Sophie's Story

   C is a member of a few local Facebook groups. He likes to post positive messages in these groups because sometimes, quite frankly, the commenting can get pretty negative. A few days ago he shared a post about respecting the opinions of others and not humiliating those with whom you do not agree.  The post reads, "It's okay to have an opinion. It's ok to disagree with someone else's opinion. It's not okay to humiliate someone because they don't think the same as you do. Show some respect. Society needs more of it." Then he sat back to see what kind of response he would get.    Everyone reacted positively to the post.  Although to be honest I'm not sure if that means anything. Many times people just surf through Facebook and hit "like" without really reading what they are liking.Several also made a comment agreeing with the statements.    One guy commenting that he was tempted to make some sort of flippant remark after seeing the positiv...

      I'm slowly coming around to the advantages of having a smartphone. It's been really helpful at work. I feel like I'm finally up to speed with my coworkers. I've even got a Bitmoji. It's been handy for checking email and Facebook.    The thing I like most about my smartphone is the ability to text. I like texting. I've even been able to text my Dad which has been very nice.    This week while we've been on vacation I've been using my smartphone to virtually take my friend,Celine, along. Celine recently moved to Minnesota and has never been in the Midwest before. As her friend, I've felt it my duty to show her  as much of this part of the country as I can.    A few weeks ago when we went to  the North Shore I told Celine that I was going to "take" her along with me on our road trip. Everywhere we went I took a few pictures so she could see and then I would text them to her. It was kind of fun, sort of like keeping a little...

  Lots of changes have happened the last week or so. There were two big changes announced at General Conference two weeks ago. The first is that church is not going to be three hours long anymore. Lots of people are very happy about this. The second change was that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer refer to themselves as Mormon or LDS. I can understand this. We don't call Roman Catholics "Papsists". We don't call other faith that are Bible based "Bibleists". I have never understood why it is all right to call members of The Church of Jesus Christ by the name of one of our books of scripture. As a sign that the Church Leadership mean business on this  one, the name of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was changed to The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.   We're on our annual vacation to Door County and there are more changes.    Our room has been redecorated. The big armoire is gone and there is a dresser in it's plac...

   During the women's session of this last weekend's General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson gave a list of four things that all women in the church should do help themselves spiritually.   One of those things was a ten day fast from social media. This is not the first time the president of the Church has encouraged members to abstain from social media, which generally means Facebook, but could include Twitter and Instagram as well, for brief period of time. In June President Nelson encouraged the youth to take a seven day fast calling it, "break from fake".   I was planning on doing the fast, but thought that I would start it when we go on our yearly pilgrimage to Door County.   It occurred to me that that might be cheating. When we are in Door County we are usually out and about. There isn't much time to look at computer screens. The purpose of a fast is to refrain from something in order to gain ...

  This past weekend was General Conference weekend. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather in meeting houses, the Conference Center and  around TV screens, computer screens, smartphones, radios and tablets to listen to talks given by church leaders on a variety of subjects. There is music by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and and sometimes other choirs.   C and I were among those gathered to listen to the talks. I enjoy listening to them. I must confess, though, there is one thing about conference I like more than the talks.   I like the organ.   The organ in the Conference Center amazes me. It's huge. It's beautiful. It sounds really nice even over computer speakers. I love watching the organists play it. Their skill fascinates me. I'm challenged by one keyboard, yet there are five on the Conference Center organ.   If that isn't enough there are also a lot of foot pedals. I have no idea how many. There's a lot of sto...

   I like looking at the memories that pop up on my Facebook page each day. Some of them are funny, some are baffling and some are insightful. One thing I've noticed the past few days is that my memories include things I've shared. All are pictures of with different sayings. One of them was "I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." Another is, "You can easily judge the character of a person by how they treat those who can do nothing for them." The last one is, "You have no responsibility for what happened to you as a child. You have complete responsibility for what you do about it now."    I can guess what prompted me to share those posts. Obviously, I was dealing with someone, or perhaps several someones that were choosing to blame others for actions or choices that they were making now.    I'm sure that I'm going to get a certain amount of criticism for what I'm about to write. I believe that there ...