it that any of us dare to think more of ourselves than Bilbo Baggins did? How audacious can any man be at the accusation that he be something more than his own diminished character? How can any one person hope by any means to make the world any different, for the better or for the worse? Is it truly acceptable for us to leave our comfort zone and go on an adventure? Why do we even fathom that we could defeat a dragon? There is an unending stream of questions such as these. How can we stare down something so hard and still make the right decisions?

In thinking about The Hobbit, I understand a little more why it is so amazing. Tolkien didn't believe in the gray areas. He didn't believe that someone can waver in character and still hold his own against a troll. He showed us that true bravery comes from mercy rather than wrath. We see also that conflict is a part of life. One should never be the offender, but we must defend that which merits our defense.

People- all of you- we can't just sit idly by and watch as our world darkness. I want to be more like Bilbo Baggins, a little more like Gandalf, and have a touch of Thorin in me.

Thorin Oakenshield, although prideful, knows humility. He admits that he is wrong when he is the offender and he stands by the things he decides to do with unwaivering exactness. He does not compromise when he could, and he always supports and helps his kin.

Gandalf believes so fervently in people. He believes in the good that lies within hobbits, and I want to have more of that. Hobbits might as well be all of us here, living on this planet. We go about our day to day lives and sometimes we forget that there is a big world around us. Are we too scared to go out in it and do something, or are we just waiting for the right person to come and hire us to a crew for an adventure? I hope that I can be that person for someone. I want more than anything to see my friends and family happy and successful in life. That is why Gandalf strikes me so much.

I want to be like Bilbo the most though. He has everything to lose and seemingly nothing to gain from this quest, and yet the noble amazing part of him helps him to break free and do something amazing. How would I react given some situation like this? I would like to think that I could do it. Who knows though, not I. Bilbo is an example of determination to all of us, now and forever. He has true courage in him, and he has a good heart.

In our world of amazing dystopian novels about backstabbing and deceit it is a refreshing experience to have the moral black and white restored once more. When the good fight with the good and the bad with the bad. When those whose common ground has been shrinking working together for the truly greater good, we can see that there really is a distinction. I pondered about this thought tonight and found it a valid point for myself. We love conflict. If we didn't we would not have books or television in the way that we do now. The question then would arise- why? Do we love conflict to watch others suffer, or to know everything? To be the proverbial proprietor of conflict in our own lives? Do we just want to see something uncomfortable without having to feel personally responsible? Or could it be that we want a hero? Could it be that we as a race are constantly in a struggle and the thought of a hero that can overcome something gives us hope? I like to think that it is the latter. It is so with me. I want to see someone get on with life, to move ahead after a tragedy, to overcome something. Why? Simply because I find that in my own life at times I am at a loss for where to go and I need a sounding board. I need a secure foundation and a place to go when all else is turbulent. A dragon will not be my main problem, so I can always go there, to the world created by another, to find solace, to find a beacon, to find hope.

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” 
― G.K. Chesterton

I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and I know that, if we let them, stories can change our lives. The only thing that we have to do is let them.

-Doug

Tragedy, Life's Hardest Professor

Dear Readers,

I do not want to use the phrase "jumping on the bandwagon" for this post, but I will be following a prevalent theme that has been circulating lately. There have been in this week alone two horrific events that have our nation thinking about the hard things in life. I myself cannot even fathom the pain that these families have to endure now. I know only that I pray for them and hope that their loss will not be in vain.

There is a specific reason that I say this though, and I wish to illustrate why. Every story in the world has death in it. Whether it be a small children's tale or a Saga that spans centuries, we know that the inevitable is that we will all die. We fear death, we ponder death, we stare at her cold doors and know that one day they will open for us. We are motivated by death. In light of these events we have to think long and hard about life and death. Two young men this week made some of the worst decisions that a young man can make, and the result was that others lives were changed forever. Thrown from the normal into a spiraling torrent of emotion, one can only hope that there is recovery.

What can we do though, to make sure that the deaths we have all heard of are not in vain? Well, it will do us no good to amp up gun control. More security checks at schools may help for now but in the end it will only be more expensive than it is worth. The way that we can truly honor those lost is simple. We must live, love, and make the world better so that things such as this do not become so commonplace among us.

We all exist in this earth. We have bodies and minds and we are constantly breathing and thinking to some degree. What we need to do is live though. If I were placed in the situation of the families that were devastated this week I think that  I would be trapped by regret and worry. I didn't do enough, it was my fault, I didn't treat them well enough and other thoughts such as this would be floating around my poor little head. The most important thing we can do is appreciate those that are around us right now, and let them know that.

In Harry Potter Mrs. Weasley feels absolutely horrible when Fred and George could have died earlier on, and she breaks down because the last things she said to them were in anger. Don't let anger be the parting feeling with your loved ones! We need to make the most of our time here, and this week needs to be taken as a lesson. Not that bad things happen to good people or that our families are going to be shot, but that we need to live our lives and love our families because we never know when our time will be.

Things like this don't just happen. People don't just go and do things like this. We can see that our society is degrading. People are too comfortable (myself included) with the instant gratification that we have today. Download that app, drive fast, get it on a layaway, buy it on credit, etc... the list goes on forever.

WHAT ARE WE DOING!? I know that there are some things that are necessary. I am going to school on loans starting in January because I don't have the money for school and I know that I need to go. We need to stand up for what is right though! If we only ever limit ourselves and say that we "can't" then we never will. If we don't follow through with things then we learn that it really isn't that important and we can just go by with the minimum and that isn't really good enough!

We need to take back our lives and help those around us.

How many more tragedies will we face before we realize that we need to do more? I urge each of us to hold onto our families and loved ones a little closer for this holiday season. We need to face these tragedies with hope for a better world, not bitterness for those who were deranged enough to do such bad in the world. Remember the things that we celebrate this time of year, and why we do so.

Thank you all.

My heart and prayers go out to the families that have been changed by these events, and to all of you that haven't been. Let's all work together to stop this sort of thing from happening.

Sincerely,
-Doug Knuth

12/12/12!!!

Hello Readers!

Today I just wanted to talk a little bit about who I am for those that don't know me as well! I was born in Bremerton, Washington in a naval hospital on Easter morning (March 31st, 1991). My dad (Also Doug Knuth) was in the Navy and my mother (Dale Knuth) was a bit of a stay at home mom due to illness.

We faced our share of interesting challenges in our little family and when I was six we moved to Oregon to take care of my mother's parents. We took care of them until 2007 when they passed away. We moved again, only about a half mile this time, and stayed in Salem.

I graduated from North Salem High School in the class of 2009 and in 2010 I accepted the call to serve an LDS mission in Portugal. I lived there for two years, immersing myself in the culture and working among the people.

I returned home in June of 2012 and I am going to attend Brigham Young University- Idaho in January of 2013 studying communications.

I am really excited to move forward with this new phase in my life and I know that I will never give up. I know that it will be hard, but I am determined to be happy and enjoy the things that I do! There isn't any reason to be sad or melancholy all the time, and we only have one life. Why would I waste it freaking out and worrying? When I look back I want to think about the good things. I want to see the good that we did, the fun that we had, and all of the amazing times we had.

I am committed to living my life, not just existing! I want everyone to know that they can succeed in life. I want people to realize that they have potential!

I hope that you all have an amazing day and remember that you can do anything!

-Doug

This Wonderful World! (and the truth!)

I would first like to thank Jennifer Vandenburg and my mother for addressing the issue with my tag-line. I posted that when I first created this blog some time ago and I didn't even think to look it over, especially when I was ranting about grammar! To me that shows that the world truly has a sense of humor!

Tonight I sit here thinking of the many ideas that floated around in my head all day today. I had been wishing that I could just bring my computer to work with me and type up all of the things that I want to say to the world. I want to share so much with people, and I know that there really is an extraordinary power in the truth. I believe that this will be the subject of my little post for tonight- the truth.

What exactly is the truth? The truth is that you matter. Yes, you- the person reading this little blog on your phone or on a computer or a tablet or whatever. You specifically matter. The things that you do in your life make a difference in the world. The smallest things that you don't even remember can have the most long-reaching consequences for good in the world, and I want you to know that. You matter to me. I am grateful for you and I love you. I want anyone that stumbles into this blog to know that there is someone that is always willing to believe in them. Someone that will always fight for them. I want YOU to know that. I am willing to do whatever I can for my friends, family, and really anyone that is out there. Why? The answer is simple. That is why we are here. Our lives matter most if we can make the difference in someone else's. The more good we do in this time we have, the better the world can be.

Don't you ever give up. I am counting on you, so that I won't either. I need to know that there are people in the world that care too. I know that you are out there, and that is why I am writing- so that you can know too. So that we can all know that there are people that matter and people that are amazing. I don't believe in coincidence. Everything happens for a reason.

Thank you for living your life.
Thank you for making a difference.
Thank you for what you do in my life.
Thank you for reading my little blog,
and thank you for being amazing, because you really are.

Sincerely,
-Doug

The Inner Grammar Nazi

I know that this is unheard of. Two posts in one night from someone that doesn't regularly blog for months at a time, but I have to say something somewhere that someone will see. I love languages. I speak two of them, English and Portuguese. I know that my knowledge of these languages isn't perfect, but I find it a little concerning that so many people are totally fine with mediocre in regards to language proficiency.

I won't go into detail about every little thing that is incorrect in the use of every little thing in the world of grammar, but I just need to express this one little thing! There is a distinct difference in the meaning of the word 'your' and the word 'you're'. I am aware that many if not all those that read this will already know the difference so I won't bore you with the details, but I just want to say this;

When we accept mediocrity in some small aspect of our lives, when we decide to slip up on that little thing here and there, we are allowing ourselves to degrade the future of our wonderful world. We allow for the little things here and there, and then what? The big boulders only fall when the small pebbles that hold them in place are dislodged! We need to keep going! Keep moving forward as Walt Disney put it so eloquently. Just do it has been Nike's logo for a time, and we can take that to heart! If we can continue to move forward with the little things then the big things will come much easier, and we will see that the 'big' things in life really aren't that big!

To illustrate this point (moving away from the grammar) I can use the example of myself in scouting. I was seventeen going on eighteen and I was nearing my birthday. For those that may not know- in the boy scout program you can only advance and gain the prestigious title of Eagle by fulfilling the requirements before your eighteenth birthday. I had a personal goal to obtain this honor, but the thought of the daunting paperwork and labor associated with it was a major put off. However when I knuckled down and just did it I found that it really wasn't that hard at all! On the contrary I found that the process wasn't hard at all and that I could do much more than I anticipated!

Oh the wonders and things that we can accomplish when we set out without the preconceived notions that we aren't capable of something. Don't buy into the idea that you aren't good enough. Nothing great has ever been accomplished or will ever be accomplished if you don't believe in yourself. The first and greatest battle in life is to conquer one's self, to make not only a decision but a lifestyle out of believing in the impossible- for it is only with the impossible that we can make our dreams. Make your life matter. You only have one, and there aren't save points or dress rehearsals!

And yes, please live your life using proper grammar. You're a better person for it.

-Doug

Closing in on the new year!

Hello there world!

I was looking over some e-mails from BYU-Idaho today and I found out that as a communications major I will be keeping a blog! I then thought to myself that I should definitely start updating more here! I found that it is probably a push in the right direction that I need, so here I am again!

I am really excited for the new year to start and I know that it will be so amazing! For those that I haven't informed, I will be attending Brigham Young University- Idaho here in January! I am (as I mentioned) a communications major, and I plan on minoring in International Affairs as of now.

There is so much that we can think of with a new year just on the horizon. We can really decide that we will make a difference, and we can do so very many amazing things with it. New Year's Resolutions are a big one, and I know that I for one plan on making the best of that particular asset! Goals are always an important part of our progression, but with the new year they seem magnified some how.

I hope that you all have an amazing day and I will be blogging again soon!

-Doug