Saturday, July 9, 2011

I Dreamed a Dream...

I had a dream last night that I was back in college and that I was a hunk.


Yes, it was a nice mullet
 I am always a hunk in my dreams. It was a Friday night and everyone had paired up with someone else for the evening. There was one same sex couple sitting at a table not doing anything really but talking – yet somehow – in the dream, it was obvious that they were SGAttracted. Someone went up to them and let them have it for being gay, saying that they should know better being RM’s and all.

I jumped to their defense and told the guy that before he started lecturing someone else on the church's stance on homosexuality he had better know what the church's stance was. I then turned to the couple sitting at the table to bestow upon them words of great advice as I am wont to do. I give great advice in my dreams.

However, I could think of nothing to say. That's not like me.

No “carry on” no “clean it up”, no “live long and prosper”. Is it because I am old? The best advice I can think of is to stop giving advice and live life as you feel you should – always with the guidance of the spirit. Following that advice – a thought originally said by Ben Franklin…or Brigham Young…someone balding. (Maybe SinĂ©ad O'Connor…) will give us the most opportunities for growth with lesser chance of failure.

When I think of failure, I invariably think of a Hobson’s choice. That and orange rubber prison shoes. Thomas Hobson (1545–1631) ran a successful carrier and horse rental business in Cambridge, England, at the turn of the 17th century. Hobson rented out horses mainly to University students, but refused to hire them out in any other order than that he allocated to insure the rest and ready-ment of the horses. The choice his customers were given was 'I will rent this specific horse here, who is rested and ready, or none. This became, quite literally, the Hobson's choice. Something or nothing. Take it or leave it.

Hobson’s choice today is shows similarities between SGA issues and the church doctrine. As far as the church is concerned, there is somewhat of a do it or don’t do it choice to be made. A take it or leave it situation.

Another choice option is the Morton’s fork. The expression originates from a policy of tax collection under the rule of Henry VII. The approach was that if the subject lived in luxury clearly having spent money on himself, he obviously had sufficient spare income to share with the king. Alternatively, if the subject was frugal, giving no outward appearance of being well-to-do, he clearly has savings to afford the king. This was the two prongs of the fork argument. Whether the subject was rich or poor, he did not have a chance at a favorable choice.

Many consider presidential elections to be Morton’s Forks; two choices, neither one stellar. Comparisons can be made between a Morton’s Fork and SGAttraction.

There are many choices for folks that are gay in the church. What choices did/do you have?