Them Darndiest People

     Walking down a road called Chapman Avenue to my local library, I hear people honking and yelling out of their cars, "Mormons!"  Not much minding them, I walk, with purpose, to the library and then around the surrounding area.  As it was a day of preparation as a missionary, I was finally able to witness for myself the beautiful scenery of Old Towne Orange.  The rotary island, rich with sunlight and vegetation-- centering itself in the hub of the business, the rustic yet contemporary spectacle just makes me realize that not all of life is filled with persecution.

     However, those few people aiming to ruin a nice beautiful Monday afternoon just amazes me-- the effort that they go through to belittle someone of superficial difference than he is actually quite impressive.  Still, sometimes I wonder where the world went.  Have I just not noticed it or has it moved elsewhere?  For every good, outwardly charitable person I have met here, I have encountered dozens of those who want nothing else but destruction-- there's a quote by someone famous, Batman I think, that went something like: "some people just wants to see the world burn."  With mine own eyes, it's sadly turning into a reality.  People don't inferiorize and discriminate because of personal gain anymore.  The typical response now centers around a "just because."

     In a less secular sense, I look at the contemporary Christians-- many are kind-hearted souls who just misunderstands other churches that aren't their own.  They hear from their local leaders on what to believe and then prays from time to time.  It's frightening that these types of people, of all shapes and sizes, can rattle off the names of 12 of their local pastors faster than they can the names of Jesus' original 12 apostles.  With that in mind, these people, with their misunderstanding of what we believe, yell out acerbic words-- destroying faith as its purpose.  Why?  "Just because."

     We don't claim to be anything special, yet the knowledge of who we are, disseminated en masse would definitely quell contention and lead to understanding.  The knowledge that we have is important on so many levels-- both in a spiritual and a social aspect.  With open hearts and a thirst of learning, we can all come to loving each other, like Jesus did with the Samaritans.  With the Greeks.  With the Romans.  With the Amerindians.