Friday, May 1, 2009

Lent and things I've learned

So I'm not Catholic, but this year I decided to observe Lent. Okay, really, it just sorta happened to be there when I decided that I needed to do something, or not do something, I guess, since it was Lent. And it was interesting to see what it was like to live without something interesting to me, voluntarily for 40 (it ended up more) days.


What did I go off of? Drum roll, please:
Politics.
I know that's a weird thing to go off of for most people. It's almost like when my single LDS friend would go off of sex every year for Lent.
But not for me. mmmhmmmmm, politics. And because going off of baseball would've been too hard.

Things were just getting too juvenile back and forth this and that on the TV, newspapers, (un)civil human interaction and interwebs, so I put the kibosh on the politics. I still watched/read some of the news from various sources across the political spectrum, but I avoided commenting, bring up or discussing whenever possible politics. I mean, I wasn't like, "Sorry, I know you asked me a question, but I have to stonewall you b/c I'm off politics for Lent. Yeah, I know I'm a Mormon. Yeah, I know we don't observe Lent." I would just keep things simple and avoid any partisanship whenever possible.
I just wanted to observe.

Top ten list as follows: 

So some general things that I learned? 
1-There are times to discuss things and times not to. Often in the past, I would feel that it was more important to get my point across, than to take in consideration the feelings of others. I've blown that too many times, and am trying to change.

2-Thus silence can be the better part of valor. Sometimes (most times?) people don't want to discuss things and come to a greater understanding, they just wanna be right, so who cares about the facts?

3-Going along with the first two, I often thought of people who liked to Bible bash. They care more about being right than helping someone. Their preferred weapons of choice is sanctimony and belittling others.

4-No political party or ideal has truth and good cornered (I know this is obvious--or at least it should be).

5-It is never okay to speak pejoratively about our leaders as people. It is alright to discuss and share concerns (at times forcefully) over policy. It is never right to mock another human being, especially our leaders. And doing it under the guise of being from a different political party is a weak excuse, at best. 
My head about exploded a while back when I had the mispleasure of suffering thru a "conversation" of some liberal blowhards who spent the whole time mocking and did nothing to improve the world, just contribute to a near migraine on my part. (I tried to defend the GOP, I really did, but I refer you to #1-3)
My coworker Carylee and I were discussing this b/c someone close to her was speaking abhorrently about President G. W. Bush and she brought up Article of Faith 12, and made some very good points (Right on, Carylee!). Just because other people do it doesn't make it right. And if that's your excuse, I'm sorry, it's just wrong.


A couple less general things that sorta stood out:
6-The LDS Church is not a member of any party. Leaders from the Church have participated in government elected as members of the GOP, Democratic party, as well as others. Question I hate: "How could you be a member of the Church and also be a member of ------- political party?"
The head of the Church's politcal affairs department is a democrat.

7-We shouldn't just be out there complaining, but also looking for answers to problems.

8-People that are saying that secession might be the only way to go frustrate me. I don't want to go off too much on it, but instead of coming together to do something that is at times hard, people lately seem to want to take the wimpy way out and ignore each other. We are not to be driven by fear. No good choice has ever been made when the driving force is fear.

9-If you think that one news channel/paper/website is the only one telling the truth, you will be misled. It really irks me when people say I only watch (MSNBC/FOXNews/KUTV) b/c they're the only ones who say it like it is. Give me a break. I was a reporter for a while. There is no unbiased news because we're all biased humans. People like to listen to what makes their ears buzz and boosts their ego. 

10-Talking to someone is not wrong.

11-Okay, really, this list should go to 11:

I do not mean to presume that my Lenten experience helped me attain political nirvana. And I doubt that anyone made it to this sentence. But I'm not sleepy, and so I decided to blog at 2am about some things that'd been on my mind.
Okay, I think I'm done for now.



Oh--and speaking about nirvana:

If you ever reach total enlightenment
while drinking beer, I bet it makes
beer shoot out your nose.

5 comments:

Frau Magister said...

Wow. I only gave up chocolate for Lent and all I learned was yes, I do like chocolate.

M said...

I've been wanting to learn about observing Ramadan. Course, ever since I first decided that I've always been pregnant or nursing during it and haven't been able to devote the time to it...bleah.

Vanessa Swenson said...

Chocolate? Man, that's tuff. Probably a lot tougher than what you used to give up.



And I'm sure, Em, that you have another 65ish years ahead of you, so I see many a Ramadan in your future.

rantipoler said...

This post just reaffirmed how much I like and admire you. Also, it reminded me of why I have chosen not to align myself with any particular political party. Good thing I'll never run for any office, eh?

just a little bit mo said...

You gave up politics for 40 days . . . I would never have thought it possible. Does that mean you also avoided watching episodes of "The West Wing?" :) I agree with your 11 points. Interesting thing I've been thinking about lately: For G. W. Bush, the media purely focusing on his personal antics made him into a laughing-stock in many people's eyes. With Obama, I feel like the infatuation with his charm and good graces is going to also hurt him by making him appear as a media love child instead of what he really is: the leader of our country. I know some things about his policies, but from the basic headlines I read about him, I know more about what he and his wife wear and eat than about their views on just about any issue.