The Gilded Age....Round 2?

I have chosen for my last personal blog post to write about one of the very first topics we discussed in our class-The Gilded Age.

The golden gleam of the gilded surface hides the cheapness of the metal underneath

This phrase coined by Mark Twain primarily was used to describe the time period of the late 19th century in America.   It was a time of new money, big money and rapid economic growth, it was a time after the civil war, there were technology advances, new transportation, corporations, increased wages, mass communication-Life was Good!... At least that is what people were telling themselves, Mark Twain used this term to make fun of the people's and the times ostentatious display.  People were living the good life of high society while completely ignoring deep problems, farmers were going bankrupt, major racism and immigration problems existed, the super rich"Robber Barons" who schemed and cheated to make their mark lorded their money and exploited the middle class and it was overall an era of greed, guile, and corruption.   The sparkly surface hid this, but it existed and after the shiny sparkle wore away, the gilded age ended in the panic of 1983 and a  deep depression.

       I thought about this a lot after I first heard why it was called the Gilded Age, and I caught myself wondering if this time we have been living in could be called The Gilded Age yet again.  Right before this economic recession hit us in America a couple years ago, times were good.   This is an era of materialism, people feel the need to have everything and let everyone know it, huge mansion houses are built, a time of mass communication in the forms of movies, television, the glitz and glam of Hollywood, people buy cars that you can only dream about, corporations are making millions, individuals are making millions, you can go to a store and buy anything you desire, heck you can go online and buy anything you desire.  New technology like the ipod, ipad, iphone, are getting smaller and better and faster, everything you need is at your fingertips. Stores and restaurants everywhere you look, no one even needs to look at price tags, kids are getting an education, having the time of their lives in college-Again life is good!


Maybe the truth is...
Those mansions that people live in will never ever be paid off, abandoned and foreclosed, being sold by the bank now for a sixteenth of what it cost.
Those cars were bought on credit cards and consumer debt has never been higher-at the end of 2008, right before the recession really hit, consumer debt was at 2.5 trillion dollars.
Corporations are just as bad as robber barons and exploit their workers, find loopholes in taxes and kill the small business
People could get rich for selling drugs, you could make millions by cheating, gambling, laundering, however you can.
Hollywood movie stars could feed whole countries with the money they make on one movie, with the money they pay for one fancy necklace they could pay off 10 families homes.
New technology is making us slaves to the internet, destroying family time, handwriting and good conversation
Business and restaurants are going under everyday.
Unemployment has never been higher, people are losing their homes, their jobs.


This could very well be another gilded age-just with credit cards!
Of course, so much good still exists in the world, but I think sometimes we can get so caught up in buying new things, doing what we want when we want, dreaming of the day we are rich, but in the meantime making everyone think we are by going to fancy restaurants, buying fancy cars and furniture and basically just faking it.
Our Gilded Age has ended in a recession, a really bad one, but even then we like to ignore that, pretend that it will be over any day now, pretend that there aren't families without incomes and soon without places to live.  
We ignore the inconvenient truths because faking it is better and way easier!


I don't know, this analysis might be way off, I might be over thinking this, but seriously if Mark Twain thought times were an ostentatious display then...what would he say THIS IS?!

Two Gentlemen of Verona-Perfomed by Two Ladies of Humanities

  This is the fourth paper of our class, it is a paper about our creative project.  My cousin Kylie and I decided to perform a scene for the class from William Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona".  Kylie played the fair maiden Julia and i played her maid/friend/mentor Lucetta. Kylie and i have been acting our whole lives and it was so fun to perform again and to realize we can still memorize 8 minutes of lines....I am just glad she was the one sticking love letters in her bosom in front of the class!
Here is the paper of the cultural significance of Shakespeare, his play and us!

The Man

            William Shakespeare is a name recognized by everyone.  Although he is not American, he has influenced American theatre and American people greatly.    William Shakespeare was said to be born on April 23, 1564 in England, and was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon.    He was married at the age of 18 and had three children with his wife, Anne Hathaway.   Shakespeare began his career in London with a small theatre, acting and writing as much as he could.  With the help of the Earl of Southhampton, Shakespeare’s work became very popular and he became a very well-known playwright in London, being one of the first playwrights to see such success and have popular literature in the midst of his career.  Over the course of his life, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets and although much controversy at the time surrounded his work he has been called the greatest writer of the English language.  William Shakespeare has deeply impacted the world in literature, culture, art, theatre, language and is the most performed playwright still today.  With all his works being translated into every language, it is easy to say that he has been profoundly influential. 

            In American society, besides adding 1700 words to our dictionary, Shakespeare had an overwhelming effect on Americans.  He inspired and influenced many future American writers and all of his works are well known to Americans.   In 1730, there was an amateur performance of Romeo and Juliet in New York City, marking the first recorded production of a Shakespeare play in America.  Although Americans were not fond of anything British at this time, they made an exception for Shakespeare and his works assimilated quickly into society.  By the 19^th century, Shakespeare’s plays were spread by travelling theatre groups into all corners of America.  To attend theatre was becoming very popular and it was seen as a high class activity to attend Shakespeare. 

The Play

            We performed a scene from Shakespeare’s comedy-Two Gentlemen of Verona, which is speculated to maybe be his first written play.  The plot centers around friendship, infidelity and the battle between loyalty and passion.  The play has many of Shakespeare’s prominent themes and ideas that become more developed in his later plays, such as a girl disguising like a boy, confusion and chaos in the woods and the exchanging of rings.  Today this play is seen as one of his weaker and least accomplished plays.  The plot of male friendship, loyalty and fighting over a girl is a plot we see today in so many movies and television shows that I think that alone is a great influence.

The Performers!

            This play was one of the first plays I had read of Shakespeare’s, it was very hard for me to understand some of the language and what was really going on, but after watching it on stage for the first time, the story finally made sense.  Although this may be acclaimed as a weak play, I love this comedy by Shakespeare and that it was an early youthful one of his hays, maybe written before his success and fame affected him?  I think the scene that we performed depicts girls so perfectly, even modern girls have the same secret loves and dramatic rants, and that is why we chose it, because it wasn’t much acting at all.   I am sure my cousin Kylie and I have had very similar conversations, just with a little different language.   After memorizing and performing this scene, I learned that Shakespeare really did have the ability to showcase so many true emotions in such an eloquent manner and provide such comedy even in the midst of a drama.  I truly enjoyed performing and learning about this play and it will always be one of my favorite Shakespeare moments when Julia is lying on the floor in a scatter of torn love letters “Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will!”

Old Songs.....I actually liked!

For our third paper, we had to review NPR’s-The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century and pick 3 songs to analyze. Myself, being a very musical naive girl, whose favorite song is referred to in this class as "bubblegum pop" had oh so much to learn.  I enjoyed this project and paper and learning more about musical legends and discovering a world beyond the bubblegum...
This video isn't the best quality, but I have to admit, it would have been pretty amazing to be at this concert...

“Blowin’ in the Wind”-Bob Dylan

            I have definitely heard of Bob Dylan before, I had heard the name, probably everyone has but to be honest I had no idea what one of his songs was.  I didn’t know if he was pop, rock, folk or jazz but as soon as I started listening to this song, I knew somewhere I had heard it before.

“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan is described as an anthem to the civil rights movement, this song literally inspired people, it even still is inspiring when you listen to it and is used today at many protests.  This song to me is like what I think of when I think of hippies and flower power but after listening to the background and description of that song I can see that it is so much more

            This song, the fastest selling single in Warner Brothers history was written in a café and took Dylan 10 minutes, that alone being incredible, when people heard this song, they marched, they sang, and they really wanted to make a difference.  Now when I hear it, I picture this group of thousands marching through a field belting it out and it giving them so much energy.  I think of Peter, Paul and Mary singing it just minutes before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his world famous speech. 

            A member of the group, Peter Paul and Mary who first made it famous said that the ambivalence to the lyrics adds meaning to it and you can’t take the lyrics too literally.  Each person hears in it what they want to hear.  To me, I hear hope and possibility and that is what made it so famous.  I think NPR presented this song perfectly and that they gave it the significance it deserved.  I now wonder, after hearing that Dylan wrote in ten minutes if he really knew what he was writing, if he really knew the significance these words would have on people and that white doves and cannon balls he mentions would become actual symbols for a whole movement of people.

“Light my Fire”-The Doors

            I have never heard this song before, but I liked the name of it so I chose to listen to it.  After hearing the song, it was hard to believe that this song was actually homage to the song “My Favorite Things” by Coltrane, heard famously in the musical “The Sound of Music”.  To me, they didn’t really go together, but after listening to the background beat broken down in pieces, I realized they were a lot alike.

            When the doors first got together they said they wanted to take the freedom they hear and feel in jazz and bring it into rock and roll, this song was the first of its kind.  I can picture these four guys on Venice beach, and as Ray Manzarek said, as the sun is setting into the Pacific Ocean, western civilizations ends, and we invented psychedelics.

Loving the hair 

            When I hear this song, it is not really a song that would be a hit today, but back then it shattered acceptable boundaries of content, length, and was a combination of so many different styles that people loved it.  It never sounded sad to me until I heard they lyrics discussed and realized it was not an average love song, but a song that ended love in ashes and spoke of funeral fire.  I like to think of this band, who they themselves didn’t think would make it, make it big with this song and even set a new standard for a different type of rock and roll. 

“Good Vibrations”-Brian Wilson-made famous by The Beach Boys

            This song was sadly was one of the only song titles I recognized on the whole list and everybody knows this song, it’s a classic, although I did not know everything that went into this hit song.  When I hear this song, I hear a road trip to California, surfing on the beach, convertible top down, an 80’s dance.  I learned after listening to the clip that this song was a symphony, a piecing together of hundreds of studio hours and Brian Wilson’s greatest work.

            Brian Wilson was obsessed with this song, he knew exactly what he wanted and he made it happen over a course of many years, not letting it be released until it was absolutely perfect.  Wilson wrote the song for The Beach Boys and when they heard it they loved it.  I definitely have a new appreciation for the music now that I learned that he pieced this song together from a pile of different recording tapes that was 3 ½ feet high.  He also used a harmonica and a break our instrument called the Theremin which is what inspired today’s synthesizer. The Theremin sounds like a voice in the background and the song has many different moods, the chorus to me is really upbeat and fast and then it slows down so much for the verses and it is a lot lower pitch.  I had never really listened to the verses before, I just knew the chorus and the lyrics are actually very loving and shows how much this boy loves this girl he is watching and her every move and curve and smell.

            Although this song makes everyone want to dance, I now have a more introspective view of the song and everything that it meant, it was not just about a boy picking up vibes from a girl, but an extremely detailed musical piece, that experimented with instruments, sounds and production of a song.  This song was a huge hit and Brian Wilson’s last big hit and now when I hear it, although I will still picture a Californian adventure, I will also see Brian Wilson in the studio working musicians to the bone to make every single note perfect.  I can appreciate his obsession with this song, because it was very worth it.

To Kill a Mockingbird

At the beginning of the semester, my cousin Kylie and I who is in this same class jumped at the opportunity to go see a classic playing on BYU campus-To Kill a Mockingbird, and at the same time witness a Great Work by an inspiring author.

I had read this book before, actually quite unwillingly, I had to read it for my high school English class, and after just finishing an epic love story like Pride and prejudice, I was not too excited to read this ratty old book, so brings the cliché to mind-"don’t judge a book by its cover”

As I finished this book at late hours of the night, in my room when I should have been sleeping, I found myself sobbing at the end when although it seemed like a slight justice, it just didn’t seem to be enough to rationalize what Tom Robinson had been through.  I, being naïve had never even heard and seen such hateful horrible racism except in movies.  This book made me feel like I was there in that court room, I was boiling with frustration at the blatant one sided trial.

When I sat there watching this film again, I was reminded of the true classic that it is, the story engulfed me completely, I loved Scout and her spunky personality, and how protective Jem was and how they both had to grow up so fast.  Atticus was the true image of a good man and a good father and the moral voice in this book.  Again, I was reminded of the horrible prejudice this book illustrates, and yet the light in which it is portrays reminds you that even amidst the appalling treatment of black people at this time, man is good.  It is hard to imagine a time like that, when such hate existed so openly, it makes me ponder my own values and judgments, if I was there at that time, what side of the courtroom would I be on? 

To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that needs nothing other than its story to make it great, I am usually bothered by black and white movies, but this film I didn’t even notice.  As this book shows us so much social inequality, we can also see, especially through Jem and Scout’s eyes, that there is still good in the world.   Even though they both see such evil, the mob at the jailhouse wanting to lynch an innocent man, the pure racism that exists in the trial and the way people treat Atticus because he is defending Tom.  Scout is so innocent and she believes that amongst the evil acts she sees, that humans are innately good, in the scene at the jailhouse she illustrates this by calling them out Mr. Cunningham whose child she knows and tells him to tell him hey, this makes the men feel ashamed of themselves and they clear out.

Scout and Jem, although difficult continue to see the good in the people around them.  Boo, who they were scared of and made fun of, shows them such kindness and saves their lives, this helps them realize the good in people as well.  It is hard for me sometimes as well to believe that people are good when I hear such tragic, horrid stories of human acts of evil that go on around me.  Like Atticus to his kids, I also have “moral voices” in my life and those examples help me see that there is still so much love and good in our society.  I see so many acts of kindness and maybe those overshadow the evils I see on the news every day.  Fifty plus years later after this film, there is still racism, social inequality and hate crimes, it is sad to see that in so much time, so much change in so many areas, people still are unfair and unjust.  It makes me take a deep look at myself and make sure that I am not judging the people I see, that no matter how they look or act, that I see them as a human being, someone who I have no idea what their life is. 

This story, this film will forever be one of my favorites, it is still a ratty old book and a black and white movie, but I still know that if it was in front of me I would not be able to look away. Atticus's final argument is truly amazing and inspiring and if I was on that jury I could not live with myself if I denied Tom’s innocence.  It is a story that is genuinely timeless and it provides us with so many moral questions and for an introverted look at yourself and our world, but it will always remind us that man is good, and if we see the world like any of them, Jem, Scout or Atticus, we will see the good in people and in our world, and be happier for it.

The Plains

As I walked through the Museum of Art, I was looking for a painting that really caught my eye to write about.  The room was filled with beautiful paintings of amazing landscapes from across America.  The painting I chose may not have been the most breath taking scene, or biggest or most colorful but it caught my eye and I knew it was the painting to write about because I knew it better than any other.

            Lafayette Maynard Dixon today is known for his paintings and illustrations of the Western United States and his authentic feel for the spirit of the region. Dixon was born in 1875 in Fresno California.  He was always drawing as a child and after he got encouragement from Frederick Remington he continued doing illustrations.  He was educated at California School of Design, but it was short lived as he gave up his formal art training to travel across the west documenting landscapes in his art and poetry.   A trip across Arizona in 1905 was a turning point for Dixon and he returned to California, with intentions to paint parts of Arizona and Nevada.  “That trip firmly established the artistic direction in which he would develop throughout the rest of his life” (Stremmel 1990).

            Dixon had many trying years in his life, he was married three different times, had his San Francisco art studio destroyed by an earthquake, he was criticized at times as an artist but when he died in 1946, he is remembered as one of the most alluring and influential artists painting the beautiful western landscapes.  

            This oil canvas painting is a little varied from his usual highly distinctive style.  Although it does have vibrant coloring, it is not as bold as some of his other paintings that have a more of a slight impressionism style.  Dixon uses smooth brush strokes as well as defined geographic shapes to highlight the beauty of simplicity in this landscape.  “The Plains” ultimately belongs to the modern period of Western art under the subtitle of Regionalism although he never commits to one school solety and uses elements of realism as well.  I think this painting can be classified as early modernist and within that it is a regionalism painting because of the fact that it is a landscape of the western land and shows elements of strong lines separating parts of the painting and shapes such as rectangles and diagonal lines to emphasize the sky and the never ending road.

            Regionalism at this time was just getting popular and Dixon is credited to be one of the first to paint regionalist paintings of places such as Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.  Regionalism painters found beauty outside of the big cities and crowded streets, but in nature and in the silent still landscapes of mountains, prairies, lakes and canyons.   Dixon insisted that any art that did not develop an understanding of regionalism would remain impoverished and unfulfilled (Hagerty 2010). 

            This painting was done in 1931; this period is where Dixon was continuing to refine his oil paintings.   He would do a rough sketch while in the field and then decide how to paint it on canvas.  Sometimes he would do a full scale sketch in charcoal first, then light washes in diluted colors which would create both the light and dark spots and colors in the painting.  He would then rapidly paint over the canvas as the image came to be.  He would paint lightly usually and let the texture of the canvas show through.  Dixon quotes of his style “As to my technique, it is no accident and is developed to meet my needs” He continues “My feeling is toward the thing I do, and austerity and clear definition are the dominating character of the arid lands I work in” (Hagerty 2010).

            This painting, although so simple was considered so beautiful because it is a perfect depiction of the land that so many feel is the true beauty of nature.  The plains are flat and yellow and some eyes might not find that beautiful at all, but there are certain people that find the plains the most breath taking parts of the world.  The plains can make you feel so close to the earth and so much a part of something bigger.   I think this painting and others like it by Maynard Dixon represent ideals of peace, serenity, of loving your land.  I think a main expression of Regionalism is that we need to appreciate the land more, stop and take time out of the big city life and look around to what was not man made, but which was made by something higher.  Look at the beautiful creations that we so many times take for granted.   Dixon found so much joy travelling the open west and he saw beauty everywhere, he was confident that if he lost sight for a second, he could return to nature and renew his vision.  Dixon saw his role at this time to “set up creative tensions between the visual myths and the real world” (James 1990).  Many of his other paintings included the Native American tribes living in the west and he would live and travel with them at times and celebrated their heritage and lifestyle in his art.   He believed that their own native arts helped “validate American culture” (James 1990).    He thought of those modernist painters who tried to depict native art and make it something of their own were phonies and said “When a white man attempts to revert to primitive art, he generally makes a fool of himself.  No white man can equal the authentic work of the primitive artist.” (Hagerty 2010).     

            Many said that Maynard danced between modernism and realism, and I think that he embraced rather than rejected modernism when it came more popular in the 1930’s and used elements of both in this particular painting to make it beautiful.  Dixon was worrisome about the issues of cultural identity in the modernist era.  “Dixon wrote numerous letters and essays affirming his argument that American artists needed to shaper their own style and artistic treatment” (Hagerty 2010).  Overall this painting was one that did just that, he made a stand of one of his strongest convictions, he tied elements of the myths of the eye and the real world to create a painting that was truly his own style.

            This painting to me is beautiful because when I saw it, it was not just a painting of a random landscape, but a painting that attached so much emotion to me because it looked just like the place where I have spent my life thus far.  I grew up in Southern Alberta Canada and we are famous for our vast beautiful prairie landscapes.  I don’t think I ever really appreciated the plains growing up, I just remember the long drives through them and I thought they would never end as we were driving through them to our destination.  Although after my first year away from home, missing Canada a lot, I remember driving back from the States and going through the border and seeing the beautiful prairie plains, stretches and stretches of flat yellow earth, it gave me such a feeling of joy and I have ever since been very sentimental about the prairies. 

            I imagine Dixon felt the same way when he painted this painting, a joy for the feeling that this was his land, and that it was his duty to paint it for others.  Before I researched this painting I did not know what style it was, what cultural context it arose from but I found definite beauty in it and so yes, a viewer can separate beauty form its cultural context, especially the uneducated in art like myself.  Dixon said the plains had a feeling of lyrical freedom and that resonates true in me as well.

The Plains Painting by Maynard Dixon

Actual photograph taken an hour away from where I live


Now can you see why I picked this picture?

Get Realism!

So i don't think I have never been a girl that has appreciated art, a museum was my nightmare, I didn't know one famous painting from the other and most art I have seen in museums, I thought that I could do myself, but here I am sitting in my American Humanities class, really enjoying this art we are looking at and discussing.  I actually loved this class on realism in art and really enjoyed analyzing it, talking about it and looking at it. 

John Singer Sargent

Sargent was famous for his portraits, and apparently he got a bad rap for being a sell out and some of his work was criticized, but I agree with Professor Soper and I think we give him to hard of a time, because I actually enjoy his work, especially this little girls photo on the left.  I feel like it is really genuine, and even though it has a darker light and look, i still feel like the tone and mood of the painting is happy and sweet.

Meet Madame X!  Even her name is risque!  Can  you believe that this picture at one time, was thought to be very scandelous??  That is hard to imagine in the world we live in now.  This is a woman who was well known and her pose, her ghostly white skin, her straplessness, all contributed to this picture as being "gossiped about"..To me, she looks like a woman who is confident, maybe even arrogant, she is making a stand, saying "No, i am not an Angle of my house,  I run this house!" .I   like to think of this picture in modern day times, front cover of OK magazine and the headline "Madame X Goes Strapless!"  For some reason she reminds me of the modern day Paris Hilton, I think it's her nose. 

MADAME P......If Sargent was around today, he would have painted Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 James Abbott McNeill Whistler

This picture, where she is covered from head to toe, was also at one time thought to be scandelous.  I think this is a beautiful picture, maybe it is because she looks like a bride, and i have marriage fever but i think it captures this girl at such an interesting moment.  Her hair frazzeled, her face looks yoiuthful and pretty. I also think this girl could be on the cover of Modern Bride... This is a stark difference from this painting by Whistler..

Now I do not think this picture is beautiful, not at all because the woman is older but it is dark and has such a sad feeling.  The woman looks sad and like she just sits there all day, she sinks into the chair and disappears into the wall.

Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt is definitly my favorite, I had never seen any of her pictures before surprisingly and I just thought they were beautiful.  The relationship she portrays between mother and daughter is so special, and she does it in a way that is not corny or canned or staged, but it is just pictures of everyday life, the mothers look exasperated yet so happy, and the little babies are so dang cute.

What an amazing painting!  It is not just that I love babies, it is just so so real in my eyes, so perfect.

This one is by far my favorite and i think one day I want to own this picture for my home...It is just so so tender, that is the best word to describe it...absolutley tender, the little girl is adorable, the mother is so tired but just sits and listens to this little toddler and it looks like the perfect breakfast in bed scene.

So here I am...sitting and actually enjoying and appreciating this realism art, I am going to send this post to my mom to show her how cultured I am and how American humanities is changing me, one class at a time!

Hyp hopp, hyp hopp, hyp hocrisy

      We were assigned to read the short story, "The War Prayer" written by Mark Twain.  It is a story criticizing war, blind patriotism and gun happy war fevered people.  Our next assignment was to write a paper criticizing a modern day hypocrisy.  I chose to rant about how we as LDS people sometimes get a self righteous attitude and judge others according to our standards rather than the church.  I was nervous to write this  because it is most definitely not all people, just a few who practice this behavior.  I poked fun at some Sunday day situations, but it is mostly meant in good humor.  Speaking of poking fun, if you are a blog follower in the Mormon community, you must absolutely read this blog, it is a girl who makes up this fictitious little family and who makes merciless fun of Mormon girls and their blogs and all things, including weird baby names, posts dedicated to the store anthroplogie or her perfect husband who is going to law/dental/med school....just read it, you wont be able to stop.  Seriouslysoblessed.blogspot,com

and the paper....

It was a time of supposed reverence.  The church filled slowly, as the organ boomed from the front and the bishop and his counselors smiled and slept from the pulpit.  Families of all shapes and sizes rushing to make it to the chapel by 9:00am.  Either the parents looked dressed to impressed and the kids like they hadn’t bathed, or the kids looked dressed to the nines and the mothers with hair thrown up in a mess.  There were the proud mothers telling the other mothers about their boys on a mission in a foreign land and how he was now assistant to the president with such a slight arrogance toward the mother who’s missionary would have only been a junior companion still….in Boise.  The newlywed couples, relishing in the fact that they were at church together, picturing themselves as a real couple, moved up from the singles ward, now recognized and now talked about by the ward.  The boy leans forward as the girl puts her most extreme efforts in delivering the most spine tingling, relaxing, put you to sleep back scratch. 

There were the families that always sat in those same pews, no one dared to sit there unless they were new to the place, because those pews belonged to the Hyatts, and the Hyatts always sat third pew from the front.  And there were the families that snuck in the back right before sacrament, the nosebleed section, and sat in whatever was open, heels clicking and babies crying as they did so. 

There were the families with children who seemed to be drugged, who sat there quietly, big bows in their hair, who just sat and observed.  Maybe observing other children who ran around our of control, who needed backpacks upon backpacks filled with baggies of cheerios, coloring books and lego.

It was indeed a Sunday morning-it had come once again, sleepy eyed people arose to gather together in a church with purple fuzzy walls.  Some because they knew they should be there, some because others were making them, some because it was their highlight of the week, some because they couldn’t bear to think what others would say if they were not. 

As the organ prelude continued, so did the small talks and chit-chat, the families noticed that the Bournes son Jason was not at church again this week, thinking that he really couldn’t have been out of town this long, that or he was playing sports on Sunday, shame on him they think in their heads, their poor family, what everyone must be thinking!  The same ladies in green and blue dresses gossip about Loreilei and how her and her husband fought on Saturday night, probably about money they thought, maybe they should bring a casserole after hearing that fight over the fence.

It was time, a few seconds after nine and the organ song concluded, the hush ran through the chapel, the doors were closed as the last few people trickled in and the announcements were made.  The first prayer was said and the erst song burst through the walls, some singing as loud as they could, because well, they were trained in opera, they needed to help carry the congregation, some mouthing the words and some not even opening the hymnbook.  

Oh the joy of testimony meeting, the nine year old boy made his way to the pulpit as people smiled and urged his on.  He told the congregation that he loved the church and he loved his family, he said that he learned in primary that God loved every one of us, that we were all equal brothers and sisters in his eyes and that we should not judge, he learned in the scriptures that everyone should think nice thoughts one to another….Amen said the congregation together, smiling and nodding.

An aged stranger made his way slowly to the pulpit, he wasn’t recognized by many, he was not the man that got up every week, he was not the man who was on the lsits but never came, he was just there.  With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way to the pulpit.

“I have some things I need to say-Don’t worry I am not here to bear false witness, or to tell some crazy story, I just want to say some things I think you need to hear and to echo what this boy has said before me, a sometimes ignored truth that we all know and just choose not to do all the time. We need to stop judging our friends, our very own ward members that are here by our sides every week.   Look around, we are all here for the same reason and everyone is here because they are a member of this ward and of this church and we should not judge one another, we should pull self-righteousness and think we are better than one another, because we are not and we need to stop thinking these poor thoughts of each other in our heads and telling them to our neighbors.

When you see empty coke cans in a families garbage as you are walking up to their home to home teach, you are not better than them, so don’t think you are.   When you are on your way to the hospital to visit your sick old grandma and you see someone in the ward pulling into the strip mall, you immediately think they are sinning and you judge them ,harshly, maybe never forgetting that and telling your sick grandma that she would never believe who you just saw pulling up to get Chinese.  Maybe you didn’t know that they were actually pulling up to the drugstore next door to get some medicine because their two year old has a fever. 

When you see people arriving five minutes late to every meeting and activity that just means you are more punctual, not that you are a better church member.  When you pray, ask the Lord to humble you and let you not think ill of others.  This Church is not a contest to see who can put on the best show, every one knows that every person has problems, some just aren’t in public.  We are told in the scriptures to not judge and yet we do everyday and think of it as no sin and no consequence, when in actuality, you the judger might be doing a worse sin than that of the person you think is going straight to hell because you saw their daughter on a date on Saturday and she is only 15…Wake up! It was her cousin!

We are supposed to be an optimistic people, but we are so quick to think the worst and relish that it is them and not you.  I am not saying every one is like this, but you know who you are, you know those thoughts in your head and you know you do not hold yourself to the true standard of righteousness that you think you do.  Jane Doe has to work on Sunday to support her family, Sunday school teachers give your kids candy because you won’t and the second counselor, Brother Johnson is not sleeping, he is looking down!

Just because you make up rules in your life and home that you think make you a more righteous family, that you think make you better, you are not. 

Stop Gossiping, Stop Judging, learn your place and look for the good in people and stop assuming the worst.  One day when your issues are on display or you are running late for church, you will want people to not talk about you, not to judge you, but just to be there for you.  That is all I have to say. 

As the congregation filed out of the chapel, ready for Sunday school, Janie said to Janice “Was that guy married, I wonder who is parents are? Do you think he wandered over from the old folks home?” 

            “Oh speaking of old folks, Brother Johnson was totally sleeping…”