WTF America?

Alright, I had every intention of writing this week’s blog about a Pentatonix song, but I am far to upset about something else entirely. As I have mentioned before, I have a few members of my family that are LDS (Latter Day Saints). I was in the car with a few of these family members yesterday, and they said something that really bothered me. They were talking about how their church is passing a new rule saying that they will excommunicate any member who isn’t heterosexual. This really bothers me.

                The LDS church teaches quite a bit about Christ. In one of their meetings they even asked all of their members to be more Christ-like. What I don’t understand is how it is Christ-like to tell someone they are unworthy of the love of Christ. That’s ridiculous. It’s often the people who deserve help the least that need it the most, and this goes beyond just one religion’s tolerance, or intolerance I should say.

                I hate prejudice in any of its ugly forms. I don’t care if it’s based on sexual orientation, skin color, hair color, or sock color. It just isn’t right. You can’t discriminate for any reason. You don’t see people with blonde hair throwing fits about being in the same room as someone who has brown hair. You can’t discriminate based on something that people were born with. Now, some will argue that gay people weren’t born that way. That it was a choice or that something/someone made them gay. Codswallop. I don’t ever remember deciding that I liked boys over girls. It was just something that made sense to me from the beginning. Same could be said for others that fall somewhere on the sexuality spectrum. I am a God fearing woman, and I don’t believe that God makes a wrong person. He made you the exact way he wanted you. You are beautifully, wonderfully, and fearfully made. So, why is it acceptable for these people to deny others their religion based entirely on their sexual orientation? I’m at a loss here. Help me to understand the twisted logic, internet viewers. As I have said earlier, I doubt anyone cares what I have to say, and I am festively certain that no one other than my grandparents read this anymore, but I had to get this out. I had to cry out at the injustice, and I’m not even Mormon.

                I don’t even know that the lesson from all of this is. I just want to ask you guys…no to beg you guys to stand up for any injustice that you see. There that’s the lesson. Don’t sit idly by while others are being discriminated against. After all if Martin Luther King Jr. had sat on his hands we would live in a very different world. We need to fight for the world we want to leave behind for future generations, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to leave this world broken and bleeding. 

Pardon My Past

                People are like dice. Each person has multiple sides. I don’t mean they have multiple personalities, but they do have different parts that make them whole. There are different parts that may seem incompatible, but they all come together in some form to make an entire being. One of my favorite shows as a kid, and even as an adult, was the show Charmed. I’ve mentioned it in some of my earlier blogs.

                In season two, one of the main characters, Piper Halliwell, is talking to her boyfriend Dan. She is arguing with him about her pervious love interest. She tells Dan, “I come with a past. We all do. It’s a package. It’s one that I would like to share with you, but you can’t pick and choose.” I really like what she is saying here. You can’t pick and choose what parts of a person to love. Well not if you truly love them. It’s like saying that you love their arms, but not their legs. Both are parts of that person.

                This message really hit home for me this week. I recently had a birthday. On that day I became twenty-one. This is supposed to be a pretty exciting birthday, or so I am told. I’ve been dreading it since I moved back home. I love my family. I really do, but sometimes I feel like they are picking and choosing only certain parts of me to love. They only like the parts of me that fit into their life style. My aunt is a devout Mormon, and she believes that I should behave the way her religion says I should. It’s not really fair because it’s not my religion nor is it my beliefs. It makes me think that she only loves the parts of me that conform to that set of rules, but those aren’t the only parts of me. I love tattoos. I have twelve, and I am still going strong. I also enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage. I’m always careful. I don’t drink and drive. I don’t get so drunk that I am incapable of taking care of myself. However, if she knew these different sides of me she would probably shun me. Same could be said for my dad. Again I love the guy, but I can never seem to make him happy.

                So I have recently decided to take a page out of dear Piper’s book. It is not okay for my family to pick what parts of me they like and discard the others. They either get all of me or none of me. I have spent most of my life trying to make others happy…even to the point of making myself miserable. Here is the lesson for all of you: be honest with yourself. If you are attempting to change yourself to fit others vision of who you should be…knock it off. You are who you are. Be that person and own it.