My Life

In light of LDS apostle Dallin Oaks' refusal to apologize , I would like to offer general apologies for mistakes that I believe I have made in the past.  If there's anything I miss, feel free to let me know.  Yes, I acknowledge that there is a degree of irony in this because I'm essentially proving myself better than Oaks by doing something he has declared himself unwilling to do, thus nullifying any real humility I might exhibit by providing an unprovoked apology.  However, I do feel a sincere desire to alter my past behaviors and become a better person and it is to this end as well that I write the post.  There may be some overlap with my previous post , but I want to make it clear that I am apologizing for my behavior. I'm sorry for being mean to people on the internet.  I'm sorry for calling people names and making assumptions about them because they disagree with me.  I'm sorry for being rude to people for voicing differing opinions.  I'm sorry ...

De-escalation is one thing that I am not good at.  I criticize police officers for using maximum force when it's unnecessary, and offer my opinion that they should de-escalate rather than escalate.  But in doing so, I make myself a hypocrite.  When I am in a discussion with someone of a differing viewpoint, I escalate more readily than I de-escalate. I write my blog posts with the delusion that I will change the world by the things that I say.  I do hope that some people have given pause to their own beliefs and have been affected by my words.  But it is most likely the case that the best way I can change the world is to change myself.  My sister posted a quote the other day that said "You can't change how people treat you or what they say about you.  All you can do is change how you react to it."  And when we were chatting the other day, a similar quote, something to the effect that it's easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world. ...

The Learning Channel (TLC) will be airing a new show called " My Husband's Not Gay ".  The first episode is on tonight at 10:00.  Having heard so much opinion about the show being thrown about, I wanted to add my own thoughts.  I do recommend that my readers read through the post Ty Mansfield made about the show, as well as Carol Lynn Pearson's . My biggest concern is that no one should feel they ey has the right or the duty to dictate to other people how to live their lives.  What makes one person happy doesn't necessarily make another person happy.  Things that one person may consider completely repulsive another person may consider entirely appealing.  I do not like grilled mushrooms.  I think they're slimy and gross.  My little brother loves them and would eat an enormous bowl of them.  Is it fair for me to say that he cannot eat them because I think they're disgusting?  Or for him to say that I must eat them because he thinks the...

I came across a post on Facebook that pointed out that tomorrow is 1-11 (or 11-1, if you're not a backward American).  These, it says, are " angel numbers ".  The admonishment is that on this day, you should focus on positive thoughts and avoid negative thoughts because they'll be amplified, or something like that.  My initial reaction when seeing something about how a certain number or combination of numbers is spiritual just makes me roll my eyes.  But, on a deeper level, I'm actually rather bothered by the fact that this type of thing is so prevalent in our society.  Particularly when I look through the comments on such a post and see that they are all "Amen", "Thank you", or "I'm sharing this!" I believe that these types of spiritual beliefs, superstitions, fortunes, etc are all harmful because they perpetuate this notion of "fate"--the teaching that our destiny is out of our control and we must simply wait for a p...