Bittersweet Symphony
2004-09-25 at 9:13 a.m.
I Stand All Amazed
I was amazed yesterday. My teacher (for my job training) is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken man who seems like a typical Mormon, who talks about his mission on an almost daily basis. For some reason the day before I mentioned that my husband is Arab, but has blue eyes. So I brought in a picture the next day. And then we started talking about politics. And he said if there was a draft, he'd have to be a conscientous objector, to which I answered, "Awesome." But, his problem is that he is Mormon, and pacifism has to be the official position of your church to be a conscientous objector (it turns out it doesn't matter anyway because we found out later your obligation to the draft ends at age 26). Someone else who is Mormon (who I can't stand for other reasons, **I'll talk about him later), argued with him that since there is a widely quoted scripture in Mormon scripture that you must obey the laws of the land, if he was drafted, he would be religiously obligated to fight (also according to a speech from a general authority of the church, almost considered, when they give speeches, to be "living scriptures.") And my teacher said to him, "If I was drafted, and I didn't think it was a just war, I would not fight." "Not even if they were shooting at you?" "Not if it wasn't a just war." (He also had said earlier that he didn't think America had been involved in a just war in the last 100 years, with the possible exception of WWII, which he's not sure about).It is SO SO unusual for a "good" Mormon to say that they would disobey a general authority's position. And therefore, although we have many other disagreements, I'm sure, I had a little piece of my faith in humanity restored yesterday. And now I will get on with the pessimistic part of my day.
**So this jerk, who it turns out can't wait to become a fighter pilot, is an idiot. OK, we were doing some exercises, practicing looking up stuff on the computer as if it was a call that we would have. When we went through with the answers, he shouted out the answers, like many people, and on one question there was some disagreement. So our teacher looked into it, and gave the correct answer, at which point Cone-headed Idiot, put his hands above his head, and said, "Yesss!!" Now, that is stupid enough. What are we 8? BUT, he hadn't even been right when he had shouted out his answer. So, he was trying to make people believe that he had been right, when he hadn't even been right. As if it even matters (actually it does because he's new, and he had been acting like he knew how to do everything and didn't turn off his computer when our teacher told us all to so he could teach us). What kind of person do you have to be to have your self-worth determined by whether people think you're good at doing something that is patently easy anyway?
And who do I have to be to have some part of my self-worth determined by NOT BEING like that? But thank God, anyway.
I made another enemy yesterday because our teacher, J, separates in partners by saying things like, "Stand up if you've ever been to Europe," and yesterday he said, "Stand up if you've ever driven over 120 MPH." And like 5 people stood up! I was like, "In America?" And this lady answered me, quite goofily, "Yeah, it was on my way to Colorado," and I said, confrontational me, "Congratulations. You put everyone's lives in danger." She said, "There wasn't anyone else on the road!" I don't believe that anyway, but there would have been no way to slow down if she had encountered someone anyway. Stuff like that, like drunk driving, really angers me. "Oh, I'm only hurting myself!" Yes, you are special. You are the one that has super powers and can do what thousands others have done while harming others, but of course you won't hurt anyone. Anyway, I'm not worried about her enemy-status, she's kind of weird. She tells total strangers about her entire divorce situation the very first time she talks to them. Weird.
And I came across an awesome blog, one Iraqi women (or girl, who knows) by the name of riverbend. Edit: OK, she's just a little older than me, so, woman I guess.
OH, and Aidan is going through the most adorable language development phase in the last two weeks, in which he has said the following things:
"I want"
"I want nother one"
"Give me"
"Thank you"
"One, two!"
"One, two, three!"
"Look!"
"I lub you too"
"I want pee-pee too!" (In other words, he wanted to use the potty when someone else was)
And other things. Ah, sweet sweet motherhood.
I finally got my ruins pictures developed. They're pretty good, but I think the digital camera would have been better. Enjoy.
The writing on the huge stone:
And Aidan sitting next to it. Isn't he a good poser for 1 1/2?
And why did I take this picture? It's because of the tiny plastic chair a little left of the middle.
And Aidan falling asleep on Danny's shoulder after a long day of ruins-viewing.
Oh, and:
Current Terror Alert Level: