A Rolemodel

I recently finished reading the book Distant Vision by Elma G . Farnsworth, wife of Philo T. Farnsworth a few weeks ago. It was a great book, I recommend it to anyone who is looking for an awesome biography. I got the book from Linda Farnsworth, the wife of Philo and Elma's youngest son Kent. I did service for the family on the mission and enjoyed every minute of it. The family itself was having a very very hard time and probably still is, but nonetheless I was able to learn a lot while I was there. My reason for bringing that up is the comparison that I now have with Philo's life and my own. They're quite different believe me, I mean, the guy came up with his ideas for the invention of television at age 15. He's definitely got me beat by a few years. What I learned in Distant Vision though is that Philo received much of his early education here at BYU where I attend. It's interesting to ponder the reality that such great minds walked the same walkways and studied in the same manner as I do now. Philo returned to BYU at the end of his career to hopefully finish his project on fusion but he died before he could complete it. Thats where the biography gets intense because Philo had fusion worked out, he just didnt have the funding or belief of all other elevated scientists around. Since he feared that others would try and steal his patents like people had tried before, he didn't record his findings like he previously had and therefore when he died, everything went with him. Kind of a bummer, but man is it amazing to think that an original BYU student almost changed everything about our lives. Fusion power would have affected almost every aspect of our lives.

I guess its thinking about role-models like these that keep me interested in even going back to the library every day to study. I get a feeling as I walk up to the doors that I know I'm going to be sitting here at one of the study tables stuck until I feel like I've reached a point of productivity that is going to be satisfactory for either the next day or the next week. It many times is a dreading feeling as I approach those doors but other times it may feel like a more noble feeling in being proud of my decision to be here and training my mind for great things like Philo T. Farnsworth.

Seeing the thousands of students around me at times feels daunting due to realization that this world is going to be filled with competition for the rest of my life. That means I can't just slow down or give myself all the time in the world to come up with my plans or work. I'm not planning on slowing down but its never an exciting feeling to think about the major loss of sleep that will continue to follow me through these following years. It'll all be worth it in the end though.

One more place of relation between Philo and I seemed to be a need for a companion. I'm not saying this to infer that I'm on the lookout to get married ASAP but there is so much that comes with having a companion to accompany you throughout life. My patriarchal blessing says that my future spouse will enhance all that I desire to do. How great is that! For Philo's case, Elma was very much that spouse that was going to enhance all that he did. He was a very lucky man to find the woman that he did. She was patient with the time he needed to spend on his inventions and the many risks that he took that at times completely devastated their family for a time. They were a team and that is what I hope to experience one day. I can almost feel the potential difference already that awaits me when I will have the opportunity to see the change when I have that companion.

Time to hit the books again, on to becoming something great.