Virtue Bandits

It seems the older I get, the more I want to experience lovely things. Whether it is a lovely conversation with a friend that I know won't gossip, swear, or speak of "boorish" things, as my grandmother would refer to them. Or listening to peaceful, uplifting, spiritual music. Or reading things that lift my spirit and fill my mind with good and interesting things. And then there's tv and movies. I basically don't watch tv anymore because I find it so offensive and who knows when an inappropriate ad will show itself. And I choose my PG-13s very carefully. I'd rather stay safely in G or PG land.

Of course, on occasion, I crank up a "party" tune. I watch a movie I wish I hadn't because it just had "a little bit of bad" stuff in it. Or I don't stop someone when they say something in my presence we both know they shouldn't have. Or vice versa. But on the whole, I am seeking to live a virtuous life.

vir·tu·ous

 adj \ˈvər-chə-wəs, ˈvərch-wəs\

Definition of VIRTUOUS

1: potent, efficacious

2:

a : having or exhibiting virtue — (see virtue) b : morally excellent : righteous virtuous decision;

3:

: chaste

Last week, I realized, that sometimes, in spite of all you do, things can sneak in under the radar and blow you totally out of the water. I had four or five texts come in on my phone all at once. They were pictures. The first one was Home Depot. Delete. The next one was Lowes. Delete. Why am I getting these? And each delete I thought would erase the whole thread. The next one I won't describe, but I gasped and put the phone to my body and tried to figure out what to do. It was extremely disturbing.


I called my friend who is an attorney. He said he did not think there was much I could do. I looked at the number (something I should have done first, but I don't always recognize my friends' numbers and they are not all in my address book). He suggested I call an officer friend we know. I called him. He said about the same thing. But I gave him the number. I called the number to see if I recognized it and I did not. A hispanic male whose name I did not recognize. I probably should not have, but I sent him a text saying to never ever text me again. He apologized, but what good did that do? He had misdialed. Great!


And it went downhill from there. It was Saturday morning and I felt numb and angry. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I tried to get that image out of my head, the more upset I became. I literally felt violated. I felt dirty and tearful. I tried to stay busy. But my head kept pulling the image up and it was making me sick and unhappy.


I just did the best I could. But as we prepared to go to a semi-annual area church meeting we call Stake Conference, I was hoping like everything that I would be able to focus on the beautiful music and messages and not let this experience ruin the evening. It was work! In fact, I did not completely succeed. By the end of the meeting, it was all I could do to keep the tears back. I wasn't doing a very good job as it was. Fortunately, I had been to the temple the day before. I did feel some of that peace carrying over to the day. But, I asked the Bish to please give me a blessing. I felt blessed that the Beast was home for Spring Break and was able to help.


The blessing was a great comfort. There was rebuking and inviting of angels, and my troubled emotions immediately began to settle. I am so grateful for Priesthood blessings! By the time I got home, I was feeling happy and the image was beginning to fade. I continue to pray that the Light of Christ will so fill my mind, that it will completely erase it from every neuron in my brain. After not even a week, I have to consciously try to pull it up and so I am hoping for that prayer to be answered. I also contacted a friend who helps people release their addictions to pornography, to see if he had any other suggestions. I thought it was interesting that he noted, that sometimes evil spirits are often attached to these kinds of images, especially when someone is addicted, but he encouraged me to use methods that would cast out any evil spirits. 


I was singing in the choir on Sunday at our meetings and again, I did not want to be influenced by the events of the day before. So, before the meetings started, I went off by myself and did many rounds of my wonderful EFT technique, took a deep breath, and hoped for the best. Success! Beautiful music, beautiful conference, and not one second's disturbance. I am so very grateful for blessings, prayer, and emotional tools. I am feeling much more at peace, but it is a testimony to me that we must be on guard at all times. And the answer to filth is virtue and purity. We cannot afford to be slothful in creating homes of safety. We must teach our children the tricks of the adversary. We must instill in them their beauty and worth, so they feel no need to fill their emptiness in other ways. We need to relate to each other and love one another, rather than creating walls between us.


May we all be vigilant in our quest to maintain strong families. I'm up for the task. I hope you are too.

MOTHERS FOR Morality: http://www.causes.com/causes/594146

Ranting! I do it on occasion

Well, I have become a naturally positive person. Sometimes I have to bite my tongue HARD. So, I'll start positive and try to end positive. I can't guarantee the middle. I'm human after all.

On a positive note, this was something that really made me happy last week. I actually felt tremendous joy as we all watched maybe hundreds of dolphins off the bow of this boat in San Diego. I was a chaperone with a group of kids who spent the year working for a trip to Sea Camp.



So, when we flew out from Phx airport, I went through normal security procedures that we have had in our country since shortly after 9/11. You all know them. Phx has not yet brought in the body scanners. I have tremendous objections to these machines for many reasons. Unfortunately, on our trip home, the San Diego airport did have the scanners. I did not even realize it until I was putting my bins and belongings down and saw a woman out of the corner of my eye assuming the scan position. Uh-oh. Is this just a pull one or two out of line thing or does everyone get it? Nope. Everyone gets it. Aw CRIKEY!

So, my brain does a quick, what the heck am I going to do and what about my teen daughter? Processing all of that in a split second, remembering that I decided when the time comes, I was going for the pat down. And seeing that fortunately (yes, there was a positive!) the youth in our group, were going through the old normal procedures and walking through the beeper things we all used to enjoy and not appreciate so much.

So, it's my turn, and I ask the very nice TSA lady, what if I don't want to be scanned? "You want a pat down?" "Yes, I do." She was nice enough not to fulfill my greatest fear at the moment and not shout at the top of her lungs, "We got a pat down here!" Another very nice TSA lady employee escorted me out of the way, asked me to sit, and explained what she would do. She asked me if I wanted to be screened privately and I declined. And then I celebrated my anniversary with my very first patdown. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! Yeah baby!

Um, it wasn't all that bad. It was a little embarrassing, because people now know I am objecting to my other option. She is running her hands all down my body. But I was really scared she'd do the very extra personal pat down that we've read about in the papers. Nope. Didn't happen. My first thought was, "well, it wasn't that bad, I guess I can keep flying." And my second thought was sadness and some anger. Sad, that we have reached a point in this country that every American citizen who flies is seen as a potential criminal for the actions of a few. And angry that more Americans do not realize that we are laying down and letting them trample our rights. It is not the duty of the government to "keep us safe." It is the duty of the government to protect our rights. I agree with Ron Paul on this.



There is an inherent risk in getting out of bed in the morning. Heck people die in bed in their sleep for cryin' out loud! Nowhere is completely 100% safe. Remember the cry of Patrick Henry? "Give me liberty or give me death!" Well, we are giving up our liberty, we are submitting to an out of control monster that runs our lives, and our cry is becoming, "give me safety or give me death." It's something I fear we won't wake up from. No one can make us totally safe, without taking most of our freedom. Have we reached that point? How many successful terror attacks have their been on American soil since 9/11? We should rise up as the colonists did and REFUSE to accept this. It does not make us safer. It only makes us less free.

That's just the freedom issue. There's also the health issue. We have just undertaken a huge science experiment with the health of the American people as the experiment. It's x-ray technology! I once read about the history and development of  x-rays/ It's NOT a pretty story. When it was first discovered, those discovering had no idea what they were messing with. X-rays build up cumulatively in the body. That means the damage that is done with one, is added to each and every one you do on top of that first one. The fewer you have, the better. The more you have, the more your health risks for cancer increase.

Body Scanner Risks

I've had enough x-rays, that I don't want to add more, and I have a family history of cancer that I do not want to increase. So, there you have it. In my next rant, I'll talk about privacy, bathrooms, and open doors. But you might have to even remind me to rant. :-)

On a positive note, my life and particularly my family room are coming back together nicely. And I am so happy that my dear hubby and I have just passed the 23 year landmark. Airport scanners aside, it was lovely to get off the plane, and find my hubby waiting for me. I just love him.