Saturday, September 5, 2009

Rant of Sorts

One thing I've enjoyed (but didn't quite realize it all the time) while here in Alaska is that hardly anyone is trying to perfect others. This is a far cry from Utah County, where people are constantly prying into one's personal life, trying to find things they can fix. In Utah, Mormonism is not a choice; rather, it is a social code of conduct and if you don't follow it, everyone else has the right to bark up your tree about how detrimental your disobedience is to yourself and to others. 

I notice this now that my poor husband has returned back to Utah, only to be hassled by people about our lifestyle choices, choices which are neither damaging nor unusual-- They just aren't what some people envision our lives to be. Instead, they want to pick at every one of his character traits, trying to make sense of why he chooses to live the way he does. Well, here's the answer: We are very happy, and we don't want to be changed. There are some things we'd love help with; I'm sure Trent would enjoy someone to help him with his homework, and hey, I need a job- can you help me out? 

But we DON'T need help making choices in life. We are not 5 years old  any longer. 

I, for one, have never lived my life trying to please others. To me, that is pointless, because it will never be successful. After all, I remember sitting at lunch in 6th grade with some "popular" girls, and as soon as one of the "friends" walked away from the table, the other girls immediately began to gossip about her and say mean things.

If I didn't know it before, I knew it then: people are fake! They live double lives, acting nice or perfect one minute, then stabbing you in the back the next. I imagine I might have gotten a lot further in life if I was fake- you know, suck up to this person, flash a boob to that person (<--hehe). If I don't have something to say to someone, I am not going to make up a fake conversation; I will not flatter anyone undeservedly. If I feel fake doing it, I won't do it. I won't change for someone else, and anyone who does that is straight up insecure. 

Can't people just take a deep breath, and love each other without worrying about the eternal ramifications? Just for a minute? I imagine it gets very tiring to be concerned all the time.