I am tired of elections. My church has been attacked over and over, and I feel like I have to hide in a corner and not say what I really think because I feel like I am in the minority. Well I am not going to hide anymore.
I am not voting. Not because I don’t want to, but because I let the wedding take over my life and didn’t think about things like absentee ballots (or bills actually, I have two late fees on one of my credit cards from the wedding planning period). I don’t like McCain but I wouldn’t vote for Obama so I am not sure what I would have done. I feel irritated when I think about how I am missing the opportunity to make a difference, and I don’t plan on letting it happen again.
I’ll be watching the Proposition 8 developments very closely all day. I hope my cousins can forgive me for putting their written statement on my own blog, but it so clearly expresses my own views on the subject I couldn’t have written it any better.
For months we have been struggling with the social and legal complexities of this issue. Please don’t misunderstand, there was never any question in our minds about which way we would vote. But we struggled with how to talk about it with friends who don’t share our convictions. We’ve gone over the arguments for and against keeping the original meaning of the word marriage many times with family and friends. We have watched people polarize on this issue. Even people who we greatly respect vehemently oppose Proposition 8. We’ve seen our beliefs and religion criticized. We’ve worried deeply about what friends might be thinking about our stance or how they might respond to our vote.
There are many friends and colleagues?some whom we hold dear?who we know will completely disagree with our decision. We hope our relationship can remain unharmed despite our differences.
When it comes down to it, there is no reconciling our personal knowledge with the social arguments. So, we base our vote on the following statements of principle and belief, in [husbands] words, which are mine as well:
I know there is a God. It is a fact to me. I know that He is our father, and that He loves all of us. I know that He justly holds us accountable for our level of understanding of Him and his laws. I know that “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World). Therefore, I stand accountable to God to live by this principle; no matter how much the collective intellect of society, including my most trusted and respected friends, disagrees.
Now you know how I feel (again, big thanks to my cousins for writing things down so clearly). I believe that it is important to stand up for what you believe in. I can’t make this belief feel right to a lot of you, but it is what I believe. I believe in my marriage, and our ability as children of a loving Father in heaven to become something greater after this life.
I hope that by reading this blog over time you will see that my church, and its members, are not evil. We are good people, striving to make a positive difference. I hope that we can all have open minds and understanding hearts once this is all over. I hope that we can all remain friends.
Feel free to leave your true thoughts in the comments. I will only be moderating if hateful sentiments and anti-mormon links are included.
Tomorrow, thank goodness, it’s back to bills, cooking, laundry, and those burdensome thank-you notes.