I feel like I've come home, somehow...
Maybe it's a silly thing, I don't know...but when I moved away from Logan back in '01, even though I kept contact with several of my friends up there, a part of me always felt like it was missing something. I know several of you, right now, reading this, are saying to yourselves, "Miss LOGAN? What are you, crazy?"
Well, maybe. But it's the only place I've ever been where I truly felt at home. For all that I enjoy the options available from living further south, if I could move back to Logan and make an equivalent living, I would in a heartbeat. But there's only so many theater jobs available in Logan, and there's already an overabundance of people to fill them.
But being here, a slice of the cake...there's so many of you here that felt almost like family to me at one time or another (yeah, my definition of 'family' has changed drastically in the past few years...funny how having one sibling turn on another in an effort to get him sent to prison will do that to you...but that's another story. Someday, I'm going to have to tell all these 'other stories' I keep referencing...) I've felt like my life is kind of running a grand circle...not in the bad "I'm not getting anywhere" sense, but rather in the "I've been here before, but I never saw it from this perspective" sense. And getting back in touch with JayC, Erica, Joel, D'art...I'm not going to go down the whole list...anyway, getting back in touch with you all makes me feel like another section of the circle is in place. I'm curious to see what new perspectives and opportunities this one will bring.
In other news---
I was looking through some of the archived posts last night and this morning (the thing I love about working for an amusement park is that the off-season is INCREDIBLY flexible...I pretty much set my own hours right now...); all the stuff on religion reminded me of a couple of quotes I picked up while I was on my mission (before you give up in disgust, hear me out...these are not what you're expecting!)
They're both from LDS prophets. Neither of them are quotes that I hear in common use among LDS people...too radical a concept for many of them, I'm sure.
The first, ironically enough, is from Joseph Smith, who once said, "True religion is between you and God." That's right, THE LDS prophet basically said, "Mind your own damn business, let your neighbor determine his own relationship with the Lord." I wish more people knew that quote...and followed it.
The second is from Ezra Taft Benson, who was (for those who don't recall/never cared) the LDS Church leader in the late 80's and early 90's. His words--"You cannot do wrong and feel right." I'm sure he didn't mean it in the sense that I'm taking it here, but...well, regardless of what anyone may say, everyone has their own path through this life. Some of those paths are going to have a lot of detours. Some of those paths are to different destinations (my take on the concept of the Afterlife is that you will end up in that state of existence where you are most comfortable living...unless you truly were a soul-rotted maggot that did everything in your power to make everyone else miserable, like Hitler...and even then I'm not 100% positive...too many factors I don't know. See the first quote for clarification...)
So if atheism is your thing, who am I to argue? Maybe it is...for you, for now. Doesn't work for me, personally, but as long as you don't disagree with my desire to believe, I'll gladly grant you the right to refute my beliefs. Same for Islam, or Catholicism, or any other religious/non-religious affiliation out there. As my mom so eloquently put it, for years and years and years--"I don't care if you do, if you don't care if I don't."
Maybe it's a silly thing, I don't know...but when I moved away from Logan back in '01, even though I kept contact with several of my friends up there, a part of me always felt like it was missing something. I know several of you, right now, reading this, are saying to yourselves, "Miss LOGAN? What are you, crazy?"
Well, maybe. But it's the only place I've ever been where I truly felt at home. For all that I enjoy the options available from living further south, if I could move back to Logan and make an equivalent living, I would in a heartbeat. But there's only so many theater jobs available in Logan, and there's already an overabundance of people to fill them.
But being here, a slice of the cake...there's so many of you here that felt almost like family to me at one time or another (yeah, my definition of 'family' has changed drastically in the past few years...funny how having one sibling turn on another in an effort to get him sent to prison will do that to you...but that's another story. Someday, I'm going to have to tell all these 'other stories' I keep referencing...) I've felt like my life is kind of running a grand circle...not in the bad "I'm not getting anywhere" sense, but rather in the "I've been here before, but I never saw it from this perspective" sense. And getting back in touch with JayC, Erica, Joel, D'art...I'm not going to go down the whole list...anyway, getting back in touch with you all makes me feel like another section of the circle is in place. I'm curious to see what new perspectives and opportunities this one will bring.
In other news---
I was looking through some of the archived posts last night and this morning (the thing I love about working for an amusement park is that the off-season is INCREDIBLY flexible...I pretty much set my own hours right now...); all the stuff on religion reminded me of a couple of quotes I picked up while I was on my mission (before you give up in disgust, hear me out...these are not what you're expecting!)
They're both from LDS prophets. Neither of them are quotes that I hear in common use among LDS people...too radical a concept for many of them, I'm sure.
The first, ironically enough, is from Joseph Smith, who once said, "True religion is between you and God." That's right, THE LDS prophet basically said, "Mind your own damn business, let your neighbor determine his own relationship with the Lord." I wish more people knew that quote...and followed it.
The second is from Ezra Taft Benson, who was (for those who don't recall/never cared) the LDS Church leader in the late 80's and early 90's. His words--"You cannot do wrong and feel right." I'm sure he didn't mean it in the sense that I'm taking it here, but...well, regardless of what anyone may say, everyone has their own path through this life. Some of those paths are going to have a lot of detours. Some of those paths are to different destinations (my take on the concept of the Afterlife is that you will end up in that state of existence where you are most comfortable living...unless you truly were a soul-rotted maggot that did everything in your power to make everyone else miserable, like Hitler...and even then I'm not 100% positive...too many factors I don't know. See the first quote for clarification...)
So if atheism is your thing, who am I to argue? Maybe it is...for you, for now. Doesn't work for me, personally, but as long as you don't disagree with my desire to believe, I'll gladly grant you the right to refute my beliefs. Same for Islam, or Catholicism, or any other religious/non-religious affiliation out there. As my mom so eloquently put it, for years and years and years--"I don't care if you do, if you don't care if I don't."
posted by Curtis at 10:58 PM
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