BYU Devotional

Tuesday's Devotional held at the Joseph Smith Building on campus was televised on BYU-TV. The presenter was Merrill Christensen, professor of Nutritional Science. He used a line from Jeffrey R. Holland's April 2007 General Conference as the basis of his talk, "Our culture's obsession with comparing [and] competing."
He quoted two of President Hinckley's talks, saying, "The world into which you will move will be terribly competitive. You are moving into the most competitive age the world has ever know."
Brother Christensen pointed out that we aren't to seek out the praise of man, but in order to be successful, we need to impress people. "If you don't impress the coach, you don't make the team. If you don't impress an employer, you don't get the job."
He asked Elder Russell M. Nelson about this, to which he got the response, "If you are well prepared in everything you do in school and professionally, and do the highest quality of work of which you are capable, your work will speak for itself and the right people will be impressed."
If you missed this BYU Devotional address, or simply wish to watch again, click on the picture below.



Here's a note about my conversation with Brother Christensen before the Devotional.
He worried about taking too much time, as he was told to keep it to 25 minutes. He then said that being a nutritional scientist, he knew the one ingredient needed for talks: shortening.

Clive Barnes, who is the chief Dance, Drama and Opera critic for the New York Post once said, "Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."

I think, however, that while most popular programming seems to be controlled by ratings, the "truly democratic culture," there are plenty of programs and stations that are immune to such measures. BYU-TV is one such station. BYU Broadcasting, as stated in its own mission statement, endeavors to "enrich the lives of audiences through the creation and delivery of religious, educational, cultural, news, and sports programs that reflect Brigham Young University's unique standards of excellence;" hardly programming that could withstand any democratic process. While engaging a large audience is important to BYU Broadcasting, it isn't necessarily what drives its content.

One more thought:
BYU has long believed that "The world is our campus." Quoting again from BYU Broadcasting's mission statement, "[BYU Broadcasting] is uniquely qualified to expand the influence of Brigham Young University beyond its campus." Hmmm...