I copied this from my sister-in-law, Marias, blog. They live near Oakland, CA. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has given each of the members in California a phone list to contact their neighbors in California regarding proposition 8 (to reverse the law of legalized gay marriages). The church doesn't very often get involved in political debates, and almost never encourages it's members to vote a certain way. So when they do, you know it is for an extremely important cause. My brothers family (Todd) lives in the San Diego area, and their wards have been doing picketing on the streets. He said that they had lots of "thumbs up", lots of "thumbs down", and several middle fingers up! Do we feel a little bit like Saul in the Bible, when the Phillistines (the enemy) were pressing in around him and his people? I hope that we won't cave under the pressure of our current day Phillistine.Sunday, November 2, 2008
Freedom of Speech (written by Maria)
Why is it that those who are crying for 'Equality for All' are so quick to limit my rights by taking away my freedom of speech? We have had 3 vote 'Yes on 8' signs stolen from our yard. The first one was stolen almost a week after we put it out. We had not been bringing it in at night and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was in shreds on our lawn. The second one was stolen yesterday afternoon. I assumed I made it too easy for someone walking by to take the sign off the wires by putting it too close to the sidewalk; I wanted more people to see it. It also rained all day yesterday. So we got another sign today at church and this time I taped it to the wires and put it out in the yard close to the house and opened the windows. An hour after the last time I looked out the window, the sign was gone. Today was a beautiful, clear sunny day. The first time our sign was gone, I was furious that someone would do such a thing and started taking our sign in each night. When they handed out more signs at church we got an extra one and I hung it up in our window. Now I have given up on putting the signs in our yard and the only sign we will have is the one in our window.This afternoon we had a knock on our door. Our neighbor directly behind us (they live in the duplex owned by the same woman as us and we share our back fence) was at the door. She introduced herself and said she was outside pruning her roses and saw a couple of girls who were jogging by take our sign. These neighbors have 3 'vote no' signs up in their house and one in each of their cars. She said that even though we are on opposite sides, she wanted to let me know what she saw and that she doesn't agree with it. We then went on to talk about how we are both so tired of this whole thing and are ready for it to be over. She said how much they enjoy hearing McKay laugh and play and told me she has a 18 year old son and a 21 year old daughter. I then asked if the other woman (who appears to be much older and was waiting in the car) was her mom. No, she is her partner. Excuse me while I take my foot out of my mouth! Oops! How embarrassing. We visited for a minute longer and she left. I am glad she did what she did even though she was obviously very nervous. Honestly, I had suspected them of our 'sign problems'. On all my walks in the neighborhoods around us, I have NEVER seen two opposing sides with signs out next door to each other. We assumed that we would never be very good friends with our neighbors as soon as we saw them put their signs out, a week after we put our sign out. But tomorrow, I am going to take some cookies over and thank her for her effort and tell her I hope we can be friends no matter what happens. BEFORE we find out who 'wins'. I can't wait for Tuesday to be over. Then hopefully the 'NO's being painted on the Yes houses driveways will stop and the Yes' being burned on No's yards and the No's blocking the entrance to the temple will STOP. Maybe then the media will stop being biased. (Yeah right!) I don't like the feeling of contention and anxiety I feel. Yesterday I finished making my phone calls to registered voters about Yes on Prop 8. It was a very depressing couple of hours. I hung up on one lady who was tearing into me and was glad I couldn't answer when a number I left a message on was calling me back. I probably should have answered because I am SURE he was calling to ask how he could call people for 'YES on 8' and get a sign for his yard. I was so thrilled when I got a few people who said they were going to vote yes. Unfortunately for me, I think I was calling a very liberal street. Luckily, I got a lot of voice mails and not too many, angry people, though the few I got were more than enough to last me a long time. Emotions are VERY high and it really makes me nervous for what may come. We are fighting a clear battle and all we can do is to make sure we are doing the things we have complete control over. We can strengthen our own family and do what we need to do to draw closer to the Lord. We can teach our children what a family is and how to combat the forces around us that will pull us down and teach otherwise. We can follow our living prophet who will guide us in these very troubled times. We can prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior. We can have FAITH and that is what will get us through, 'come what may'!
Freedom of Speech (written by Maria)
Why is it that those who are crying for 'Equality for All' are so quick to limit my rights by taking away my freedom of speech? We have had 3 vote 'Yes on 8' signs stolen from our yard. The first one was stolen almost a week after we put it out. We had not been bringing it in at night and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was in shreds on our lawn. The second one was stolen yesterday afternoon. I assumed I made it too easy for someone walking by to take the sign off the wires by putting it too close to the sidewalk; I wanted more people to see it. It also rained all day yesterday. So we got another sign today at church and this time I taped it to the wires and put it out in the yard close to the house and opened the windows. An hour after the last time I looked out the window, the sign was gone. Today was a beautiful, clear sunny day. The first time our sign was gone, I was furious that someone would do such a thing and started taking our sign in each night. When they handed out more signs at church we got an extra one and I hung it up in our window. Now I have given up on putting the signs in our yard and the only sign we will have is the one in our window.This afternoon we had a knock on our door. Our neighbor directly behind us (they live in the duplex owned by the same woman as us and we share our back fence) was at the door. She introduced herself and said she was outside pruning her roses and saw a couple of girls who were jogging by take our sign. These neighbors have 3 'vote no' signs up in their house and one in each of their cars. She said that even though we are on opposite sides, she wanted to let me know what she saw and that she doesn't agree with it. We then went on to talk about how we are both so tired of this whole thing and are ready for it to be over. She said how much they enjoy hearing McKay laugh and play and told me she has a 18 year old son and a 21 year old daughter. I then asked if the other woman (who appears to be much older and was waiting in the car) was her mom. No, she is her partner. Excuse me while I take my foot out of my mouth! Oops! How embarrassing. We visited for a minute longer and she left. I am glad she did what she did even though she was obviously very nervous. Honestly, I had suspected them of our 'sign problems'. On all my walks in the neighborhoods around us, I have NEVER seen two opposing sides with signs out next door to each other. We assumed that we would never be very good friends with our neighbors as soon as we saw them put their signs out, a week after we put our sign out. But tomorrow, I am going to take some cookies over and thank her for her effort and tell her I hope we can be friends no matter what happens. BEFORE we find out who 'wins'. I can't wait for Tuesday to be over. Then hopefully the 'NO's being painted on the Yes houses driveways will stop and the Yes' being burned on No's yards and the No's blocking the entrance to the temple will STOP. Maybe then the media will stop being biased. (Yeah right!) I don't like the feeling of contention and anxiety I feel. Yesterday I finished making my phone calls to registered voters about Yes on Prop 8. It was a very depressing couple of hours. I hung up on one lady who was tearing into me and was glad I couldn't answer when a number I left a message on was calling me back. I probably should have answered because I am SURE he was calling to ask how he could call people for 'YES on 8' and get a sign for his yard. I was so thrilled when I got a few people who said they were going to vote yes. Unfortunately for me, I think I was calling a very liberal street. Luckily, I got a lot of voice mails and not too many, angry people, though the few I got were more than enough to last me a long time. Emotions are VERY high and it really makes me nervous for what may come. We are fighting a clear battle and all we can do is to make sure we are doing the things we have complete control over. We can strengthen our own family and do what we need to do to draw closer to the Lord. We can teach our children what a family is and how to combat the forces around us that will pull us down and teach otherwise. We can follow our living prophet who will guide us in these very troubled times. We can prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior. We can have FAITH and that is what will get us through, 'come what may'!
My nieces in Temecula, California
1 comment:
When I lived in Nebraska, about 7 years ago, we were asked (by the church) to petition to define marriage as between and man and a woman. We had to go door to door and get hundreds of signatures from people in each county of Nebraska. It was VERY interesting to hear what people's view on the issue was. Most didn't know what they really thought about it, so they wouldn't even sign the petition to bring it to a vote. Others were very against what we were doing, and yelled at us, and others were so thankful that we were out there helping defend values that they shared. It made me thankful that we have a prophet who can help us know God's will for us and guide us in our decisions.
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