Sunday, September 21, 2008

oh utah...

So, I had originally planned to write my Opinion Editorial for my honors rhetoric class on the importance of women receiving college degrees. To be honest though most of that paper was just me ranting because i'm sick of all the engagement ring ads and marriage firesides disguised as education firesides. So I changed my topic and now I am going to write my paper on tolerance, because in my opinion tolerance = respect. Dad came up for the weekend and during conversation he brought up the fact that in order to purchase liquor in Salt Lake you have to be the member of a private club and that membership is quite expensive. Dad and I went to eat at the Market Street Oyster Bar, and because it had the word "Bar" in the title, and because it sold liquor my dad had to purchase a 3 week membership to this liquor club so that we could eat dinner. It's ridiculous. Right now they are trying to pass a law to relax the liquor requirements and the church came out with a press release in favor of relaxing the requirements. So, why then is almost every church member in the Salt Lake Valley in an uproar? Because they do not know how to practice tolerance. I am tired of idea that if my kids play with nonmembers they'll be lead astray. Associating with nonmembers will not cause you to lose your testimony, unless you don't have one to begin with. It's hard to share the Gospel, but it would be a lot easier if more members spent time building relationships with nonmember co-workers, neighbors, teachers, and friends so when it came time to hand them the pass along card there was a mutual respect there. We all want the rest of the world to tolerate our beliefs, we even ask our employers to not schedule us on Sunday or tell our coaches we can't compete on the Sabbath or we won't wear that outfit because it's immodest. So, how can we then turn around and judge those around us for have different beliefs? They don't judge us. They respect us by tolerating our beliefs. Sorry for this tirade, but living in a place where there are so many narrow-minded members of the church has shown me that I could be a lot more tolerant and set a good example for my nonmember friends by respecting them and remembering that everyone has agency and the right to an opinion.
ps- the republican party could also use some tolerance.

4 comments:

Missy said...

Amen sista! Back in the day, we didn't particularly care to visit my friends in Provo for some of the same reasons! I'm glad to hear how open minded you're being. You're just all grown up now!!:)

Jana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jana said...

dang girl. you are super intense. don't get me wrong, i agree with you wholeheartedly.

you just sound a lot more intelligent than i do in my blogs. haha

Kayla said...

amen amen amen. Caitlin we dont talk and im wondering why not? we think a lot alike. I didnt know there were such normal people up at the Y ;). Im just kidding but yeah we should talk for sure!