Sunday, July 15, 2012
Choosing books
I enjoy reading, but I have a terrible time deciding what to read next. Mostly I beg friends to make recommendations or scan the groups at goodreads. Just ran across a couple of new ways to get recommendations, though. The first is whichbook. Set up to four range choices, such as Happy .... Sad or Easy .... Demanding, and the site makes suggestions. The other is BookLamp. It calls itself "the home of the Book Genome Project" and works similar to Pandora.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Pain of politics...
We're deep in the throes of an election cycle now, and it's all I can do to bite my tongue.
Yes, I'll admit it... I tend strongly toward liberal ideas. That doesn't mean I LIVE them. My life is actually lived very conservatively because I choose to align it as much as I can with the tenets of my LDS (Mormon) faith. However, I make a conscious effort to think in such a way that my beliefs do not impinge on the rights of others to have their own beliefs. That is, believe it or not, one of the basic tenets of my faith.
Here's how it plays out for me. I find abortion to be abhorrent. However, I know that many women find themselves in circumstances I cannot begin to imagine. So, even though I believe abortion to be wrong, I understand that is my personal belief, born of my personal faith. And it is a faith-based position that is NOT shared by everyone. Thus, I must leave procreation decisions up to the woman who is facing them. Only she knows her circumstances. Only she knows her position on abortion. Only she can make decisions for herself because SHE has agency over all her own choices (another of my faith's tenets). Because of this, I would never fight to overturn Roe v Wade.
So what in the world does this have to do with our current political climate? Too many of the Republican objectives are intended to directly interfere with the rights of others. They seem mean-spirited to me. The goal of overturning Roe v Wade or of preventing same-sex marriage is a matter of circumscribing someone else's life based on religious convictions that other person may not hold. What would those who rail against same-sex marriage have to say if they were faced with being required to wear a burqua? Outrage about their rights being infringed would ensue, and justly so. None of us should be forced to adhere to religious principles which we do not hold.
In the meantime, I will continue to live my life as closely as I can to LDS principles, but I won't be voting for Mr. Romney.
Yes, I'll admit it... I tend strongly toward liberal ideas. That doesn't mean I LIVE them. My life is actually lived very conservatively because I choose to align it as much as I can with the tenets of my LDS (Mormon) faith. However, I make a conscious effort to think in such a way that my beliefs do not impinge on the rights of others to have their own beliefs. That is, believe it or not, one of the basic tenets of my faith.
Here's how it plays out for me. I find abortion to be abhorrent. However, I know that many women find themselves in circumstances I cannot begin to imagine. So, even though I believe abortion to be wrong, I understand that is my personal belief, born of my personal faith. And it is a faith-based position that is NOT shared by everyone. Thus, I must leave procreation decisions up to the woman who is facing them. Only she knows her circumstances. Only she knows her position on abortion. Only she can make decisions for herself because SHE has agency over all her own choices (another of my faith's tenets). Because of this, I would never fight to overturn Roe v Wade.
So what in the world does this have to do with our current political climate? Too many of the Republican objectives are intended to directly interfere with the rights of others. They seem mean-spirited to me. The goal of overturning Roe v Wade or of preventing same-sex marriage is a matter of circumscribing someone else's life based on religious convictions that other person may not hold. What would those who rail against same-sex marriage have to say if they were faced with being required to wear a burqua? Outrage about their rights being infringed would ensue, and justly so. None of us should be forced to adhere to religious principles which we do not hold.
In the meantime, I will continue to live my life as closely as I can to LDS principles, but I won't be voting for Mr. Romney.
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