Friday, October 31, 2008

Valuable lesson from my little sister...

I love my youngest sister Chelsea! She taught me a valuable lesson this week when I flew off the handle after an email from my Mom. The argument started several months ago involving AZ Proposition 102 (similar to the CA Prop 8). My family and the church is strongly for it and I am against it. I'm not going into every detail of why we disagree on this issue but suffice it to say that it's been a difficult thing for us.
So, several months ago I asked my Mom to stop sending me emails regarding Prop 102 and she stopped for a long time but then, out of nowhere, she sent me the following email on Wednesday:

Even with the opposition defacing & stealing our signs, yelling profanities, vandalizing front yards and broadcasting falsely on their commercials, we will stand true and strong on the side of righteousness! Thankfully there are many who stand with us!
I was more than a little upset that my Mom would send me an email like this so I hit "reply all" and this is what I had to say...

Wow! Thankfully the "Yes! on Prop 102" campaign has plenty of $$$ in its war-chest so I wouldn't worry too much about some defaced signs--just buy up a little more airtime or web banners or scare a few more people into donating by persuading them to think their marriage will be compromised by "the gays." Comparing yourselves to Samuel the Lamanite is such a twisted analogy when you have signs/billboards on every corner of this valley and the support of the majority of this state. Cry me a river! Don't try to play the victim here...I'm holding back the laughter!
-Allen

Anyway, you can probably tell that I was letting my sarcasm run wild without much regard for the consequences. Shortly after firing off my email, my sister Chelsea reminded me that the only thing this response accomplished was to damage relationships in my family. She is certainly right about that. As much as I may disagree with my Mom I can never deny that I love her and shouldn't let issues such as these divide us. It looks like I have some relationships to bandage up!