This blog post is in bulleted list form, because I do not have time to turn it into prose.  You’ll get the idea, though.

• Last night I set the alarm for 7 AM.
• Realized at around 9 AM that I was consciously dreaming:
• …
• Chandler, Coleman, and I were in a war zone (I am not sure if the aggressors were Nazis or Soviets).
• Many people around us in a large field were killed, but we were not.  We managed to escape and miraculously found a car.
• Next scene: We are in an apartment, planning our escape to freedom.  I ask them to be quieter, because of the threat of being discovered by the aggressors.  I think that we might split up and meet back again somewhere in western Europe, but the idea is too scary (the image flashes through my mind of prisoners fleeing through the forest in the film Escape from Sobibor).  We decide to attempt our escape together.
• We are driving away from the city (Chan is driving, Coleman is in the passenger’s seat, and I am in the rear), and decide to pull over into an abandoned lot to pray before we carry out the escape.
• After we pray, but before we drive away from the lot, a military policeman approaches the driver’s window.
• The dream ends.
• …
• I realize that I slept until 9 AM, and feel guilt for wasting valuable study time.  I think of people who lived during the World War II years, people such as President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
• I marvel at the strength of character many people were able to build during that period of hardship.  President Uchtdorf’s father, for example, went from civil servant to working long hours doing menial labor to keep his family fed and housed in exceedingly humble conditions.  President Uchtdorf also worked hard to feed the family, by delivering newspapers on his heavy bike.
• I think of getting up at dawn, working the whole day, and going to bed again after dark; our generation is very privileged.
• During their long periods of trial, President Uchtdorf and his father refined their characters; they grew in discipline, ability to do hard work, and humility.
• …
• By this point, I am enjoying the nice, warm water of the shower.  How many people in the world cannot enjoy this simple pleasure?  How many do not even have running water, or have only unsanitary water?
• What else do I take for granted?
• Am I building strength of character, like President Uchtdorf and his father did?
• In times of war, people’s true character, intent, and desires come out.  Those with evil hearts and wicked intentions act on those desires, taking advantage of lawlessness and anarchy.  Those of noble intent grow and are refined in the heat of their trials.
• What can I do to attain the strength of character to which they attained, despite the lack of such overwhelming physical trials?
• I need character to know worthy goals to set for myself as I strive for a renewed sense of career and education direction.
• I will need strong character to reach those challenging goals, once I have set them.
• …
• Kneeling in my morning prayer, I asked Heavenly Father to bless me that I could be blessed with opportunities to build strength of character; that I could grow as diligent, hard-working, and humble as these noble men.

Chris Haueter

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