Comments on: Roots

By: CMYD

CMYD — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:16:07 +0000

Good point, Daina. We do need to look at people and neighbors as something other than a potential missionary experience, yet well-intending missionaries and others encourage us through member missionary programs to think of all non-member friends as potential members and ask ourselves what we can do to bring them into the fold.

I also agree that we cannot make blanket statements about any group–Utah Mormon, Mission field, non-member, etc.–that will hold up. Sometimes we are limited in our ability to understand others by experience, sometimes by fear, sometimes by education, sometimes by misunderstanding, sometimes by language. All we can do is learn ourselves, try and teach our children, and love our neighbors to the best of our ability. (But we are all trying to do that already.)

By: Lo

Lo — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:45:13 +0000

I agree with the very first commenter. I live in GA now but spent 10 years in Utah. My last home (there in UT) was in a cul de sac and my family was the only active LDS family. And it seemed more culturally different than the street I live on now where I am again the only active LDS family and 1/2 the families are black.

Folks, Utah IS a mission field!

By: Daina

Daina — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:15:23 +0000

I was raised in a Mormon-dominant neighborhood in Orem. Now I live in Kansas where we are a minority. On a recent trip to Utah I was taken aback by belittling comments about people of other backgrounds made by people who are Mormon and live in Utah. I wonder if I would have been so shocked if I had lived there in Utah my whole life in that same neighborhood. I understand that I can’t group all Utah Mormons into a group and say that they are close-minded, that wouldn’t be fair. But I do think that these people that made these derogatory comments wouldn’t have said them if they actually had neighbors and friends of these certain different backgrounds. I feel like living outside of Utah has helped me open my eyes to the wonderful richness of Heavenly Father’s children. It has helped me overcome that predominant feeling that any non-member is a conversion opportunity (though I still believe in member missionary work). I hope that we are strengthening that root that says “Love thy neighbor,” by loving our neighbors that are different whether they be a different ethnicity or a different religion, or even a different political group. Garrison Keillor said that God told us “Love thy neighbor.” He didn’t say that we should pick who we love: a great blues singer, or the neighbor that is easy to love. He said we should love everyone. I agree.

By: elizabeth-w

elizabeth-w — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:16:58 +0000

I’d say being married to a non-LDS person pretty much takes care of that for me. On a daily basis my children are aware there is more than one way of being in this world. We live in an enviroment of about 1/3 LDS folks (active or otherwise), so they are exposed, but not too exposed, and I like it that way, and will like it even more as they move into junior high.
But, I do want them grounded in the gospel. So, I do what we’ve been advised to do–all the basic, busy things that keep us connected and grounded (FHE, Faith in God, scripture study, etc.). I find I keep telling my older daughter who is not quite 8 is that we can’t know everything right now, that faith for some of us is a life-time struggle.
As one who grew up as firmly rooted as one can be, meaning my parents did their best to ensure that happened, I still struggled for many years to figure out what I truly believed. I think that as parents we can do a fantastic job, but our children still have to find their own way.
As for the young woman’s statement–we can hope that 30 years from now she’ll write an article for Segullah speaking about how her world view has become more nuanced from when she was a girl.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:31:36 +0000

I loved Melonie’s essay. I love her honesty and that she learned from her experience. I love the symbolism of the tree (I am terrible at symbolism).

By: CMYD

CMYD — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:50:01 +0000

Just to offer a different thought on the girl speaking in the PG ward, it seems that many youth–not only in Utah–lack the ability to talk about the gospel and its relationship with the world in realistic and/or observant ways. They are aware of their world, and often only their world. If her close friends were not members, that her world would automatically exclude other points of view. I think it is an element of youth and inexperience rather than a sign about the Utah she is experiencing. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear such a comment from a certain youth speaker in my ward in GA who regularly brought her non-member friends to young women’s activities.

Maybe that is something that Melonie could have been expressing with the relationship with Paulo. It isn’t until you reflect on yourself and your experiences that you are able to understand the place of the gospel. All of us who have been converted (and not just to the Church) have that ability to reflect about what and where we are on the continuum of salvation. That is why Heather can point to her desire for morning family prayer, and others think of where their children will be when the leave “the nest”.

Just a thought.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:42:51 +0000

Hey, middle of Provo here. I can count on one hand the non-members in our 4 block radius. And yet, the comment still chafes me, because I view my non-member neighbors as really great neighbors and friends, not just conversion possibilities. I’m not from here, though, and remember far too well what it feels like to be the outsider.

By: Maddison

Maddison — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:20:04 +0000

Very interesting topic…

By: eljee

eljee — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:07:29 +0000

Heather, I live in Tooele. I’d say my neighborhood is about 1/3 active LDS, 1/3 less-active or completely inactive, and 1/3 non-LDS. I was a little surprised to read the beginning of your post too, as it doesn’t describe my neighborhood at all. But I can see that there are probably still places in Utah where most people are active members.

By: Heather H.

Heather H. — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:23:21 +0000

And Melonie, thanks for sharing a story, that was difficult to share.

I love it, “Diversity is Coming!”