I don't know what this entry would be for, but I just feel like I need to say something on here.
Lately, I have been trying to decide which classse to take for the summer semester. I decided to take earth surface environments (GEOG 1000) and regional geography (GEOG 1300). Classes start today at 3pm (I will tell you all about them at the end of the day). I think that I'm learning more and more about our world by studying such topics as geography, psychology, and even writing. I'm learning about global issues as well as local issues. I'm learning about ways that I can help. I think that some of the issues in which I am especially interested are child abuse and domestic violence, local and global malnutrition (including unsanitary water), environmental issues such as water and air pollution, and other things. I have been trying to figure out what I want to study as a major in college. For a long time, I have been undecided. Some of the subjects I was thinking about are English, Philosophy and the Humanities, Geography, Geology, Psychology/Sociology/Social Work, Physics and Chemistry (because I find those things very facinating), Astronomy, Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science, Nursing, Respiratory Therapy, and Radiation Therapy. So as you can see, my interests span a wide variety of subjects including human studies, social science, and physical science.
For a long time, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I still don't know what I want to do! But I do know that I love physical and social sciences. Since Geography includes both of them, I've decided to go for a major in Geography. I want to be a human rights' and environmental activist. Some of the issues that excite me the most are child abuse and GLBT issues (I don't know how they can apply to geography), malnutrition, and water and air pollution. I will take two geography classes and find out more about some of the main global issues.
And get this! My sister is taking a writing class that is at the same time as my regional geography class, in the same building on the same floor, and she already has her class syllabus. One of her assignments is a group project with a world geography class on a global issue. I believe that this project is going to be with my regional geography class. I think that would be SO EXCITING!!!
For a long time, I haven't gone to church. Well, it was actually a week but feels like a really long time. I felt like I was becoming inactive. But this past Sunday, two days ago, I went to sacrament meeting. It was fast Sunday, so it was testimonies. I felt so great going there!
Despite my differences with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am so glad to be a member of it. I truly believe that it is the only true church of God on the earth. I don't want to ever become inactive. True, I haven't gone to the temple or even taken the sacrament in a long time, but that would not stop me from falling away. I have a testimony of the Church, that it is true. I have felt it for myself. I am proud to be called Mormon, LDS, or whatever else we may call it! The Atonement in this Church is very real. I can feel it every time I go to church, read the scriptures, and pray. The Spirit is very real.
I know of many activists in this Church that feel like they cannot stand up for what they believe in while at church and in front of members of their wards and stakes. I think this is very wrong. I don't feel like I can either. Why is this? Why does it feel like the members of our wards would look down on us if we talked about issues pertaining to our world? Many activists that I know of used to be members of the Church but are now inactive because they don't feel like they can be themselves in it. However, despite this fact, I truly believe in the Church.
I was talking to the wife of one of the members of my bishopric. We will call her Diana. We were talking about gay rights. This is a very controversial subject in this church, and most "strong" members don't agree with the notion of "gay rights" in the world. During the October fast Sunday in my old ward, after President Packer gave his talk, many members of the ward were saying that their testimonies were strengthened after hearing Packer's talk. They were saying how increasingly evil our world is becoming because of all the "gays running around looking for agency." They didn't say this directly, but I knew that that was what they meant. I tried not to show any emotion, since I was sitting in the front as the chorister. A member of the bishopric stood to end the meeting and said that there was room in the Church for people who struggled with SSA. I knew then that perhaps he had dealt with this issue before in a more Christlike way unlike the people that said that it was the gays that were making the world more wicked. So later I talked to him about gay marriage, and he told me that his wife, Diana, was definitely for it.
So I talked to her about it one day. She said, almost in a whisper, that she didn't feel that she could talk about it in church since it was like a forbidden topic among members. I said that I believed that there were more people than we knew that believed the way we believed but were also afraid to say anything about it. I think it is a shame that the church that emphasizes in love has members (probably 90% of them) that doesn't like talking about loving people. I think I've talked about it before, but one of my visiting teachers was saying that she was so tired of seeing gay people everywhere, that she wanted it to stop. Now she is married to a man that she loves. I love her so much, but I didn't love how she was talking about social issues. I mean, racism, sexism, ageism, discrimination against the disabled and people in different religions...these are topics that are safe to talk about in church. We are free to say that discrimination against race, gender, age, disability, and religion is wrong. However, we are not free to say that discrimination against homosexuality is wrong. I mean, of course we are FREE to say it, but we can't say it without getting stares of unbelief from half of the people we talk to unless we KNEW they felt the same way.
Anyway, thinking about this, I think I'm being discriminatory against them too. Against the people that have different values and ideas that I do. Wow. Everything is complicated.
I was also thinking about what was said in the scriptures. I was reading in the end of the book of Alma about the king-men and the free-men. One thing I don't like about this story is that Moroni, Pahoran, and other "righteous" leaders threaten to kill everyone who wouldn't agree with their opinion (that the country not be ruled by a king). It even says that everyone was happy that the king-men were killed. Just because they wouldn't agree with their point of view. Isn't that the same as the people we call "wicked"? There are many stories in the scriptures that talk about righteous leaders that would not dare to deny God even at the face of being murdered. It talks about how those leaders were killed but were with their God in peace. But what about the people that believed differently? The king-men believed that they should be ruled by a king. The scriptures say that each of the king-men lusted for power. But how can they make such a generalization as that? There could be many things that drove them to the desire for a king. They stood up for what they believed in when they would not conform to the free-men's point of view. Then they were killed. The scriptures make it clear that they were wicked and deserved to die. But does their Heavenly Father truly believe in what the scriptures say? If so, then how can He be the Heavenly Father of our souls? This just doesn't make any sense!
I mean, I don't think of my father as wicked despite what he'd done to me and my family (although the thought to did cross my mind when I was younger). I knew he must have been disturbed, and there may have been things that have happened in his life to urge him to do such things. Likewise, there may have been things that have happened in each of the king-men's lives that urged them to want a king or to be a king.
Anyway, I guess this entry has mostly been about activism or something. So I guess I'll title it that.
