I don't really set New Year's resolutions because I am usually working on various things throughout the year as the need arises. Still, I learn some things from those, and if some of you are about to make some resolutions, this could help.
I am just going to give a case study of one thing I am working on.
I am diabetic, and one thing that it is important to me to do is to regularly check my blood sugar. I am not great at this, because of various stupid things that come up.
I have misplaced my glaucometer before, but sometimes it is just that it is in my purse or somewhere inconvenient, and I don't get to it. Sometimes I know I have let too much time go by because I grab the meter and this time I am going to do it for sure, and it needs to charge.
More often the issue is that I primarily remember to do it in the morning when I get up, which is a good time to take it, but only taking in the morning is not enough. I tend to run higher in the morning, which is not bad on its own, but if I only check in the morning I don't get an accurate picture of how I am doing.
Because of this, I sometimes decide not to take it in the morning because I need to get a different time of day, but then I forget.
This is how I am getting around that. I have created a paper to cover the time between now and my next doctor's appointment. Measuring twice a day has been my goal, so I am putting two times under each day. This allows me to make sure that I get a variety, not just of different times, but of combinations of different times.
The paper, a pen, and my currently charging meter are all on my desk, where I spend a lot of time. This should help me keep in mind when to measure, and have everything ready to do so. For example, I see that tomorrow I want to measure before breakfast and before lunch. I have that in my head already, and I will see it early tomorrow.
This should work. Even for weekend days, where I don't spend as much time at the computer, I will have seen what Saturday should be while I was working on Friday, and if I then go to fill in the time for Saturday I can check out Sunday, and I expect this to work.
For everything you do or don't do that you find frustrating, there are reasons why it happens. You can be mad at yourself, but that's not nearly as productive as figuring out where the pitfalls are and how to help them.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Moving
I want to stick to some easier things until we get past the holiday season, because I assume that people are busy and distracted.
I helped my brother move into a new place yesterday, and it brought back some memories.
One memory from long ago is that when I first went away to college, I did not bring towels. They seem like an obvious thing to bring, but I had stayed in the dorms before for different programs, and they provided sheets and towels. It totally made sense that for regular dorm residents things might be different than people there for a week for Girls' State or something like that, but my first shower involved just standing there for a while after turning off the water, hoping to drip dry a fair amount before I put on my clothes.
The other memory I have is to always buy a plunger as soon as you move in. I know that one because one of my mission companions got sick not long after we had changed apartments.
It makes total sense. You certainly don't want to pack up the old plunger after the things it has seen, and I don't recommend that at all. Throw the old one out; just remember to get a new one. If you wait until you are reminded, especially in a single bathroom dwelling, that would be an unfortunate thing.
Neither of these were problems for my brother, but one immediate realization was that he needed a shower curtain. If you live in a place with shower doors, you don't think of it, but moving into a place without doors, that shower curtain becomes really necessary. If you can make a mental note when you are looking at places, whether the shower is enclosed by curtains or doors, that can help you be more prepared.
Fortunately we are often near places where these essential items can be obtained easily, but moving is a stressful thing. The things that you can remember and prepare for in advance subtract from that stress instead of adding to it. That's worth something.
I helped my brother move into a new place yesterday, and it brought back some memories.
One memory from long ago is that when I first went away to college, I did not bring towels. They seem like an obvious thing to bring, but I had stayed in the dorms before for different programs, and they provided sheets and towels. It totally made sense that for regular dorm residents things might be different than people there for a week for Girls' State or something like that, but my first shower involved just standing there for a while after turning off the water, hoping to drip dry a fair amount before I put on my clothes.
The other memory I have is to always buy a plunger as soon as you move in. I know that one because one of my mission companions got sick not long after we had changed apartments.
It makes total sense. You certainly don't want to pack up the old plunger after the things it has seen, and I don't recommend that at all. Throw the old one out; just remember to get a new one. If you wait until you are reminded, especially in a single bathroom dwelling, that would be an unfortunate thing.
Neither of these were problems for my brother, but one immediate realization was that he needed a shower curtain. If you live in a place with shower doors, you don't think of it, but moving into a place without doors, that shower curtain becomes really necessary. If you can make a mental note when you are looking at places, whether the shower is enclosed by curtains or doors, that can help you be more prepared.
Fortunately we are often near places where these essential items can be obtained easily, but moving is a stressful thing. The things that you can remember and prepare for in advance subtract from that stress instead of adding to it. That's worth something.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Contacting the government
I have written my first letter, but before I write about that I want to share an inspiring story.
Many of you have witnessed heavy rains this week, and know that for many people near creeks and rivers there has been severe flooding.
One of those areas has been Vernonia, where my friend Jeana lives. She wrote this on Facebook on December 9th:
"I just want to point out that we as a community did the right thing in funding a new school and moving it to higher ground. Had we not done that, our schools would be under water yet again. Thank you to all of the people of Vernonia for voting to get the schools to higher ground. This has mitigated the hazards of this flooding and made it less damaging to the entire community. Yes there are many affected still but they have a safe place to go. "
That was good to read, but it was also interesting going back and finding this article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/02/vernonia_school_district_seeks.html
Note that money was tight then, and it would only have gotten worse in the following months. Still, they pulled together and did it. That tells me there is hope for these coastal communities that need to move their schools. There is hope for communities that have schools that require extensive retrofitting. We can do this.
Back to what I am doing.
The recommendation was to write to local, state, and federal leaders. I started with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management because they will be the ones working most closely with the Oregon Fuel Depot. Here is what I wrote:
Hello,
Although I live outside of the Portland city limits, I am very concerned about the Oregon Fuel Depot.
That specific concern comes from watching the Oregon Frontline Unprepared special, but I have been more aware since The New Yorker article. While I have always been interested in personal preparedness, the article reminded me that it is not enough. No one individual can fix the infrastructure, which will be necessary for the recovery of the area.
The Oregon Fuel Depot is a unique part of that equation. Not only would the loss of the fuel source in itself be devastating, but the environmental contamination of the water supply, and the ground, in addition to the fire risk, makes securing of the site well before an earthquake absolutely vital.
My understanding is that your office will be considering this issue. I hope that this will be resolved with the urgency it requires. Its importance cannot be underestimated.
Thank you for your efforts.
Gina Harris
Aloha, Oregon
It will not be exactly the same letter for everyone I write to. As their responsibilities are different, the letters will be different, but having the bare bones of what I want to say makes the customization easier. For some I may focus more on other DOGAMI recommendations.
Now I am going to put some actual leader information.
Federal - I think the Department of Energy (Ernest Moniz) is most pertinent, but you could make a case for Homeland Security (Jeh Johnson).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet
I already know that my next three are Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, but these are easy to find.
https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup
Locally, Jeff Barker may represent some of you, but when we get to the state legislature the districts are a lot smaller. This is a good starting place:
https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/
If you have mayors and city councilors to write to, that is a good step. Unincorporated Aloha does not, and I am not going to write to Washington County specifically about the Oregon Fuel Depot, though I might write to them about other DOGAMI recommendations. Also, it can totally make sense to write to Metro.
http://www.co.washington.or.us/
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people only has the meaning we give it.
Many of you have witnessed heavy rains this week, and know that for many people near creeks and rivers there has been severe flooding.
One of those areas has been Vernonia, where my friend Jeana lives. She wrote this on Facebook on December 9th:
"I just want to point out that we as a community did the right thing in funding a new school and moving it to higher ground. Had we not done that, our schools would be under water yet again. Thank you to all of the people of Vernonia for voting to get the schools to higher ground. This has mitigated the hazards of this flooding and made it less damaging to the entire community. Yes there are many affected still but they have a safe place to go. "
That was good to read, but it was also interesting going back and finding this article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/02/vernonia_school_district_seeks.html
Note that money was tight then, and it would only have gotten worse in the following months. Still, they pulled together and did it. That tells me there is hope for these coastal communities that need to move their schools. There is hope for communities that have schools that require extensive retrofitting. We can do this.
Back to what I am doing.
The recommendation was to write to local, state, and federal leaders. I started with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management because they will be the ones working most closely with the Oregon Fuel Depot. Here is what I wrote:
Hello,
Although I live outside of the Portland city limits, I am very concerned about the Oregon Fuel Depot.
That specific concern comes from watching the Oregon Frontline Unprepared special, but I have been more aware since The New Yorker article. While I have always been interested in personal preparedness, the article reminded me that it is not enough. No one individual can fix the infrastructure, which will be necessary for the recovery of the area.
The Oregon Fuel Depot is a unique part of that equation. Not only would the loss of the fuel source in itself be devastating, but the environmental contamination of the water supply, and the ground, in addition to the fire risk, makes securing of the site well before an earthquake absolutely vital.
My understanding is that your office will be considering this issue. I hope that this will be resolved with the urgency it requires. Its importance cannot be underestimated.
Thank you for your efforts.
Gina Harris
Aloha, Oregon
It will not be exactly the same letter for everyone I write to. As their responsibilities are different, the letters will be different, but having the bare bones of what I want to say makes the customization easier. For some I may focus more on other DOGAMI recommendations.
Now I am going to put some actual leader information.
Federal - I think the Department of Energy (Ernest Moniz) is most pertinent, but you could make a case for Homeland Security (Jeh Johnson).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet
I already know that my next three are Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, but these are easy to find.
https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup
Locally, Jeff Barker may represent some of you, but when we get to the state legislature the districts are a lot smaller. This is a good starting place:
https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/
If you have mayors and city councilors to write to, that is a good step. Unincorporated Aloha does not, and I am not going to write to Washington County specifically about the Oregon Fuel Depot, though I might write to them about other DOGAMI recommendations. Also, it can totally make sense to write to Metro.
http://www.co.washington.or.us/
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people only has the meaning we give it.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Write to your...
I don't have time for a normal blog post today, but I did recently receive an answer to an inquiry and I am putting it up here for discussion next week:
"Thank you for reaching out. I suggest that you read the Oregonian article on 2013 DOGAMI energy sector earthquake risk report (see second link) http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/09/oregons_energy_hub_on_the_will.html
And a recent follow up article in the Portland Tribune
http://portlandtribune.com/sl/276634-152697-quake-could-threaten-90-percent-of-oregons-fuel-supply
These are the four basic recommendations contained in the DOGAMI report.
1) Seismic Vulnerability Assessment
2) Mitigation Program
3) Oversight body to oversee progress in Fuel Depot
4) Improve Awareness in general public
What can citizens do? I would recommend that you read and share the DOGAMI report, Portland Tribune article and recent OPB unprepared special www.opb.org/news/series/unprepared/. You can:
Recommend elected officials (local, state, federal) to follow up on the 4 dogami recommendations.
Contact Portland Bureau of Management, as they are developing plans to address the fuel depot
Learn about personal risks and act accordingly:
e.g., Ask local emergency managers what to do if you live in CEI area and/or Hire expert from private sector"
Sunday, November 29, 2015
The new handbook again
I know; I can't believe I am still writing about this either.
It's just that I suddenly felt that it made sense, at least in a different way than I had understood it before, though that didn't mean that it was handled in the best way possible.
I was thinking that the protecting children part was about how if they are hearing one thing at church and another at home it could be confusing, because that was pretty much how it was phrased. Then it suddenly came to me that if you have children being baptized at eight and then in their teens deciding that the favoring of heterosexual marriage is wrong and unfair, that teenager could then break sacred covenants that it would be better not to have made in the first place.
If you don't believe there is any power in the covenants, then that sounds like a stupid concern. There might be less reason to care about it, except on a level of social exclusion, and I think a lot of people are looking at it that way, but this seems like it could have been communicated much more clearly. After all, when you are talking about protecting children and also referencing homosexuality, there is a history of gay people being portrayed as predatory and corrupting anyway that you don't want to echo.
This is one reason that the desire for a more diverse leadership is reasonable. People with different experiences can hear things in different ways and pick up on different things, and that is valuable. I do think if it was explained this way, that we have children who make covenants that they break later because of the conflict between what home says and church says, and it is better that they make the decision as adults, I think people would get that. You can understand your baptismal covenants at one level at eight, but there are a lot of things about life that you don't understand.
There is the feeling of exclusion still, and for people who believe that the church will eventually accept same-sex relationships there is not much comfort that it is not happening now, but viewed in that way it still makes sense.
There is still the matter of the baby blessings. That is not a saving ordinance, so it feels like it should be open to anyone. Apparently it was brought up because it creates a record, and then that is a child of record that the church keeps track of, and where there is the assumption of baptism at eight. I have some thoughts on that as well.
My mission was serving Laotian refugees, and there were a lot of people baptized a few years earlier who were completely inactive. The first missionaries to start teaching them did not speak the language, and there is a sense that it was rushed and there may have been some over-zealousness in offering people couches and clothes and beds, because many of them were poor.
I completely understand the frustration of trying to keep track of people who are not coming and are not interested, and I often thought it would have been better if many of them had never been baptized. I get that.
I also know that it was amazing how receptive some of their children were. A lot of the families did go for a while, so there's no knowing how many primary lessons they got, but at the time I really saw how receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost could be beneficial, even when there was not a lot of nurturing and instruction that followed.
So I see both sides of that, and drafting a policy when there is a whole range of individuals and circumstances with so many different possibilities is a difficult thing.
What I do know is that it all gets easier when people stop being awful. If people will spend more time loving and serving than judging and condemning it will work well. Let's all focus on that.
It's just that I suddenly felt that it made sense, at least in a different way than I had understood it before, though that didn't mean that it was handled in the best way possible.
I was thinking that the protecting children part was about how if they are hearing one thing at church and another at home it could be confusing, because that was pretty much how it was phrased. Then it suddenly came to me that if you have children being baptized at eight and then in their teens deciding that the favoring of heterosexual marriage is wrong and unfair, that teenager could then break sacred covenants that it would be better not to have made in the first place.
If you don't believe there is any power in the covenants, then that sounds like a stupid concern. There might be less reason to care about it, except on a level of social exclusion, and I think a lot of people are looking at it that way, but this seems like it could have been communicated much more clearly. After all, when you are talking about protecting children and also referencing homosexuality, there is a history of gay people being portrayed as predatory and corrupting anyway that you don't want to echo.
This is one reason that the desire for a more diverse leadership is reasonable. People with different experiences can hear things in different ways and pick up on different things, and that is valuable. I do think if it was explained this way, that we have children who make covenants that they break later because of the conflict between what home says and church says, and it is better that they make the decision as adults, I think people would get that. You can understand your baptismal covenants at one level at eight, but there are a lot of things about life that you don't understand.
There is the feeling of exclusion still, and for people who believe that the church will eventually accept same-sex relationships there is not much comfort that it is not happening now, but viewed in that way it still makes sense.
There is still the matter of the baby blessings. That is not a saving ordinance, so it feels like it should be open to anyone. Apparently it was brought up because it creates a record, and then that is a child of record that the church keeps track of, and where there is the assumption of baptism at eight. I have some thoughts on that as well.
My mission was serving Laotian refugees, and there were a lot of people baptized a few years earlier who were completely inactive. The first missionaries to start teaching them did not speak the language, and there is a sense that it was rushed and there may have been some over-zealousness in offering people couches and clothes and beds, because many of them were poor.
I completely understand the frustration of trying to keep track of people who are not coming and are not interested, and I often thought it would have been better if many of them had never been baptized. I get that.
I also know that it was amazing how receptive some of their children were. A lot of the families did go for a while, so there's no knowing how many primary lessons they got, but at the time I really saw how receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost could be beneficial, even when there was not a lot of nurturing and instruction that followed.
So I see both sides of that, and drafting a policy when there is a whole range of individuals and circumstances with so many different possibilities is a difficult thing.
What I do know is that it all gets easier when people stop being awful. If people will spend more time loving and serving than judging and condemning it will work well. Let's all focus on that.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Water!
This is kind of getting back to earthquakes, but not specifically so.
I was talking with some people about it, and how you need to be prepared for longer than three days now, which for a long time was the gold standard. Now it is more common to hear 7-10 days, and it occurred to me that I want two weeks worth of water.
We do not have two weeks worth of water. That would be a lot. It becomes very difficult to store and find containers for that amount.
It used to be easy to find 50-gallon barrels, but that has become less common lately, because shipping them is expensive even when they are empty and moving them around when they are full is difficult.
Still, I want two weeks worth of water. I want that even being very impressed with my local water district's emergency planning, and knowing that they are collaborating with other local water districts, so water in this area should be doing pretty well.
I believe in inspiration, so if knowing all that my goal is still two weeks worth of water, then that's what I should be trying for.
I also believe in doing things at a reasonable pace, and I feel okay about that, so I am not going to panic right now. Some of our water storage is in one-gallon containers that Winco sells. These are not in the HDPE milk jug style plastic, which is not suitable for storage, but in the hard PETE plastic.
I bet we can get a few of those this week. That's something we can build up.
We don't have room for a two week supply of those, but we can add some more now and then work out where the rest will go later.
Also, it is worth remembering that we have the water heater, which is full of water. Yes, it can collect some sediment, though it shouldn't collect very much, but that's something I can look into, both for how quickly it should amass sediment and how to rinse that out, because there is a method for doing that. I still want to have two weeks worth of water outside of the tank, but the tank can augment the supply until we get there.
Water may not be your hot issue, but if you work on preparedness you will probably discover your hot issue. It may be something you can work on gradually, or you may feel a need to speed it up, but developing the ability to listen and hear is the greatest tool for preparation that there is.
I was talking with some people about it, and how you need to be prepared for longer than three days now, which for a long time was the gold standard. Now it is more common to hear 7-10 days, and it occurred to me that I want two weeks worth of water.
We do not have two weeks worth of water. That would be a lot. It becomes very difficult to store and find containers for that amount.
It used to be easy to find 50-gallon barrels, but that has become less common lately, because shipping them is expensive even when they are empty and moving them around when they are full is difficult.
Still, I want two weeks worth of water. I want that even being very impressed with my local water district's emergency planning, and knowing that they are collaborating with other local water districts, so water in this area should be doing pretty well.
I believe in inspiration, so if knowing all that my goal is still two weeks worth of water, then that's what I should be trying for.
I also believe in doing things at a reasonable pace, and I feel okay about that, so I am not going to panic right now. Some of our water storage is in one-gallon containers that Winco sells. These are not in the HDPE milk jug style plastic, which is not suitable for storage, but in the hard PETE plastic.
I bet we can get a few of those this week. That's something we can build up.
We don't have room for a two week supply of those, but we can add some more now and then work out where the rest will go later.
Also, it is worth remembering that we have the water heater, which is full of water. Yes, it can collect some sediment, though it shouldn't collect very much, but that's something I can look into, both for how quickly it should amass sediment and how to rinse that out, because there is a method for doing that. I still want to have two weeks worth of water outside of the tank, but the tank can augment the supply until we get there.
Water may not be your hot issue, but if you work on preparedness you will probably discover your hot issue. It may be something you can work on gradually, or you may feel a need to speed it up, but developing the ability to listen and hear is the greatest tool for preparation that there is.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Responding in difficult times
I really wanted to get back to the Cascadia Megaquake. I think next week I will, but last week it felt important to write what I did.
I mention that for two reasons. One is that I seem to have a few more things to say this week, but also I learned of the terrorism attacks in Paris when I was close to posting a music review.
When things like that happen, it always feels like the other things that I put out there are trivial. Right now my songs of the day are Muppet songs, and the band I reviewed Thursday wasn't that good. So sometimes there is this feeling like I shouldn't do it, and then I pretty much always do it anyway.
That may be partly just my personality - kind of bull-headed, yes, but also I get focused on tasks and then I need to complete them. However that came about, I have decided it's important to post those things anyway, because in these times if we waited for there to be no tragedies then we would never do anything at all. We've gotten to where there are a lot of things that don't even register. There are a lot of bombings and shootings we don't even notice anymore, because they are so common.
A world like that is cause for concern, and for action. If I were going to post something that would contribute to the ugliness I should stop myself, but I should have done that before the tragedy happened to. My usual pursuits are spreading knowledge, sharing things that I think are cool, and turning a spotlight on bands (some of which aren't great but a lot of them are) because I believe art is important, and individuals are important, and that giving people a chance is important. So that's what I do and I can live with that.
And often if I take several weeks to get to a current event, that may be the amount of time it takes me to feel like I have a handle on it. When my feelings tell me there is an immediate need, then I follow that.
Those things are more obvious in my main blog, because it has a wider range. This blog and the travel blog are more focused, but even in the travel blog I once found that I could not write about the aquarium until I watched and wrote about Blackfish.
I wanted to clarify that, but also I have some things to say about what I don't say.
It occurred to me after last week that it is possible to read a lot of my posts and not know what my actual opinion is on some hot issues.
That is pretty deliberate. Picking a side will often alienate people who could benefit from reading it, but also, thinking there are two diametrically opposed sides is often a gross oversimplification. Even if you could draw a fairly clear line roughly in the middle, there would be nuances and gradations on either side, and if I'm writing about it there is probably already too much division.
Also, I am often still learning, and I see new aspects later that I hadn't realized, but because my focus was on things to think about, and to remember while thinking about, instead of telling people what to think, the post still holds up. It would be pretty presumptuous for me to tell people what to think, but if I can give some guidance on thinking better, that is so what I am all about.
This leads to something I didn't write about last week, but I do think I need to address. For a lot of people the new handbook guidelines seemed to lead to them thinking about whether it was time to leave the church.
That is a question that puts me on guard, because I have seen many people who said they only wanted some time off from church, and they changed in ways that they never expected, losing something precious. It is easy to underestimate the cost.
However, I am also always learning. I have a friend who was in a really toxic ward who turned against her. They were clearly wrong, and she did not have the energy to fight it, so she has been taking time off from church, and I can't fault her. Someone fighting it could have been a good thing, but that doesn't mean it was her responsibility.
The point of that is that there can be a lot of legitimate decisions, and I can't judge that or tell you what to do. I can say that it is better to be making decision by attempting to do what is right, and praying about it, than seeking vengeance. I could say that, but my thought is that if I had a toxic ward trying to punish me, I would fight it until they were all the ones needing a rest. That sounds pretty vengeful. Again, that doesn't mean that fighting it would be wrong, but there might be good and not so good ways of doing it, and some mindsets are better than others.
So if some people feel a need to take a break, or write a letter to the First Presidency, or wear a rainbow tie to church, or have prayed about it and reconciled themselves, all of those things can be okay. Life can be tricky. It's because of all the flawed people, but you're one of them. Welcome!
There is one thing I am completely comfortable in judging though, and so I'll finish with that.
Since the news of the handbook changes came out, I have been hearing stories of abuse. This includes an anonymous note on a car telling someone that since they were apostate, and their presence was bringing everyone else down, that this was a good time for them to stop coming, and another person goading the children of a lesbian mother, tearing her down to them.
The church leadership may not have handled their situation as well as they could have, but I do believe their purposes were to avoid conflicts, not to give fuel to persecution.
The Gospel is a good yardstick for measuring your own life; it is not intended to be a cudgel for beating everyone else. That is a sin.
If you are a bishop or stake president you will have times when you need to counsel with people about their behavior, and there can be some judgement there, but it should be done with enough love and desire for the welfare of the person that the judgement is not the most noticeable part.
If you're not in that position, you do not get to judge, you do not get to make anonymous suggestions, and you do not get to harass. Then you have the greater sin. If those things sound at all attractive to you, read D&C section 121 again and see if you can figure out what your motivations are.
I mention that for two reasons. One is that I seem to have a few more things to say this week, but also I learned of the terrorism attacks in Paris when I was close to posting a music review.
When things like that happen, it always feels like the other things that I put out there are trivial. Right now my songs of the day are Muppet songs, and the band I reviewed Thursday wasn't that good. So sometimes there is this feeling like I shouldn't do it, and then I pretty much always do it anyway.
That may be partly just my personality - kind of bull-headed, yes, but also I get focused on tasks and then I need to complete them. However that came about, I have decided it's important to post those things anyway, because in these times if we waited for there to be no tragedies then we would never do anything at all. We've gotten to where there are a lot of things that don't even register. There are a lot of bombings and shootings we don't even notice anymore, because they are so common.
A world like that is cause for concern, and for action. If I were going to post something that would contribute to the ugliness I should stop myself, but I should have done that before the tragedy happened to. My usual pursuits are spreading knowledge, sharing things that I think are cool, and turning a spotlight on bands (some of which aren't great but a lot of them are) because I believe art is important, and individuals are important, and that giving people a chance is important. So that's what I do and I can live with that.
And often if I take several weeks to get to a current event, that may be the amount of time it takes me to feel like I have a handle on it. When my feelings tell me there is an immediate need, then I follow that.
Those things are more obvious in my main blog, because it has a wider range. This blog and the travel blog are more focused, but even in the travel blog I once found that I could not write about the aquarium until I watched and wrote about Blackfish.
I wanted to clarify that, but also I have some things to say about what I don't say.
It occurred to me after last week that it is possible to read a lot of my posts and not know what my actual opinion is on some hot issues.
That is pretty deliberate. Picking a side will often alienate people who could benefit from reading it, but also, thinking there are two diametrically opposed sides is often a gross oversimplification. Even if you could draw a fairly clear line roughly in the middle, there would be nuances and gradations on either side, and if I'm writing about it there is probably already too much division.
Also, I am often still learning, and I see new aspects later that I hadn't realized, but because my focus was on things to think about, and to remember while thinking about, instead of telling people what to think, the post still holds up. It would be pretty presumptuous for me to tell people what to think, but if I can give some guidance on thinking better, that is so what I am all about.
This leads to something I didn't write about last week, but I do think I need to address. For a lot of people the new handbook guidelines seemed to lead to them thinking about whether it was time to leave the church.
That is a question that puts me on guard, because I have seen many people who said they only wanted some time off from church, and they changed in ways that they never expected, losing something precious. It is easy to underestimate the cost.
However, I am also always learning. I have a friend who was in a really toxic ward who turned against her. They were clearly wrong, and she did not have the energy to fight it, so she has been taking time off from church, and I can't fault her. Someone fighting it could have been a good thing, but that doesn't mean it was her responsibility.
The point of that is that there can be a lot of legitimate decisions, and I can't judge that or tell you what to do. I can say that it is better to be making decision by attempting to do what is right, and praying about it, than seeking vengeance. I could say that, but my thought is that if I had a toxic ward trying to punish me, I would fight it until they were all the ones needing a rest. That sounds pretty vengeful. Again, that doesn't mean that fighting it would be wrong, but there might be good and not so good ways of doing it, and some mindsets are better than others.
So if some people feel a need to take a break, or write a letter to the First Presidency, or wear a rainbow tie to church, or have prayed about it and reconciled themselves, all of those things can be okay. Life can be tricky. It's because of all the flawed people, but you're one of them. Welcome!
There is one thing I am completely comfortable in judging though, and so I'll finish with that.
Since the news of the handbook changes came out, I have been hearing stories of abuse. This includes an anonymous note on a car telling someone that since they were apostate, and their presence was bringing everyone else down, that this was a good time for them to stop coming, and another person goading the children of a lesbian mother, tearing her down to them.
The church leadership may not have handled their situation as well as they could have, but I do believe their purposes were to avoid conflicts, not to give fuel to persecution.
The Gospel is a good yardstick for measuring your own life; it is not intended to be a cudgel for beating everyone else. That is a sin.
If you are a bishop or stake president you will have times when you need to counsel with people about their behavior, and there can be some judgement there, but it should be done with enough love and desire for the welfare of the person that the judgement is not the most noticeable part.
If you're not in that position, you do not get to judge, you do not get to make anonymous suggestions, and you do not get to harass. Then you have the greater sin. If those things sound at all attractive to you, read D&C section 121 again and see if you can figure out what your motivations are.
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