for the mom and pops

i have the best parents in the world.  packages from my mom filled with sugar cookies, new clothes, decorations, fall leaves, and pictures?  nothing better i tell you.  and conversations on the phone with my number one dad, are always the best.

i also really enjoy finding out that i got a 91 out of 100 on a paper that is worth a large chunk of my grade from a professor who is suppose to be very hard to please.

the same class that i received that 91% has turned out to be one of my favorites.  groups, leadership, and culture.  my teacher is chad ford (type his name in on google, he's kinda a big deal) and every time i leave that class, my mind is blown.  seriously, blown.  we talk about the deepest of subjects and what i love is that we are able to tie it all back to the gospel.

here's one example of how my mind has been boggled:

the first day of class my professor handed out note cards and told each student to write down the name of every group they felt they belonged to.  here's what i came up with: 

i am a king, i am a sanders, i am a young single adult, i am a mormon, i am a teenager, i am a byuh student, i am a member of timpview high's graduating class of 2010, i am a blogger, i am a byu fan, i am from provo utah, i live in the riverbottoms, i am an english speaker, i am caucasian, i am norwegian, i am blonde, i am conservative, i am a ICS major, i am a sophmore, i am human, i am a skier, i live off campus, i am female, i facebook, i am american, i am skinny, i am an athlete, i am an outdoor enthusiast, i am a college student, i am a child of god, i live on the north shore, i am a haole, i surf, i am a nanny, i attend relief society

after we had made our lists, my professor said something that i will never forget:

"groups not only tell us who we are but who we aren't"

think of all the stigmas that come with each group i listed. 

needless to say, i left class asking myself the same question as this guy:

we discussed how groups only exist because we create them.  at this point my mind exploded.
what would our world be like if there were no groups?  the groups we belong to influence us so heavily and as i have started to pay closer attention to this fact, i have become more aware of the power of group think.  i so often judge people based on the fact that they don't belong to a certain one of my groups, i judge them because they are not part of the "us" they are "them".
this is a little discouraging.  the world is so complicated and it is filled with problems and i have a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
how can one person make a difference?
how can i make a difference?
how can i "be the change i wish to see in the world"?

i don't have the answers to all these questions but, i am trying find them.
maybe i'll be like the guy above and open a center for kids who can't read good and wanna learn to do other stuff good too.  
but, hopefully one day i can be like this guy or this girl
OR
i'll grow up to be just like my mom (i've told you how awesome she is) and that will be alright with me.