Men in the Church - Jenny Smith

Today I feel like I have a lot to say. Suddenly I’m feeling like a blogger with lots of ideas again. Kinda freaky.

I want to blog about what happened Sunday during Sacrament and to blog my ideas that President Monson is a totally awesome Mormon rebel, but those will have to wait….

We had friends over Saturday night to play Catan. I always enjoy being with friends from Church without the suits and denim skirts. You learn so many awesome things. Steve sent me to a website called Square Two http://squaretwo.org/. I’m not as enamored of it as he seems to be, but the articles I read or skimmed were thought-provoking.

I think there is still a feeling among Church members that because of the Church’s emphasis on the traditional family and the structure of our Priesthood that LDS men are domineering and trying to subordinate women. I have simply not found that to be the case. Last night during our game I watched both of the men — who I know are both highly driven, competitive, take charge type guys — make little sacrifices to assist their wives in progressing in the game. Both of them were in contention for the win and sacrificed the immediate win for the ultimate one. These sacrifices went mostly unnoticed by their wives. I pointed one out, but her newness to the game kept her from understanding what happened. It makes me wonder how many times Jared has done the same for me, but I was too self-absorbed or distracted to notice. I spoke with a third LDS man privately a few times this week who also basically threw himself on the altar to relieve strain on someone else. He was emotional and distraught with selfless worry and concern.

Sometimes I wish that more LDS women had the opportunity I have had to be with LDS men socially and at Church, especially our single women, with whom it is taboo for our most solid men to associate. :( These men are good. Astoundingly, astonishingly, self-deprecatingly, quietly good. Not perfect, but unquestionably good.

I wish there was a way for single women to associate with these good married men and their wives in a way that helps them strengthen or develop healthy attitudes about the other sex. Many of the divorced women I know have assigned the negative traits of their exes to all men to everyone’s detriment. Men do have similarities with other men, as do women and other women, but too often hurt causes us to paint each other with too broad a brush.

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And on a completely unrelated note, LDS women are not more depressed than other women:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595053226/Study-elevates-LDS-women.html

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And even less related, this freaky squirrel was leering at me at the grocery store today…