"Swiftly" check this out...

K, I know that was a bad joke. At least you'll think so after you read the post.
I've never been a Taylor Swift fan, I kind of like a couple of her songs, but for the most part she just seems like another stuck up, badly written lyricist, pretty little pop star. At least that's what I thought.
**In case you don't know who she is, she's a young (like 16) country star that is up and rising**
This morning there was an interview with Taylor Swift at the CMA's I didn't know who it was they were interviewing until the end of it, but this is what I heard (I've summarized some of it):

Interviewer: "So, I have an 11 year old daughter and she is such a big fan of yours. Her and all of her friends. What would you say to those young girls of say...10, 11, and 12? What is the one thing you would say, or one bit of advice you'd give them?"

Taylor: "I'd just tell them to have a quiet confidence about themselves. They don't need to go bragging to their girl friends that they're going to do this or that, or try to show off any of their talents. That you just need to have confidence in yourself and know it for yourself without telling everyone. That will take you so much farther than anything else."

Quiet Confidence. I just love that.
Our YW's lesson on Sunday was about "Loving Yourself and Others" and we all kept emphasising the fact that you should love yourself, but I didn't want them to start thinking that it was okay to get prideful or cocky, but I wasn't sure how to put it in the right terms. I think Taylor Swift (of all people) got it right. Have a quiet confidence. Now I like her so much more. Before I was trying to figure out what kind of person she was and thinking that she was just another Hannah Montana and getting way too much attention, but now I think she's all right. :)

Beliefs

The other day one of my close friends from high school sent a mass text which ended up reaching me. The text mentioned that there was going to be a rally at Temple Square and that he was going to be going, and welcomed anyone to join the cause for equality. It made me so sad to read that. He used to be LDS, and fell away from the church and now has totally different beliefs than I do. I simply replied with "I miss you." I do miss him, I miss the way things used to be. I miss that fact that life used to be so much simpler, and I regret taking it for granted. BUT I also have the most blessed life anyone could ask for, and I get to share in some of the deepest love there ever was. I have the most AMAZING husband who loves me more than I deserve, we don't just love each other but are constantly having fun together, even if we're just sitting at home. I live in a free county. I have an incredible fun, loving, and supportive family. I have great friends. I could go on and on, but that's not what this post is about. I want to write about beliefs.
As I chatted by text with my friend I realized how much we both believe in what we were each fighting for. For a moment it felt like we were on two opposite sides of a war. He's still my heavenly brother and I still love him, but I don't have to love his decisions and beliefs, and I choose not to. The whole experience made me have some sympathy for the war in Iraq. Those two groups (I have no idea how to spell their names, so I won't try and write them), they both have such firm beliefs that they have a right to that land and they are willing to fight to the death for it. Here I am on the side of another type of war and I know that I also have to fight for my beliefs.

My co-worker brought up a good point the other day. We were talking about Obama's policies and she mentioned to another co-worker that he was pro-abortion. That other co-worker said that she thought the government shouldn't get involved in those kinds of things...because you how it is when the government gets involved. At first I kind of agreed...not on the abortion issue, because I am all pro-life, but for the idea of the over-involved government. Then my other co-worker (that brought up the topic in the first place), brought up the question "Why is it so bad for the government to be involved? Isn't that why we have the government set up the way it is so that it serves the people and what we want?" So, if we all vote on it, then why shouldn't it be whichever way the majority chooses? Isn't that America?

Now, think about the Prop 8 issue. The same idea applies. If the majority voting chose Yes, then the people have spoken. People have been bringing up the issue saying that Same Sex Marriage and Traditional Marriage is not something that the government should stick their hands into. Well, guess what? It's for the people by the people, and the people have spoken.

As for the other side of the battle and their beliefs I was in tears as I read the following article about the illegal protest at the Los Angeles LDS Temple.

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html


This is a free country. We are free to choose our own beliefs WITHOUT persecution. Even still in the eighteen hundreds we were prosecuted for our misunderstood religion, but trying to be Christlike my ancestors turned the other cheek and kept moving west hoping to escape torture and persecution in a FREE land. I know some of you who were opposed to Prop 8 might say something like "Yes, it's a free land and we should be free to marry whoever we want." Well, this is why it went to the ballot to see what the people had to say, and the majority didn't want it. We have voted and now it's over, deal with it. There is no reason to become a hating people and destroy and persecute other's beliefs just because they are not your own. Please, let us all be Christlike and learn to live in the same world together in a peaceful situation. We don't have to become like those in the war in Iraq. I hope we all know better than that.