I've been sitting on this blog post for months now trying to crystallize my thoughts but having failed to do so I've decided that I'm perhaps not yet mature or experienced enough to understand my motivations. So I'll suffice with a few thoughts and a video and perhaps return to this subject at some point in the future.

The following video is from Bronco Mendenhall, the football coach at BYU, my alma mater. If you'll excuse that it's a commercial for BYU, I think you'll find it quite good. Bronco's line at the end comes pretty close to expressing why I want to be an excellent person and to do excellent work -- "Never forget that so much depends on what you do today."

For whatever reason, I've been blessed to a high degree with good parents, good health, intelligence, excellent education, and many more advantages. But I can take little credit for these. To quote BYU's President Samuelson, "We must never forget that we figuratively eat fruit grown on trees we did not plant, drink from wells we did not dig, learn and live in buildings we did not build, and are warmed by fires for which we did not provide fuel (see Deuteronomy 6:10–12)."

Most of the happiness and prosperity I enjoy are the results of good decisions and teachings of my parents and the generally good and wise decisions of world leaders which have led to the current general peace and prosperity most parts of the world enjoys (including my part of the world in the United States).

Being the recipient of so many advantages, I feel a great obligation to pay forward all that has been given to me. As my current happiness and prosperity is dependent on the decisions and work of previous generations, so too the happiness and prosperity of the current and yet unborn generations depends, to some degree, on the decisions and work I do, today.

If we desire, each of us can do a great deal of good in our time here on earth. And the first step toward that goal is a commitment to excellence.