"Traditional Marriage" Preserved!!!

So after much controversy, stress, sign-stealing, grass roots campaigning, and several millions of dollars donated and spent, the political turmoil regarding California's Proposition 8 is over...with Prop 8 WINNING!!! In fact, CNN's website shows us the results, with 99% of the precincts reported:

So there it is! BOOM BABY!!! I was actually more anxious about finding out the results of Prop 8 than I was about the Presidential Election, but that was mostly due to the fact that I could see Obama winning it a mile away (I mean, other countries were holding Election parties in anticipation of the Election, hoping "Barack Hussein Obama" would win). So, to make it clear, Proposition 8 will be amended into the California State Constitution that marriage will be between only one man and one woman.

And what the heck???

There was one very unfortunate event that transpired on Tuesday, of which I wish to briefly make mention: the slandering commercial against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which I am a member. It shows two LDS missionaries barging in a lesbian couple's home, saying, "We are here to take away your rights." They proceed to take their wedding rings, then search the house for their wedding certificate, which they promptly shred. As the two missionaries leave, they jeeringly laugh, "What should we ban next?"

Okay, so it's one thing to put an add on the air to get people to support your campaign over another. It's something completely different--and wrong--to slander an organization and put it under false report, in order to sway more voters to their side. This seems to me to be a last-ditch attempt of a desperate society vainly seeking more support for their dying cause. A Catholic Bishop commented about the commercial by saying that the ad was "a blatant display of religious bigotry and intolerance."

If you want my opinion (which you obviously do if you're reading this) the commercial is basically that of no class and poor taste. Seriously, the video was super cheesy and really uneducated and had the word "IGNORANT" written all over it. The so-called "Mormon missionaries" displayed in the commercial:

1. wore no black tags on their shirt,
   
2. their hair cuts were anything less than missionary appropriate,
   
3. and they totally walked in a house without having a third priesthood holder with them, when only women were there (which would be breaking the mission rules found in the "White Bible").

So obviously, the two missionaries shown could not have been from the LDS Church...maybe a fundamentalist break-off. I don't know.

It is true, however, that the LDS Church is the religion (if not overall contributor) that put the most money into the Yes on 8 Campaign. That is a fact I'm pretty proud to admit; it shows that the LDS Church is very proactive in preserving the doctrines it stands for! Which it should be, if we profess to hold the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! You can check out the LDS Church's Proclamation on the Family here.

Family: Isn't It About Time?

Today I went over to the bookstore on campus to return something. As I parked and got out of the car, I was thinking about one of my business classes and my homework in it. To be honest, I love my business classes and thinking about what I'm learning. It excites me for my major and future career, so I think about it a lot. As strange as it may sound, thinking about business strategies, how to analyze financial statements, extracting pertinent information from excel pivot tables and charts, and such are all things I love getting into and doing.

These were the kind of things I was thinking about as I got out of my car. However, as I walked toward the Wilkinson Center, where the bookstore is located, I looked in front of me and saw a dad with his son, who looked to be about a year old, on his shoulders. He was running and skipping on the sidewalk; he had another son and a daughter, each about four and six years old, follow him. They ran behind their dad to keep up with him, laughing as they went.

Instantly, my mind dropped all thoughts of my classes and I silently observed the family (the mom was behind the older kids, walking); I couldn't help but smile to myself at the sight. Another guy walked passed them and I noticed him smile to himself as well. It was good to see that.

I love college life and the BYU campus. I enjoy the friendships my roommates and I have. I love learning the things I'm learning in my classes and like the challenge of keeping my grades up. The one thing I don't like about it all, however, is that it's easy for priorities to get switched around and forget what the overall aim really is. Family is what it's all about! Spending my life with my best friend. Being a dad. Spoiling my wife. Having water-gun fights with my kids in the front yard. Family vacations. Laughing. Crying. Serving. Loving. Bringing life into the world. Showing my kids how to love their mom. Heartaches. Disappointments. Learning. My family making me proud. Happy surprises. Anniversaries. Helping my kids pick flowers for their mom. Showing my wife how much I love her. Dancing with my daughters. Playing football with my sons. Hearing my wife tell me she's proud of me. Watching my children grow and progress in the gospel and in other areas of their lives. And so many other fond future memories!

Watching this dad have fun with his kids put things back into perspective. Suddenly, my college classes didn't seem as important as I had made them out to be. Seeing this family go by caused a familiar yearning from deep within to resurface. It was a great reminder of why I'm really here, in college, and in this life. That's a stage of my life I definitely look forward to!