Category: Young Pillars of Light

Encryption in WWII

Encryption in WWII

Miriam, age 16

Communication is critical in war. Without accurate correspondence, attacks are uncoordinated, retreats are disorganized, and sometimes allies even attack each other, believing that their own army is the enemy. That being said, no communication can sometimes be better than insecure communication. When your enemy can read your messages, they can know your every move, every secret, the identity of any spy you have managed to place, and other vital information. Now, we have improved the security of our communication methods, but in previous wars the main way of sending messages was by radio. Anyone can listen in on messages sent by radio, as long as they have a radio too. That’s where codes enter in. Officially, a code is defined as “a system of words, letters, figures, or other symbols substituted for other words, letters, etc., especially for the purposes of secrecy.” Ideally, codes make your radio broadcasts unintelligible to all but those who have the key to your code. Hopefully, this is only your allies. Unfortunately, the enemy sometimes discovers the key to your code too. When someone else has intercepted the key to your code, they have broken it. The science of making codes is called encryption. The science of breaking codes is called cryptanalysis. There are some incredible stories in history about wartime codes. Many of the most amazing, which existed during WWII, are the German’s Enigma, the Japanese’s PURPLE, and the American’s SIGBA and Code Talkers. 

 During WWII, Germany’s military messages were encrypted by a machine called Enigma. The Germans were so confident in Enigma’s security, they used it for all their highly secret messages. Their faith was vainly placed. Encrypted Enigma messages were first deciphered by Polish cryptanalysis before their country was invaded. Sadly, Poland was defeated before they could work out a reliable method of breaking the code. When their country was forced to surrender, they passed off all their information and theories to American and British scientists, who carried on the vital task of breaking the German’s code. Once broken, intelligence from decrypted Enigma messages was called Ultra. Enigma was a rotary encryptor machine, which means that several wheels, or rotors, were marked with the letters of the alphabet and spun erratically to randomize the code. Enigma machines on the receiving end would decode the message with a predetermined key. The more wheels, the more secure the code. This rotary method was difficult, but not impossible to break. Enigma’s American counterpart, SIGBA, also a rotary encryptor, had an added layer of security called a reflector, which ensured that American messages remained secure. SIGBA was never cracked during the war. By comparison, Enigma, while still very difficult to break, was relatively weak. For example, Enigma had three rotary wheels, whereas SIGBA had fifteen. The first German Enigma machine was captured from a U-boat. German U-boat wolfpacks in the Atlantic relied heavily on Enigma coded messages to coordinate their positions and attacks on Allied convoys. U-boat commanders called this the First Happy Time. Once the code was broken, convoys became much more effective in avoiding ambushes, and U-boat influence in the Atlantic dropped dramatically. Seeing that enemy ships were suddenly able to evade their attacks, the Germans added more and more rotors to Enigma. While the code remained secure, U-boat successes skyrocketed. This was called the Second Happy Time. However, these added security measures were soon breached, and the wolfpacks never again reached their previous menacing status. Historians believe that Ultra intelligence was essential to the Allied victory. The breaking of encrypted Enigma messages was an important part of WWII. 

Japan’s communications encryptor, PURPLE, was similar to Enigma, but even weaker. American cryptanalysts cracked PURPLE even before their entry into the war. Intelligence from PURPLE was known as MAGIC. PURPLE’s function was diplomatic as well as military, and lots of valuable information was gained from the reports back to Japan from the Japanese ambassador in Germany. On December seventh, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese formally declared war with a statement sent through PURPLE. American cryptologists had intercepted, decoded, and read the message before the Japanese ambassador did. The officials to whom the ambassador delivered the statement had to pretend they were reading it for the first time. Unfortunately, the Japanese ambassador was not forewarned of the Pearl Harbor attack, so neither was America. They gleaned very useful information. Some of the most useful was that deception Operations Mincemeat and Barclay had been successful, and the Germans believed that the Allies would invade mainland Europe through the Balkans, instead of Normandy, on D-Day. Unlike the German’s Enigma, which started the war with three rotors and ended with eight, the Japanese believed their code was unbreakable, so they never increased PURPLE’s security or complexity. They assumed that any information America had was from spies and traitors. The first they heard of their code being broken was from the Allies, after the war had ended. Because of this overconfidence, reading Japanese PURPLE communications became routine for the Allies by the end of the war. 

America’s military code system in the Pacific theater was called the Code Talkers. Unlike Japan and Germany’s PURPLE and Enigma, and America’s SIGBA, used in the European theater, the Code Talkers program involved no machinery at all. Like SIGBA, the Code Talkers were never broken, even after the war. It made use of an actual spoken language, the Native American dialect of Navajo. The method was first conceived by Philip Johnston, who was the son of a missionary. He had grown up on the Navajo reservation and spoke their language fluently. Johnston believed that the Navajo language would make an extremely secure code. He was right. Johnston proposed his idea to the military, and, impressed by the trial runs, they gave permission for thirty Code Talkers to be recruited. Three dropped out of the program, making the original number of Code Talkers twenty seven. They were deployed in the Pacific because America’s codes there were being consistently broken, and SIGBA was working well in Europe. They transmitted messages at the battles of Pelelia, Marianas, Solomons, Tarawa, Guadalcanal, Midway, and Iwo Jima. Of their role at Iwo Jima, Major Howard Conner stated, “The entire operation was directed by Navajo code…during the two days that followed the initial landings, I had six Navajo radio nets working around the clock…they sent and received over eight hundred messages without an error. Were it not for the Navajo Code Talkers, the Marines never would have taken Iwo Jima.” After their incredible successes, and proof of their accuracy, effectiveness, and security, permission was given to recruit more Code Talkers. By the end of the war, four hundred twenty one Code Talkers had served in the Pacific. No Code Talkers died during the war, but because of their skin color, they were occasionally mistaken for Japanese spies. Several were almost shot by their own allies. The Code Talkers created an incredibly secure code. The Navajo language is extremely different from any other language, even other Native American tribal languages. The Germans had made a point of studying Amerindian dialects before the war, knowing that such an obscure and exclusively American set of languages might be used against them. However, because Navajo has no relation to other Amerindian languages, etymologically having come from the north, rather than the south, German Amerindian specialists had no insights on this language. It’s syntax is also so different from Indo-European languages, that Japanese and German speakers would have had a hard time understanding even a clearly translated sentence. Conveniently, at the time there was no written alphabet or language for Navajo, making it practically impossible to study or learn. The only feasible way was to learn it vocally, from birth like the Code Talkers. Even so, the Japanese might have been able to overcome these challenges…if they had been able to write it down or transcribe it in any way. But the flowing, chantlike sound of Navajo gives almost no way for an outsider to separate one sound from another. Spoken as quickly as a native speaker would speak it, Navajo would be more like an indistinguishable rush of sounds than a language. Some have related the sound of spoken Navajo to a train rushing along its tracks, or of water gurgling down a partially blocked drain. Also, Navajo is a tonal language. The same sound can mean many different things, depending how it’s spoken. Despite this already high level of security, another layer was added. They used code words for common phrases, and spelled out other messages with substitute words for each letter. For example, “ant” stood for A, “badger” stood for B, and so on. Even to a native Navajo speaker, the Code Talker’s speech would have sounded like a nonsensical recitation of random words. The Code Talkers had another huge advantage over the mechanical encryptions of the day. They were fast. As the Code Talkers had memorized the code phrases and substitute words, there was no encoding and decoding needed. It was all done with the speed of normal conversation. The accuracy was exceptional, because there was no need for a deciphering key. Although SIGBA was never cracked, keys were intercepted, messages were miscoded, and the whole, imperfect process took hours. The Navajo Code talkers were by far the most ingenious and streamlined secure communications method of the war. Here are some examples of their code phrase vocabulary. 

Submarine = metal fish = besh-lo

Fighter plane  = hummingbird = dah-he-tih-hi

Squad = black street = debeh-li-zire

Dive bomber = chickenhawk/sparrowhawk

Route = rabbit trail

Grenade = potato

United States = Our Mother

England = Bounded By Water

Bombs = eggs

Battleship = whale

Destroyer = shark

Artillery = Many Big Guns

Magnet = pick up iron

Saboteur = troublemaker 

The Code Talkers were vital to America’s military efforts in the Pacific theater. 

Enigma, PURPLE, SIGBA, and the Code Talkers are only some of the amazing cryptological feats in history. As you might imagine, the making and breaking of codes is a difficult task. There are infinite possible meanings for every sound, symbol, or letter. The codes used in WWII were incredibly difficult to crack with the tools available at that time. With the computers we have now, cracking WWII era codes would have taken about a hundredth of a second. Where people must analyze key possibilities for the code manually, computers run through every option for the key in milliseconds, producing the correct answer much more quickly. But as computer technologies have advanced, so have cryptology techniques. Modern codes, which have many more key possibilities, are much more difficult to break. Unbelievably, it takes too long for even computers to run through and find the right key. Cryptology is an amazing science. It is always developing and growing. We owe much of our knowledge of cryptology to the groundbreaking discoveries in WWII. Even most modern code systems can trace their roots back to the ingenious encryption methods of WWII. 

Bibliography

Arbuckle, Alex. “The Navajo Code Talkers That Helped the U.S. WIN WWII.” Mashable, Mashable, 14 Apr. 2022, https://mashable.com/feature/navajo-code-talkers. 

“Cryptanalysis of the Enigma.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Rejewski’s_characteristics_method. 

“Cryptography and Cryptanalysis in World War II: Historical Spotlight: News.” Wargaming, https://wargaming.com/en/news/cryptography_and_cryptanalysis/. 

Cryptography, https://derekbruff.org/blogs/fywscrypto/tag/world-war-ii/. 

“Developments during World Wars I and II.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/cryptology/Developments-during-World-Wars-I-and-II

“Enigma Machine.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine. 

“Gilbert Vernam.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 June 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Vernam. 

History of Cryptography, https://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/heritage/ModSec.htm. 

“The Impact of Modern Electronics.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/cryptology/The-impact-of-modern-electronics. 

Isaac Computer Science, https://isaaccomputerscience.org/concepts/data_encrypt_vernam?examBoard=all&stage=all. 

“Magic (Cryptography).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_(cryptography). 

“Marian Rejewski.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Oct. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Rejewski#:~:text=On%2017%20January%201940%20the,at%20Bletchley%20Park%20in%20England. 

NSA Staff Processing Form I – National Security Agency. https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cia-kryptos-sculpture/doc_2.pdf. 

Plessas, Nick. “Https://T.co/X8jcEyR0Og Https://T.co/ms5imz2eu9.” Twitter, Twitter, 22 Sept. 2022, https://twitter.com/NickASAVet/status/1572807878276423685. 

“Sigaba.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Sept. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIGABA. 

Silversmith, Shondiin. “Navajo Code Talkers Created an Unbreakable Code. It Helped Win World War II.” The Arizona Republic, Arizona Republic, 8 Aug. 2022, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2018/07/11/navajo-code-talker-facts-unbreakable-code/460262002/. 

“Type B Cipher Machine.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Aug. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_B_Cipher_Machine. 

“Ultra.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ultra-Allied-intelligence-project. 

“Ultra.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Oct. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra. 

“War of Secrets: Cryptology in WWII.” National Museum of the United States Air Force™, https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196193/war-of-secrets-cryptology-in-wwii/. 

Wendorf, Marcia. “75 Years after VJ Day, the Legacy of the Navajo Code Talkers.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 20 Aug. 2020, https://interestingengineering.com/culture/75-years-after-vj-day-the-legacy-of-the-navajo-code-talkers. 

Wilson, William R. “Navajo Code Talkers: How Native Americans Helped WIN WW2.” HistoryNet, HistoryNet, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers/?f. 

“World War II Cryptography.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Sept. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_cryptography. 

“WWII Women Cracking the Code.” Homepage, https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/wwii-women-cracking-code.

Finding Yourself During Your Journey

Finding Yourself During Your Journey

Tylan, Age 18

While we have lived, we all, at some point, have wanted to go somewhere and to get there, we would need to go on a journey.  This doesn’t always mean a physical journey, this could be any journey. Some of the biggest journeys are ones other people can’t see and don’t know about.  Sometimes they are ones we do all on our own. These are the ones where we are just trying to better ourselves or sometimes we are trying to just find ourselves. These journeys can be big and sometimes they are really small but each and everyone of us finds ourselves on one of them at one point or another. 

When we start, we all have one place, or maybe a few, that we want to get to.  We spend our time looking towards that place and figuring out how to get there because that is why we started on this journey in the first place.  However; sometimes we get lost on our journey and sometimes we focus so much on where we want to go that we forget who we are in the process. I’m here to give you a few tips on how to find yourself while on your journey and not after it.
To start, you need to know who you are. As soon as you step outside your house, comfort zone, or your circle of protection, you will immediately be bombarded with things that will try and make you think, act, feel, or talk like a different person and it is easy to get lost or possibly lose yourself on your journey. When I say lose yourself, I don’t mean the change that takes place along the journey. I am talking about losing your reason for starting on this journey, the reason why you left in the first place. 

The next step on our path to finding ourselves is realizing how we best approach problems and changes in our life. We have been on this journey and we are looking for ways to get to our destination but, along the course, we will have to embrace changes in the way we think and the way we do things. For some of us, we think the changes will come naturally and we can fit them into our way of thinking and our way of doing things; however, this isn’t always true. At one point or another, we will face a problem that will require us to change in ways that we just don’t seem to understand.  We will feel like we can’t fit the role that we need to in order to overcome the problem in our path. This can be a reason that we can lose ourselves in our journey because we don’t understand how to face opposition. We need to realize what works for us. We need to look back on things we have done on our journey and look for things that we did that made it easy for us. This will help us be able to learn how we can overcome problems in our lives and be able to become who we want to be.

Our next step is to accept help. Asking for help when you need it can be a really important thing to learn.  You will be able to get through problems and challenges that come your way a lot easier than without the help. Sometimes you may not realize you need help.  Asking for help when you don’t think you need it can be a huge way to find yourself as you will come to understand when and where you need help. There are plenty of times where you don’t need the help but being comfortable enough to ask, even when you might not need it, will be so helpful when you come across problems in the future that you realize are so much bigger than what you first thought they would be. No one ever has complained about someone giving them help on a challenge but there are plenty of people who have complained about not having any help at all.

A great thing to realize when you are trying to find yourself is to make sure that you are looking not only at the path in front of you but also the path behind you. In my own personal journeys there are plenty of times where a quick glance backwards has helped so much because it lets me see if I have missed anything during my journey. Sometimes you look backwards and you haven’t missed anything but other times you will find that some of the most important things on this trip you went right past because you were too focused on the destination in front of you. 

My last piece of advice and to conclude is to make sure to look inwards, not just forward. You started this journey on a path and along the way you have grown and changed and become a different person but as you look inwards you might find that your destination isn’t where you want to be at the end of this journey. This is where you take your journey to the next level because it is no longer a journey but multiple journeys, each with their own little starts and finishes, that are part of a quest that you are on to become someone great.

INSPIRED TO GREATNESS

INSPIRED TO GREATNESS

Kathryn, age 16

“There she goes!” someone called out. The men stood and stared as their ship sank into the icy sea. For a brief moment there was a hole where it had been but soon the ice filled the gap and the ship was gone. Now the men who had been in the ship were alone on the ice of the Arctic sea! Did they give up in despair? No! There was someone with them who inspired them to greatness: to move forward, keep going, and survive. His name was Sir Ernest Shackleton and he was the leader of this dangerous expedition called the Imperial Trans-Arctic Expedition.

 In 1914 the expedition set out to make history. Their goal was to be the first group to cross Antarctica on foot. Things did not go well though. Their boat, the Endurance, became trapped in ice that slowly crushed it until it sank. The ship was evacuated but for a while it was still there in the ice, a reminder of home. When it sank the men’s hope could have sunk too but that didn’t happen. Why? Because Shackleton inspired greatness in them. He did this by setting a good example, trying to remain optimistic around the men, and never giving up. As leaders, you can do this, too! I have done some research on Shackleton and this Arctic Expedition and I would like to share what I learned with you. Hopefully, you will even get some ideas of how you can inspire greatness in others like Shackleton! 

Now that the Endurance was gone, the expedition’s means of travel were: three small boats, which they currently could not use because of all the ice; several dog sled teams; and their own two feet. As the men prepared to set off across the ice in search of rescue, Shackleton gathered them round and told them they would need to pack very light for their trip. Each man would only be allowed to take two pounds of personal items with him. This would take sacrifice and Shackleton knew it. With all the men gathered round he took a few golden trinkets out of his pockets and placed them on the snowy ice. He then took his Bible, tore out a few pages to keep, left the rest on the ice, turned, and walked away. The men followed his example and when they set out on their journey the ice was strewn with belongings that were being left behind (Lansing, 1959). Shackleton led by example in this story. He was not just telling these men to sacrifice so that they could all survive. He showed them that he would sacrifice so that they could survive.

 As the leaders of today you can do this too! Whether you are a manager, a parent, a leader in the church you attend, or something else you will be asking people to do things. Some of these things are hard. People may be more willing to do hard things you ask them to do if they see you doing hard things. Think of this example: a young man sees lots of people at school vaping. He knows his parents have told him not to vape but he feels like he is getting pressure from every side to, “Just do it.” Then he remembers that in a tough situation at work his dad chose to tell the truth instead of telling a lie. It was hard because his team might get in trouble but he still did it and things worked out. Remembering that his dad had done hard things gave this young man courage to not give into the peer pressure to vape. This young man’s dad was a leader in his life. His dad’s good example motivated the young man to do the right thing in a hard situation. Your example can do this, too!

Even before the Endurance sank, Shackleton was worried. The ship was locked in ice and the cold, dark, Arctic winter was coming! Shackleton tried to be optimistic around the men though. He knew the men needed to remain optimistic to survive, and they did! When the Endurance sank and the men were living on the ice one man even wrote, “I read somewhere [that] all a man needs to be happy is a full stomach and warmth and I begin to think that is nearly true” (Lansing, 1959). They did have plenty of food when the seals and penguins were available to be killed and eaten, and they had their sleeping bags and tents so they had some warmth. They were grateful they had that! They were inspired to the greatness of gratitude by optimism! However, there was something Shackleton knew could destroy optimism: division. Shackleton tried to keep a sharp lookout for men in the group who would divide them. He knew in a time of crisis division could be the difference between life and death. Luckily for all of them throughout their journey there was not enough division to cause them to die. In fact, they had enough optimism for all to survive!

In our lives we all go through hard times, too. In the last couple years we have all faced the hardships that came from the COVID 19 pandemic. As we went through this we had a choice, we could give up and give in to despair or we could remain optimistic. We did not have to pretend that nothing was wrong, but we could keep our hopes up and find things that bring us joy. One way my parents helped us remain optimistic was by buying some fun games we could play as a family during this time we had together during quarantine . Their example of remaining optimistic inspired me to remain optimistic, too! Like Shackleton and my parents you can inspire others to remain optimistic even in challenging times!

So many times throughout the Expedition, Shackleton could have decided to just give up, but he didn’t. The group eventually found land but their journey was not over. After finding land Shackleton and five others set out on a daring voyage from the island they were on, Elephant Island, to the island of South Georgia to find people who could help rescue the rest of their group. They managed to get to South Georgia but then they realized the help they were looking for was on the other side of the island! What could they do now? Between the spot where they landed and help were great mountains that had never been charted. Shackleton had come so far; he was not going to give up now! He took two of the five men that were with him and set off across the uncharted mountains. It was hard but they did not give up. They got to the other side and were able to find people who could help rescue the other three members of their small group. Getting the rest of the group proved even more difficult, though. The ice was determined not to let a ship through to Elephant Island. Shackleton was not going to leave his men there to die though. He kept trying and on his fourth try he finally reached the men on Elephant Island. They were, of course, overjoyed to be rescued! 

You can choose to never give up in your life, too! At times, it may seem like there is no hope. You might think the pandemic will never end, your teenage child will never stop arguing with you, or your work will never stop being overwhelming, but that is not true. You can make it through all of these trials and more with God’s help. As you trust that God will help you, you can find peace even in troubled times. After all, Jesus Christ told his disciples they could find peace in John 16:33. As modern day followers of Jesus Christ this scripture applies to us, too! John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (King James Version, 2013). Your example of relying on and trusting God will inspire those who come after you to do the same. The leaders of tomorrow notice what you do. They can see who’s counsel you follow and whether or not you give up when times get tough. Do you follow social media or do you follow God? Leaders of tomorrow may choose to follow the people you follow. Your choice to follow God and never give up can inspire them to do the same. 

Through his example, helping those around him remain optimistic, and never giving in, Shackleton inspired the men around him to greatness. When the men needed to sacrifice things they had for their journey Shackleton led the way in leaving some of his belongings behind. Throughout the trip Shackleton tried to keep the men on the expedition optimistic. Despair was not going to help them survive. Time and time again the group ran into hard situations – their ship sinking, crossing uncharted mountains, and going back to rescue the rest of their group – but Shackleton did not give up. You, too, can inspire greatness in people all around you as you set a good example, try to remain optimistic even when life is hard, and never give up. People do notice when you do these things. Some of the people who notice are the ones who will be the leaders of tomorrow. They are looking to you for inspiration. Will you inspire them to greatness? I hope so, because as Lolly Daskal said, “Great leaders inspire greatness in others,” (Daskal, 2017). We, the leaders of tomorrow, have great things to do and you, the great leaders of today can inspire us to greatness. 

Bibliography 

Lansing, A. (1959). Endurance. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Publishing.

The Bible: King James Version. (2013). Salt Lake City,, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Daskal, L. (2017). The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness. New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin.

On Courage

On Courage

Heidi, age 15

Courage is a journey, not a moment. Some people call it the Hero’s Journey. The reason I am writing this paper for your age group is because you are on a journey of your own, and you will need courage to help you through it. Not to say that you don’t have very much courage, but because how you live these next few years define the rest of your life.

The man I am going to write about is someone to which everyone in America is indebted. His name is the Marquis de Lafayette. He was born and raised in France to an aristocratic family. He became an orphan when he was only twelve, joined the French army at fourteen, and saved the American revolution at nineteen. Courage filled his life. I will try to illustrate his journey for you because it is one of determination, truth, and most of all, courage. 

First is the decision. Nobody goes on a Hero’s Journey without choosing it first. Most people made that first decision in heaven. At some point (I’m not sure when) Lafayette was inspired by America. He was able to discern that she was mostly a good and moral country that was fighting for rights and freedom. Now I’m sure plenty of other people, especially in France, recognized this too, and quite a few of them had the means to help but didn’t. I’m not saying those people are wrong for not helping, just that something made Lafayette different from those people. I think the difference was his courage. He saw a seed of something in America that he could not just ignore, and he realized that it was worth putting everything else on the line. This is courage. He decided to go on this Hero’s Journey.

 That was only the first decision though. He would be making decisions throughout the entire journey, mostly decisions of not backing down when doubt and fear won him out. There were other decisions he was making too, decisions of how he would go about this journey. He chose to be respectful, honorable, faithful, virtuous, truthful, tolerant. These qualities are also something that sets great people apart.

Next is the hardest part, acting on his decisions with determination. Lafayette went to America. He acted. Once Lafayette got there, Washington made him his personal aide. The two bonded immediately. Lafayette fought his first battle at a place called Brandywine Creek. One day in September 1777, William Howe, General of the British, was going to attack this creek and try to reach Philadelphia. Washington, Lafayette and a host of American soldiers were there to stop him. The battle went poorly. Howe surprised the Americans by traveling farther up the creek to cross, then attacking at their right flank. The American soldiers panicked. Lafayette tried to rally the troops to make another attack, but the British pushed them back. He was making an organized retreat when he was shot through the leg. Even still, Lafayette wouldn’t accept medical help until all of his men had made the retreat. In this moment he didn’t have time to think, he just did. His determination kept him going. 

What is determination? Determination is the doing part of courage. It is having courage consistently. Someone can be inspired at one time or another, and that inspiration can lead them for a little while. Eventually though, they stop feeling courage, or love, or happiness. Everyone has these moments while on their Hero’s Journey. I’m sure Lafayette had plenty. This is when determination is needed. Courage is a feeling; determination is a mindset. Fighting is hard, even harder still when we don’t feel like it. Keep going.

The last part of the Hero’s Journey is the most exciting. Not many reach it, but those who do, like Lafayette, become the really great people in the world. This is after they’ve made it through the hardest part of the Hero’s Journey. For example, when you’re studying and studying and you don’t feel like you are learning anything, then suddenly things just start to click or when you crawl and slip but still keep going, and finally build up that strength to run. This is when you are changed and then discover the whole breadth and depth of what you have just changed into. 

After the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette spent two months in recuperation, then was given a command of soldiers. During the next two years, he led his own command of 350 men against 400 Hessians, leaving them scattered, got the Oneida Indian tribe to join the war on the side of the Americans, stopped a possible conflict between a group of American civilians and some French soldiers, and inspired America and France to embrace the cause of freedom and liberty. He worked and fought and tried, and I think at first he didn’t feel like he was doing very much for the cause. He kept going anyway. Because of this, he was rewarded. 

The Hero’s Journey is long, hard, and tedious at times. In the pre-earth life, we each made the decision to come to earth and become heroes of one kind or another. Because we don’t remember making that decision, we have to make that decision again in this life. We don’t just decide once, but over and over again, because life is made up of many Hero Journeys, all tied up into one big Hero’s Journey. If we have the courage to do this, we will be rewarded. The Savior made sure of that.

Bringing In The Good

Bringing In The Good

Jeremiah, age 16

Throughout life, everyone comes up with multitudes of personal goals. These goals range in all shapes and sizes, but they all ultimately do one thing: they focus on self-improvement. From my experience, goals try to do this in one of two ways. Either they concentrate on removing something bad from your life (bad classifies as anything unwanted or that is holding you back), or adding something good in (good is anything you want to add to your life that you think will make it better). I would like to offer a new way to think about this. Instead of doing one or the other, try doing both at the same time. Going even deeper and simpler, I would also like to show you how you can actually accomplish both by mainly focusing on just one.

First of all, it is possible, and actually very easy to focus on both removing the bad and adding in the good at the same time. I’ll use several physical examples to illustrate. Think about a surgeon, performing an operation to fix a failing heart. They don’t just remove the heart of the patient and call it good. They put in a new working heart. Another example for the other side of it is having a messy desk. Before you can put something new there, or even work on something, you need to clean up, getting rid of the trash and moving things that don’t need to be there into a better place. If you try to put the new thing onto your desk without cleaning up, it pushes other stuff onto the floor and just creates a bigger mess than you had in the first place. 

With the heart example, you can’t just get rid of the bad. You have to replace it with something good. Then with the desk example, you also sometimes need to get rid of some bad stuff in order to have room for the good. The trick is to make sure you have a nice balance of the two when you’re working. If you clear away all the bad without focusing on adding good in too, it is a lot easier for the unwanted things you just removed to start seeping back in. But sometimes you have to take out enough stuff to fit a little bit of good in the first place.

The main point I am trying to get across here is that getting out the bad and putting in the good are not actually separate things. They go together. You really can’t effectively do one without doing the other. However, once you are working on this, you can actually accomplish both just by focusing on bringing in the good.

The main thing that makes this work is being able to let go of the bad things. (Again, remember bad is used very loosely here. “Bad” things can really be anything unnecessary or not as important that you are trying to replace or remove from your life.) When you are trying to bring in good, you need to be able to let the bad things naturally slide out, or even just move somewhere else. Going back to the desk example, if you bring in the good without cleaning out the bad, it just pushes things onto the floor and creates a bigger mess. However, when you are able to let the unwanted things go, they can go straight into the trash. The good will naturally take the place of the bad. Another example of this is letting the sunlight into a room through a window. When you let the light in you don’t have to worry about taking out the darkness first. The light naturally takes the place of the darkness. The only thing you need to do is open the curtains and let the light in.

Now, I’ve told you what to do and how to do it, but why does it work? Why should you do it? First of all, it works as long as you are slowly able to let go of more of the bad stuff. As you bring the good into your life, you grow more attached to it. The feeling of wanting whatever is good over the bad stuff in your life strengthens. Then, as long as you are willing, you can easily now remove the bad, and the good can slide the rest of the way in. And why should you do it? Well, simply put, when you bring in the good and let the bad go, it is the simplest and most effective way to make lasting changes to your life.

One last thing I would like to add is that there are many things that could be bad per se without needing to be removed from your life. Going back to the desk example one more time, it is also harder to concentrate when you are surrounded by things that don’t matter at that time. Just because you aren’t actively reading that book on your desk doesn’t mean you should get rid of it completely. Rather, you should move it somewhere else like a bookshelf, or even your side table drawer by your bed. The same thing can be done in your life. There are many things that are good or relaxing to do, they just might need to be done at a different time. For example, looking at Instagram for twenty minutes isn’t in and of itself bad. However, doing it as soon as you wake up is probably not the best idea. Deciding to implement a routine in the morning will help you be more productive, but you also won’t have to focus on not getting on Instagram, since the routine will naturally push it to later in the day when it is a better time. Then since you are starting over with when you will be on Instagram, you can pick when you want to do it. Maybe it’s during lunch, or after you have completed some project you are working on. In the end, you haven’t removed Instagram, you have just repositioned it so that you can be more effective.

I would like to end with an invitation. You might have a lot of different things you want to add in your life or get removed, but start with just one good thing you want to bring in. It can be big or small. Then implement it into your life. Don’t forget to mentally let go of some of the bad things. As the good starts to work, don’t be afraid to let the bad drop out of your life. Slowly but surely, you will see changes, and they will be good. Lastly, as things start to work, you will begin to feel not only happier and more productive, but an energy to implement more good. Don’t let this fade, but also don’t get carried away. Pick just one new thing to add in. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself.

As you do this, you can have just as amazing a life as you can imagine.

THE DESTINATION

THE DESTINATION

THE DESTINATION.

Christian, age 15

Is murder excusable? Is stealing? Is lying? History is littered with stories of excusing the means because of the end result. Claiming that as long as there is a right and correct goal, the way, and means by which we achieve that goal is of no importance.  History is also littered with stories claiming the opposite; claiming that the end does not excuse the means. This is a debate that has been going on since Man has achieved anything of importance. I am writing this paper today in order to shed light on this subject and help uncover the truth. 

Some, I hope all, of you, have probably heard of the man named John Brown. This man had dreams. Dreams of peace, equality, and of a world without any form of racism or racist action. If he had had his way, there would never have been any such thing as slavery. Men would never see another human being as below or worth less than them, and all men would be free to live as they chose. I share these hopes. They are worthy, righteous goals that I believe every human should strive for. Now, those of you who know who John Brown was know that he did things, terrible things, while trying to bring racial equality. He armed angry slaves and convinced them to beat and kill their captors, burned slave owner’s houses, slaughtered Southern supporters, and eventually took control of a military arsenal; holding hostages and resulting in the deaths of 16 people. He was hung for his crimes; not only were two of his sons killed, but many of the slaves who he lead in a violent uprising died. Not as free men, but as men seen as murderers and terrorists. Now, Brown did all of these horrid things for the good of slaves and to fight the widespread inequality that African-American people were facing at this time. His destination was spotless, clean, and God-centered. Yet, the path he chose to take was bloody, dark, and stained by pain and hurt. He said it was justified in the destination of his path. I say it is the path that proves whether the destination is worthy or not.

When we are working to achieve something, more often than not we are working on changing who or what we are, or the world around us. Take the first example of changing who or what you are. You are trying to improve yourself so that you are more able to achieve something. Let us say that you are working on becoming a better sibling, parent, child, or spouse. You want the people in these relationships to trust you, lean upon you, and turn to you. Now, it doesn’t matter if we get to this point, it matters how we get to this point. 

Doing something like this can get exhausting really fast. It is the same with any worthy goal. So maybe we take a few shortcuts. Say some stuff we don’t mean, make something up to help us reach our destination; maybe we lie about something. This continues and before we know it, those people are relying on us on the surface. It would seem that we’ve reached our goal. However, while they are relying upon us, we are relying on a mess of fabrications and lies to get these people to trust us. Those incorrect means that we used to reach our worthy destination do not just disappear once we reach our goal. Instead, we are left with the remains of a worthy goal built upon a mess of injustices, lies, wrongdoings, and a false sense of achievement. Things like this, like John Brown’s campaign against slavery, will not succeed and most likely not last for any substantial period of time. Correct ends do not make incorrect means correct. This path, though we will reach a destination, changes the destination which we will reach. Not every path leads to the same place. Our actions must be consistent with our goals. Otherwise, we will end up in a place that we did not intend too; though we may have started with a righteous intent. If we are not acting in the right principles, we will not progress. Therefore, no ends, no destination can and will ever justify the means. On the opposite side if, in the beginning, we align our actions with our goal, then we will actually reach our destination. We must be willing to suffer through the hard times, work, endure, and eventually, we will become that person who we want to be and we will be able to truly fulfill those relationships and actually fulfill and achieve that worthy goal.

Our destination is only as worthy and correct as were the actions that got us to that destination. We simply cannot reach a good destination through an evil journey. It is not possible. Evil is not good. It never has been and never will be. Those two things are complete opposites. They cannot co-exist within the same mission. When the excuse is made that some wrong was done in the light of a greater good or for some other form of righteousness, that so said “greater good” is being worn down into nothing but an excuse for evil actions. There is no justification for evil. 

JOURNEY BEFORE DESTINATION – BRANDON SANDERSON

Religious Freedom in Schools

Religious Freedom in Schools

Jeremiah, age 16

Religious freedom is a very controversial thing. On the one hand, it is important to preserve, to make sure everyone can worship what and how they want. On the other, it shouldn’t be mandated what religion one must belong to, or what religions are and aren’t allowed to do. The other big dilemma is the fact that while the government definitely needs to protect the religious freedom of the people, it shouldn’t take too big of a role, especially the broader focus it has (federal versus county governments, for example).

One of the biggest places this problem is found is in the education system. It is tricky to keep religion in the schools, without making people feel like they are being forced to learn and agree with a specific view. However, the country as a whole has taken this too far and completely removed any and all religion from all public schools.

Ohio has taken a positive step in this direction though. Their House of Representatives just passed a bill onto the Senate that would require schools to “give student religious groups the same access to school facilities for meetings and events as secular groups have, lift bans limiting student expression of religion to lunch or non-instructional periods, [and] abolish any restrictions on students from engaging in religious expression in completion of homework, artwork or other assignments” (Cath Candisky, 2019). In most respects this is a positive move forward to religion being brought back into the school system, and as equally as possible. The main problem that currently exists is the fact that in the name of religious freedom, and in order to avoid stepping on people’s toes, religion has been basically removed from public schools, to keep everyone happy. However, the problem arises that in doing this all religious influence has been taken out, resulting in more atheism and such, and actually bringing in religious boundaries. In short, religious freedom is being taken away in the name of giving it.

The main problem with the bill being worked on in Ohio is the fact that many believe religious freedom should be regulated by as low of government as possible. For example, many people would rather let the school board make rules about religion instead of the state legislature, to “keep the government from interfering” or something. However, just because the federal government shouldn’t have charge over religion, doesn’t mean that states shouldn’t. States actually have a lot less to worry about and take care of, and are actually a lot closer to the people than the federal government, even though in many legal chains they’re second. In the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, it is stated that: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” So it basically says that anything the Federal government doesn’t have power over or isn’t prohibited to the states, is theirs to make decisions on. Like religion in schools. So despite the public opinion, the bill in Ohio is Constitutional, and in my personal opinion, a great change to the way religion is viewed.

Sources:

“Are we of the number, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not?”…-Patrick Henry

“Are we of the number, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not?”…-Patrick Henry

To the readers and researchers everywhere.

… And how not seeing, and not hearing, lead to “chains of bondage”.

By Heather

I have a considerable opinion that in today’s world there have been many people who choose to not hear or see important things going on in the world. Some people do but I am directing towards the people that do not.  Others may have realized this in times before. This neglectfulness has led to a creating of metaphorical chains of bondage.

A portion of people think all there is to hear about is what the news makes out of the world. The news most of the time only gives information that is depressing, or unimportant at times, it only gives one side of the story, and the news only gives the information that is popular. There are people that do not want to hear about serious things. An example of that would be how my mother did not want to watch the news for an early while because it was too stressful when she had little kids and she decided she could not handle it. The bad part about that is that those serious things might actually be important. Where you get your information from is all that it depends on. There are also such ideas that claim:  People should only be worrying about serious things going on in the world if they are adults. Well, I claim that that is foolishness. People should not be afraid to handle the seriousness of the true knowledge; the information and understanding of what is happening. People also do not have to trust the media-“news” for all of your information.

Men and Women need to be able to get both sides for information. To find main truth, people cannot be biased. With this information from both sides, they are able to make a decision about what side they are on. Only after they receive all the information they will be able to choose for themselves what they think is the truth and which is not. They will have agency. Agency is what this world is all about.

People are bound by the incompleteness of their information and understanding about what is happening. What I mean by people are bound by incompleteness, is, that they are restricted. The people do not realize what they do not know. Many news outlets only give one perspective of the story. People are not taking the time to hear or find out both sides of the story. This is what I would call neglectfulness.

Through this restriction, people can take control of you, they can alter the few things you know and what you do not know. The neglectfulness that people go through leads to ignorance. The ignorance is what these chains of bondage are. What people can learn from this is that they should not be ignorant because people can take control of, and alter, the things you are ignorant about. That control is what puts us in the chains of bondage in America today.