TJED for teens

By: Benjamin Winters


“O Remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of god. (Alma 37)” This scripture gives us a clear and simple definition of our duty as youth. That is, to learn wisdom in our youth. “TJED FOR TEENS” is a great way to learn how to learn. It states clearly several MAJOR principles that can help us fulfill our duty to learn! Today I am going to share these principles found in the book with you!

WE ARE NEEDED!!! This is the first of these major principles, our world REALLY NEEDS US! “The world needs what your generation has to share! It needs you to be your real, best self!” This quote changed my view on learning and brought me to ask myself this question… How can we be our BEST SELF? I believe that the way to be our BEST SELF is to learn as much as we can in our “teen” years. By doing so, we prepare ourselves to help the world become a better place. I believe that that is part of our test on earth. And so we need to do our best to fulfill that task. This quote also tells us that we need to share our gifts. I believe that the best way to do that is to LEARN. Learning is our duty during our teen years and the more learning we do, the more that we will have to share, and the easier it will be to fulfill our life’s mission. I believe that the teen years were given to us because of the learning that we need to do. Learning is vital to our mission in life, if we do not learn; we will not be able to do what we were sent here to do. And if we don’t do what we are expected to do, we are letting down everyone who has put their trust in us!

We know that we are needed, but what is purpose of learning to fulfill our life’s mission, if we don’t have ALLEGIANCE!!! Allegiance helps us to know and realize what our mission is. “It is so important at a young age to choose your allegiance. In fact, your allegiance is the most powerful thing in your whole life because it is the driving force behind virtually all of your actions, choice, and even thoughts.” We must decide whether we will serve God, or not. If we choose God we will be greatly blessed for our choice. In Joshua this scripture is found… “ Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” This is my “motto, because I have chosen to serve the Lord. If we follow God, then we will be blessed. IT’S AS SIMPLE AS THAT!!! As well as serving the Lord we must show allegiance to our country. By learning as much as we can today, we are preparing to be leaders of tomorrow. We have a duty to our Country as well as to God. And we must do our best to fulfill our duty to both. If we can do so then we will be well on our way to completing the task that we have to perform on earth. All of the great founding fathers chose their allegiance when they were young and were rewarded be being a part of the establishment of our country. If we can choose our allegiance will young, we to can be great.

The last principle I want to focus on is… we are the next generation of leaders in the world. When our parents are too old to move we will be in charge of leading this world. “It is said that when God wants to change the world, he sends a baby­—perfectly timed to grow, learn, and prepare and then take action at the right moment. But there are times when one baby won’t suffice, when the challenges facing the world are just too great; and so instead of a great reformer or a few key thinkers, what is needed is a whole generation of leaders.” God knows what is coming MUCH better than we can know, and he knows what it will take to keep this world together. He saved us for our time, he knew that you and I would be born at this time, and he prepared us to fulfill our duty. This quote was by far the most inspiring one of them all. There is a book called “THE FOURTH TURNING” this book talks about the purpose of each generation. Our generation has been called the hero generation, and as such we must act the way the hero generation should act. The world needs us, and we must do our best to be a part of the generation of leaders. If we do we will be taking part in one of the most important things that will happen in our lifetime. However if we don’t get a great education, we will be missing a great moment in our lifetime. The choice is yours, but I personally want to be a part of a great cause!

This book has been the greatest book I have read up to the present date, and for good reason. The whole book was centered on the importance of education and that is the reason that I focused my paper on that important subject, and as we can see, the major principles found in this book, all hang on the others for validity. If we don’t have one of these principles, we don’t have any of them. If we want to follow these principles, we must follow ALL OF THEM!!! I know that this will be a book that I will read many times in the future. And I hope that other youth that have read this GREAT book have felt the same inspiration that I have felt. And I challenge those that have not gotten to read this book, to take the opportunity to learn and READ IT!!! “O Remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth” That is my goal as a young man.

To learn Wisdom in my youth!