On October 27th, 2022, Utah Valley University (UVU) hosted Dr. Arthur Brooks, a prominent social scientist, Harvard professor, Atlantic columnist, and author. Dr. Brooks was a keynote speaker for the UVU Fall 2022 Civics Educator Conference entitled Bridging and Bonding: The Role of Teachers in Cultivating Citizenship. He spoke on the topic of Love Your Enemies, a call for unity and civility as a cure for the cancer of contempt in our society, and presented his new book “Love your Enemy.”
I had the great privilege of conversing with Dr. Brooks. Before the presentation, my 4-year-old son slipped in front of Dr. Brooks, leading to a very good conversation about children and the joy they bring. I mentioned that my Bachelor's thesis and current research paper is based on his book “From Strength to Strength.”
In the book, he describes the benefits of growing older and how experiences combined with knowledge create a crystallized intelligence- “an ability to use a stock of knowledge learned in the past''. He describes the role older people, or in the case of my research, non-traditional students, play as mentors, vital to the success of all generations. I told Dr. Brooks that his ideas contribute to the successful implementation of the Inclusive student-engaged learning (SEL) method developed at Utah Valley University to promote sustainable development for mountain communities in the State of Utah and at the United Nations. SEL encourages students, both non-traditional and traditional, to work as a group to solve real-world problems with faculty serving as mentors. I mentioned to him also about his thoughts that sometimes we must live rather than find ourselves addicted to success as another important idea that myself and my peers try to follow while we further make improvements in our method. If we stay true to being workaholics, we will never find happiness. As a Harvard professor who teaches happiness in business, I assume he knows what he is talking about.
Arthur Brooks and Myself before his presentation
His book “Love your Enemy”, and his presentation on it, addressed the political divide facing our United States today. Dr. Brooks described how anger is an emotion, one everyone has; however, disgust leads to the dehumanization of the person. Today in politics, when a person's political leanings or party does not match our own, we look upon them with disgust. This disgust leads to hatred, which is tearing our nation apart. He explained that listening and speaking with love, helps different sides to find common ground and work together. This is a sentiment I highly agree with, not just within our own nations but between nations.
Arthur Brook signs for me his book “From Strength to Strength”
When the presentation ended, I met back with Dr. Brooks. I was impressed that he remembered my son's name from our talk earlier that night. He took the extra moment to sign my book “Strength to Strength”, encouraging me to continue my research into non-traditional students' place in higher education by saying, “To Alitha, Good Luck on your Research, Arthur Brooks.”
This incredible event and my conversation with Dr. Brooks had an enduring impact on my life and future career development. I would like to express my personal thanks to Utah Valley Center For Constitutional Studies and Woodbury School of Business, Gary R. Herbert Institute of Public Policy, and Institute for Humane Studies, who provided such a unique opportunity for me and other students at UVU to learn and interact with such a high-caliber individual and humanitarian.
-Alitha Thompson, President of Utah International Mountain Forum and Non-traditional student
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STUDENT REFLECTIVE ESSAYS
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