Luckiest Priest on Earth

Today in sacrament meeting the few young women that we have in our ward got up to speak as part of their Personal Progress thing. They were followed by their leaders and after church Holly was wondering aloud to herself about which one of the young women was "the one" that all the young men were pining over every week.

Personally, I hadn't a clue, but it got me to thinking, and mentioning to Holly that me and my buddies in the Bartlesville 1st Ward were some of, if not the, luckiest Priests the church has ever seen. Let me make a list of the reasons why:

Alison Thompson
Emily Roberts
Stephanie Goodman
Jackie Reid
Mary Highland
Kelsey Bastings
Gwen Allred
Neala Ball
Hannah VanDuzor

Just to name a few, there were several others I can't recall off the top of my head. They are no less important however.

The girls in my ward during high school were total hotties. Every single one of them that I interacted with on a regular basis. That's all I can say: HOTTIES. I would have dated any one of them at the drop of a hat. It's that simple.

Thinking back, yep, me and my fellow priests were definitely the luckiest young men on earth. A plethora of hot, and yet amazingly cool girls to hang out with. Life was good.

Proposition 8 Passed, Do I Care?

So here is the deal. This past week, the campaign to make gay and lesbian marriages no longer legal in the state of California (Proposition 8) was passed. This means that the gay and lesbian couples who could previously get married in California no longer can do such a thing, at least not for now.

The bigger question is, do I really care?

First off, I'm not a resident of California which gives me a certain air of disinterest in the entire production and as a resident of Utah, I highly doubt that gay or lesbian marriages are going to be legal anytime soon in my state. On the other hand, far too many people here at Brigham Young University seem to think it their godly duty to fight for a campaign they can't even legally vote for.

So, where do I stand?

I guess that a little bit of background information might help a little bit. As a member of the LDS Church I don't believe in homosexuality in the slightest. Some will argue, "It's a personal choice," while others lay claim to, "It's something a person is born with and cannot control." I happen to believe that the "born with it" argument is complete bunk, and it is a conscious choice that a person makes, but that is neither here nor there I suppose. The point is, I'm not a supporter of homosexual behavior, but at the same time, if a friend of mine were to decide to be a practicing gay or lesbian I wouldn't hate them for it. My relationship would probably stay pretty much the same in regards to them. They are my friend, they can live their life how they want. If they ask me for my support, they won't have it, but that support is mine to give so I feel justified in that stance.

With all of my personal thoughts on homosexuality out in the public domain now, let's discuss how this all relates to Proposition 8 for me personally.

Obviously I'm not going to encourage gay and lesbian marriages as I don't believe in them, but who am I to be judge, jury, and executioner in this day and age? I'm certainly not God, but I do know that whatever choices a person makes in life they will be accountable for. Should I support an issue that takes away the choice or certain people, or should I support an issue just because the leaders of my faith are?

Interesting question isn't it? I'm one of those folks who very strongly believe in the principle of agency. Don't want to do something? Then don't. Unless it directly harms my life, I quite frankly don't care much what you decide to do. Do I think that if Proposition 8 had not passed that the quality of life for LDS members in California would have deteriorated? No, I certainly do not, and anyone who thinks so is being silly.

Just because gay and lesbian marriages were legal didn't mean anything had to change for LDS members if you ask me. You don't have to go to one of those weddings, you don't have to be involved, and you can live your life according to the tenets of your faith just fine regardless.

Now, if I were a resident of California, I likely would have voted yes on Proposition 8, but not for the reasons everyone else around BYU is screaming about, and certainly not because, "The Church said so, so you better, or you're going to hell." People, please, act your age for a few minutes.

Proposition 8 is most likely a good cause, and worth my support in the end, but what turns me off to the issue is the zealots around BYU who think they are fighting a war much bigger than the one they actually are fighting, and the folks who turn their noses at others who say, "I'm not a resident of California, it doesn't matter to me, my support on your state issue means nothing at the moment," or the folks who simply don't get it at all.

So, Apparently There is a New President of the United States

I didn't write this post yesterday, the day after the elections were finished because I figured there would be too many people already posting about the election results, but perhaps lots of people will be talking about it today as well, who knows.

Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. I can't say as that I'm extremely pleased with the outcome, but I'm not going to complain either for a variety of reasons. If John McCain had won, I'd be in pretty much the same boat. I don't think either of them will make that great of a president, and after watching the campaigns and seeing the state of the country, I don't know that the alternatives of Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney would have been all that better in the long run either.

What really gets me entertained however is this prevailing attitude, especially on BYU campus that the end of the world is now near because a black man is president. People, please, get your heads out the the sand and pay attention. He isn't going to bring about the Apocalypse nor the downfall of the United States as a whole. I'm pretty sure all of the fatalistic Obama haters out there are gonna be wishing all they had to deal with was Barack Obama when the Apocalypse shows up someday. Honestly, learn how to think for yourselves for once.

I'm not a big fan of all the ideas that Obama has for changing the country, and I'm pretty sure tha half or more of them won't ever come to fruition, so I'm frankly not all that worried about it. Universal healthcare is a mistake in this country however, that I will say. Everything else... meh, it truly doesn't effect me all that much from what I can see. At the moment I don't make enough money to care about taxes raising or lowering, and I don't own a gun, and so on and so on.

Interestingly, so many people seem to think that their lives are going to go down the crapper because Obama won (although I'm sure it would be the same with an opposite result). Strangely though, people often seem to look past the immediate scope of their lives and how they live to see how it could maybe, possibly, if the stars aligned correctly, and it was a full moon, affect them down the line.

Perhaps I'm the black sheep in the world and nobody else thinks that approach is a bit excessive, but I'm mostly concerned with my immediate future and unless Barack Obama declares martial law and forces me to eat sauerkraut for three meals a day at gunpoint, my current situation, and that of the next 24-36 months is not going to change much. Maybe when the time comes for the 2012 elections I'll be in a life situation where the issues at hand more direclty effect me, but until then, I'd like to have French Toast for dinner.

Let's Have a Short Discussion on Crossing the Street in the Real World

Normally I don't have any problems with pedestrians, and they don't get in my way or annoy me in the slightest, even if they happen to be doing strange things from time to time. Pedestrians are sort of a fact of life here in Provo, especially if you are driving anywhere near campus, or anywhere in the neighborhoods south of campus where all of the apartment complexes are.

However, there are a few basic rules to crossing the street that I tend to expect most people will realize:

1. You look both ways. This is pretty self-explanatory, and everyone seems to know about it for the most part. Some folks even go to the effort to look twice before even thinking about stepping out.

2. Use the crosswalk. Sure, there are some times when a crosswalk can't be found and then you have to make do with waiting for the cars to pass, but most of the time, especially around main city streets there is a crosswalk that can be used.

3. Wait for the signal. Come on folks, that just makes sense, right?

4. You are crossing the street! Don't take your jolly time strolling along like you are in the park with your girlfriend watching the birds fly and smelling the dandy flowers along the sidewalk. There are cars weighing thousands of pounds waiting for you to get out of the way.

If you can't tell, the last point is a little heated. The other day a bunch of freshman were crossing the street and had not even made it to the halfway point by the time the signal turned back to red. Here I was sitting in the middle of the intersection, with the light already changed the other direction and these idiots were just moseying along without a care in the world.

Get across the street. You don't have to run or jog, but don't waste any time either. It'll get you killed.

Let's Talk About Sports

I'm a big fan of sports, possibly even a huge fan of sports. The one channel you can always find on at my house is ESPN, and if I had a way to have every single ESPN channel I certainly would. Talking sports is a lot of fun to me, but it is rare I get the chance to expound upon things. However, this past week has provided a couple of things that I feel like discussing.

First, is the return of Brett Favre to professional football. All the way back in March he finally decided it was time to retire from the NFL and leave the game while he was on top. The Green Bay Packers had almost made it back to the Super Bowl, and his season was one of his best ever. The problem is now that he wants to return to the NFL after saying he was definitely done for good. The Packers have already moved on with the team and are preparing to have Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback in a couple of months.

Normally I don't think much of players retiring and then coming back because they have a little bit of an itch, but I have lost a little bit of respect for Brett Favre in this situation. Aaron Rodgers has been sitting on the bench behind Favre for 3 seasons waiting to take over the team and preparing for that eventuality. Now he is left in limbo after being told he is the starter because Favre wants to return. If I were Rodgers, and Favre returns to the team, then I would immediately asked to be released or traded. While he hasn't earned any real clout from being a starter, he has paid his dues in preparation.

I can understand that the Packers don't want to release Favre outright and let him sign with any team, but having him return as a backup is a little extreme as well. I think they should ask him who he wants to play for and then arrange a trade to one of the teams, regardless of how much or how little they receive in return. If he wants to play, let him move on and mess up his legacy if that is the case, but don't screw up the chance that Aaron Rodgers had worked hard to earn.

Next on my list is the Tour de France. I may not know a whole lot about cycling, but I do know that the stuff the riders in that race put themselves through is absolutely insane. The race this year is far more compelling because all of the big names from cycling are all sitting on 2 year bans due to either allegations of doping or positive tests for performance enhancing drugs.

The result is a bunch of new riders with a great chance to show the world what they have to offer. With no positive tests to this point the race has been clean and the leader has been changing what seems like every day. Nobody seems to be able to pull away with a sizeable lead, which means the race will be tight until the very end. I'm excited about that because as interesting as Lance Armstrong was, he sure took a lot of suspense out of the Tour de France.