Sunday, October 3, 2010

Life is Hard--Truth Makes it Livable

Since I've been in New York City and in Social Work school, my eyes have been opened to a lot of HARD things. In the city alone, every single day, at least once (usually more than), I see the lost, the lonely, the homeless, the disabled, the poor. I've begun to see people and wonder about their lives--what brought them to where they are now. What was their childhood like? Do they have any loved ones in their lives? To those who ask for money, I would give a dollar and more to every person who expresses need if there weren't handfuls of them every day, and if I, myself, wasn't living on borrowed money. LOTS of borrowed money. I've thought, well, at least I've been able to apply and get approved for thousands of dollars in student loans, right? But all money I will, in fact, pay back one day. Yikes. Lets not go there--ever.

But back to my thoughts. I attribute a major part of this curiosity of people and their lives to my schooling and career path I'm on and the things I've learned in it, so far. I'm learning not to just see the surface, but to know there's much more to someone than what meets the eye. I'm three weeks, almost four, in to my internship and already I've witnessed some very HARD things. To be realistic, a lot of people's troubles stem from things that can be prevented, by their choices. I won't list them all, but generations are affected by their predecessors. Abuse (physical, sexual, verbal, substance), for one, often run in families for generations and do profoundly damaging things to people and all others connected to those people. Human life is often affected by it from the very beginning. I've learned that alcohol, more than any other drug, is the most harmful to a fetus inside a woman's womb. Women and men are often careless with their responsibilities and end up creating a life that they aren't prepared to take care of. Or there's disease that spreads because people are sharing their body with any- and everyone. There is a greater design and purpose to life than taking advantage of it or by abusing it.

I've never been more sure than I am right now in my life that the principles and doctrines I believe as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are true and correct. It makes so much sense to me why I have been taught to not put harmful substances in my body, and why I shouldn't spend much time in places where people do such things. It makes so much sense to me I should wait till I am in a committed relationship of marriage to be fully and completely intimate with someone, because, yes, it's that sacred and, yes, one of the main purposes or outcomes of sex happens to be, oh, I don't know, creating new life! I'm just convinced day in and day out that life would be a lot more livable if people treated their bodies, themselves, and each other with more respect and more virtue. It makes so much sense to me to live life in the way that I do, what I believe to be the way God intended. I'm not claiming I live this perfect life. Not at all. Would it be a whole lot easier to do whatever I wanted?? Uh, yeah. But do I feel like I'm missing out on something because I refrain? Uh, no.

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