This morning as I was leaving my house I turned to Amanda and Kevin and said, "Wow, it's like Summer out here!" And by the time I got up to the canyon to walk Buddha and Stella, I was, no joke, smack dab in the center of a full-blown blizzard. It's snowing so hard that in the time it took me to walk the canyon our footprints were completely obliterated. There were no traces that we had just walked where we had walked. Inches are literally falling from the sky!
If I were a religious person (and we know that I'm not really a religious person of the organized religion sort) I'd tell you the sky was crying because the president of the Mormon church had died. I honestly have no idea what this truly means for the Mormon church or how they go about choosing the next president, but I will tell you that as I was driving up to the canyon with the dogs, I noticed that every single state building in Salt Lake City had its US flag flying at half-mast. (ETA: I see upon reading the article that they choose a president from the council based upon seniority and unanimous vote that is a long standing tradition. Well, okay! I suppose there's no pushing and shoving or name calling for this position!).
I have long maintained, even before I moved to Utah, that there is very little separation here between church and state. I first made this observation when I learned that my niece and nephew were actually being taught Mormon studies at school. SCHOOL! My sister, NeverNakedBeth, is a teacher in the Utah school system (and she's actually come up against the state of Utah in other matters concerning the content of books that she has taught in her classroom) and when I asked her about this, the teaching of Mormon church matters during actual school hours, she said, "We're in Utah, that's just what we do."
I pointed out to her that there were some students, most likely, in the Utah school system who were not Mormon, who did not want to be taught Mormon studies, who did not need to prepare for their baptism or mission or whatever it is that they were learning in these classes. NeverNakedBeth assured me that those students were allowed to learn other things. But when I asked her what those things were she couldn't provide me with a real answer.
Uh, yeah. My point is that schools are publicly funded government places of learning for our children. Our tax dollars are what support the schools. If I'm paying taxes here in Utah, quite frankly I'd rather my tax dollars go to supporting music and theatre lessons for the children in the schools than lessons about Joseph Smith and the Golden Tablets. But that's just me. And as far as I know, currently there's no box to tick on our tax forms that says, "Please give this money directly to the arts programs."
Wouldn't that be wonderful?? I've been asking the US Government for just such a tick box for as long as I've been paying taxes. No joke. Every time I send my taxes to the IRS I send along a letter telling them that I am not giving any money for the war effort and that I would appreciate it very much if my money could be used for social programs and healthcare.
Of course, I'm not stupid enough to believe that this does any good other than to make someone at the IRS laugh and put my letter in the shredder. However, I feel better. I did spend quite a few years prior to marrying DSD where I never paid any taxes at all. Period. That was my way of protesting. But then when I married him, that all caught up with me and created quite a mess. All because he insisted that we file. Gah.
But back to Utah. The Mormon Church has lost its president and today those of us who live in Salt Lake are living under a very heavy blanket of snow and with heavy hearts. Again, I'm not sure of the process to replace this president. But I'm sure if I tune into the news, I'll find out. Or, I could just as NeverNakedBeth. I'm sure she knows.
Post Script: My friend, Laura, who has lived in Utah her whole life, has written a really thoughtful blog post in response to mine. It truly explains this whole business of the schools teaching Mormon religious studies. (They don't actually do it!). Thank you, Laura (and Karen!). However, I still have trouble with the flags flying at half-mast for the Mormon President OR the Pope. The Pope isn't even American?!! Yes, he's a world leader in some folks eyes, but he lives at the Vatican in Rome. Did flags in Utah fly at half-mast when Saddam was killed?
