I love Rachel Maddow. I really enjoy listening to her dripping sarcasm lacing her news.
Her guest was Rocky Anderson, who addressed the liquor law changes that passed this week:
Now, I'm not such a drinker...but lately we, here in Utah, have had our share of standing out in the weirdest and saddest ways.
In addition to the Utah Laws capturing the light, is the Big Love controversy that's probably bigger here than anywhere else. I don't watch Big Love. I can't afford that cable bill, frankly, but don't have any interest in watching more TV than I watch now.
I've thought about this little episode that shows the temple ceremony and can't really decide how to pin point my feelings. As a member of the church, I do hold the temple ceremonies in the highest regard and they are very sacred to me (as they are for other members of the church).
I can't say that I'm up in arms over it being shown in Big Love. I'm not going to watch the episode just to see what they show, so maybe that choice to be ignorant adds to my lacking in reaction. I find it ironic, though, that as a whole, members of the church are bitterly angry over the episode because the fear is that Mormons will be outted as weird (more weird, I guess)...there's such a worry that the episode won't show the ceremony in context and with compassion....the irony is, of course, that there has been such a lack of compassion from state leaders who are constantly touting their Mormon callings as if this somehow qualifies them for a position or that their statements are somehow endorsed by God. (i.e. Chris Buttars and Gayle Ruzicka).
And we are the same people that chose to wear the face of hate when we donated time and money to the Prop 8 cause. I say "we" because I'm LDS/Mormon, although, the actions of my fellow members have rubbed me the wrong way ever since...and I've struggled a great deal because of the lack of love and compassion those actions demonstrated.
I would like to see the same people (my fellow members of the church) who open their arms to the world, truly open them to everybody. I wonder when we will learn to really love our fellow human beings for who they are. When we will stop expecting people to live by OUR standards and not their own. When will we start respecting people as they come....like we want them to do for us? That is the true measure of compassion in my book. The true measure of Christ-like love.
Okay, so wow! This took a turn I didn't expect. But there you have it.
