Question of the Day [Archive]

nate

13th January 2006, 12:55 PM

If you could relive any one day exactly as it happened, which day would you choose and why? Weddings and children being born are excluded.

For me, it would be one of the many summer vacation days of my childhood, when my parents took us camping in Southern Utah. From the moment I woke up, in the pop-up hammock in the bright orange, camper edition VW bus, to the moment that I crawled back in and passed out from exhaustion, it was non-stop exploration, excitement and adventure with 3 of my brothers (2 of which have since passed). We constructed a dam in the middle of a small stream with rocks and sticks, so we could catch fish with our bare hands. We swung from a rope swing into a swimming hole. We hunted through the thicket next the stream for various types of snakes to scare our sisters with. Running around with that wide-eyed fascination and absolutely no cares in the world.

It's funny how sometimes we credit the church for the good in our lives; our upbringing, the love in our family, etc. But when I stop and ponder questions like these, the things the really matter to me...the things that add joy to my life, have nothing to do with the church. And never did.
Giving credit to the church for these things would be a great disservice to the ones I love; for they are responsible for the love they chose to share...they, and none other.

What about you? What day would you choose?

Nate

peter_mary

13th January 2006, 03:13 PM

If you could relive any one day exactly as it happened, which day would you choose and why?
Hmmm...Nate, dude...good question.

I can't narrow it down, but here are three days that stand out in my mind for different reasons.

1) Actually an amalgam of days I spent as a child playing in the Bayou Texar in Pensacola, Florida. Part of the reason it was important to me to attend my Grandfather's funeral last weekend was because my memories of joyful, carefree living and exploring in the way only children really can are most defined by my memories of that place. They had an old boathouse on the bayou from which I could fish for croaker and bass and feed the ducks. It's where we cleaned the fish, and launched the motor boat that took us out into Escambia Bay and sometimes even the Gulf.

Or we'd drag nets on sticks through mud of the bayou and come up with baby crabs, shrimp and mullet which Grandmother would let us keep for a while in a "bayou" fish tank in her sun room. I could climb the live oaks and magnolia trees, and the first "vehicle" I ever drove was Grandfather's riding lawnmower.

There were days catching jelly fish and hermit crabs, hunting for shells, feeding turtles in a swamp, catching frogs and watching baby birds and squirrels that lived in my Grandparent's yard. It was sun-up to sun-down childhood bliss, and I remember having not a care in the world, the sun on my face, and the sand of their beach or Pensacola Beach under my bare feet...and I was truly, truly happy. If I could recapture that same sense of utter abandonment as an adult, I would be intolerable!

2) One day eleven years ago, after having conducted a training session at work, a Chocktaw woman (an employee of ours) came up to me and gave me hell about my ignorance concerning my lack of real understanding regarding minority people in this country. I had recently been appointed the Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Programs Manager at the time, and she exposed my ignorance...and challenged me boldly and publicly. What began as a challenge because I confessed that I didn't have a grasp on the concept of "Manifest Destiny" as it pertained to the aboriginal people of this continent, ended in me going to the book store and beginning the quest for knowledge...a quest that would radically and forever alter my world-view.

It began with a study of Native American history, culture, religion, spirituality, art, medicine and society, something that took me a couple of years to really study. At the end, I realized I had stumbled upon a wholly different manner of relating to the universe...and that's when it hit me. If there were two ways, then there were more, and EACH way was a culturally based paradigm.

That, my friends, was when my eyes slowly began to open to the paradigm that is Mormonism, and then Christianity and ultimately caused me to leave the church, Christianity and religion all together. It was because of that one moment in that one day that my life changed completely.

It would be a hard day to relive, because I would know on that end of things that I had YEARS of struggle that lay ahead, but those years were among the most productive and fertile years of my entire life, and they continue to yield fruit. (Sorry, Alma, the fruit is delicious to the taste, so it needs be from a good seed, despite the fact that it has not ONE DAMN THING TO DO WITH YOUR BOOK! :p ) Sorry...

3) The first day I spent on the island of Aitutaki was truly one of the most magical of my life. This Idaho boy had finally come to a place that was really and truly paradise. I lounged in the azure waters of the lagoon, snorkled with giant clams, lazed in a hammock by the sea with the gentle breeze rustling the coconut fronds as scarlet hermit crabs scuttled beneath me in comical shells. Later that day, we paddled out to a "motu" (uninhabited islet) where we cast ashore on a sugar-white crescent of beach without another person in sight, exploring the reef, swimming with tropical fish, and enjoying the company of a couple of friends who would, as a direct result of that trip, become as dear to me as my own parents.

It was amazing. Truly amazing.

Sigh...

And as I think back on those days, I think, you know...my life has been good. Really good. Really, really good.

:)