07 NovA BYU Nobody

I’m a proud BYU Graduate. Over three decades ago I graduated with an MA in English. I still remember the exhilarating feeling of accomplishment I felt at graduation. I was never a star pupil and received no honors on that jubilant day, but I felt worthy. I’ve had my ups and downs as far as career goes. It was during one of the down times that I started receiving BYU Today magazine. This is a fine publication that keeps BYU alumni in touch with all the good things that are coming out of their alma mater. Ironically, due to the difficult time I was having when I first started reading the magazine, I felt a little like a BYU nobody.

Just as the History Channel focuses on great and notable people, BYU Today focuses on the successes connected to the institution. This is as it should be. Notable success is compelling and inspiring; anything less, not so much. In BYU Today I read about athletes who break world records; about young scientists making important discoveries; about MBA students whose ideas are so successful they can take time off to sail around the world with their families. Every issue of the magazine brings more stories of outstanding, inspiring success.

At the time I started receiving the magazine I was at a very confusing point in my life.  After fifteen years in the high-tech industry, I found myself without a job. With a wife and eight children to support, this put a lot of pressure on me. Because it was the beginning of the 2008 recession when jobs were getting scarce, along with the fact that I didn’t really know which direction I wanted to go, I found myself struggling financially, mentally, and emotionally. I was out of work for over a year. Picture, then, receiving an alumni magazine regaling me with stories of young college students who were on their way up while I was in the humiliating position of getting outside help just to feed my children.

In every issue of the magazine there was an advertisement showing a prosperous family seated in a very comfortable living room. The proud father, clearly financially successful in life, is seated next to his confident wife and surrounded by well-dressed children. He is telling the story of how he found a way to give back to BYU through one of the various trusts. The purpose of the advertisement was to put the idea into my mind that I should find a way to give back to BYU, too. It was almost comical when I received a call from a young BYU student whose job it was to seek out others who have succeeded financially since graduating from BYU and ask if they might want to give back to BYU. I didn’t tell the young lady that I had just come back from the grocery store where I purchased bread, milk, and eggs being very careful not to spend more than the $13.63 I had in my bank account. Wasn’t a BYU grad supposed to do better than that?

I moved on from that difficult time, though I’m still far from being a BYU Today poster child. Even though my life isn’t filled with the kind of success that rates the pages of BYU Today magazine, my life has been filled with success of another kind—that of finding joy in life. BYU has played a big part in that, and I will be forever grateful. The education I received from BYU is one of the greatest treasures of my life. It opened my mind and my heart. It has lifted my life in ways that cannot be measured by money. Through my education I’ve gotten a glimpse at how wonderfully mysterious the universe is.

Upon graduating from BYU, I embarked on a traditional career path that might have led me to being the kind of man seen in the fundraising ad. I took my master’s degree in English and spent fifteen years traveling around the world in the high-tech industry. If that doesn’t speak for the versatility of a liberal arts education, I don’t know what does. Since then, I have been the proprietor of a computer repair business, a school bus driver, a published author, an actor, and now an independent teacher of critical reading and writing. In none of these pursuits have I risen to any heights of fame; in all of these pursuits I have found satisfaction and joy.

My greatest accomplishment is my family. While at BYU I married. My wife and I had eight children (Tory, Cory, Rory, Clory, Lory, Jory, Glory and Story—don’t blame BYU for their names). My BYU education played a major factor in the individual relationships I had with each child. They’ve grown up faithful, but intensely curious and asking questions. They are grown and married and finding the joy in life through their own families and goals. This makes me proud.

As far as writing material for BYU Today goes, I am a BYU nobody. For all its uniqueness, my life doesn’t stand out in the history of the world in any compelling way. But my life, with the education I received from BYU, has been compelling to me personally. If there is any success in life, it seems to me that is an indication of it. This BYU nobody is a happy man. For that, I am grateful.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format: