I go to meetings at Church most Wednesday nights. It’s one of the many joys of being the Executive Secretary. I take notes in meetings… lots and lots of notes. I didn’t have time to change after work, so went to my meetings in my Mozilla t-shirt, which got lots of funny looks and people asking me what a “Moe-zilla” was. I gave them funny looks, and wondered to myself, “What rock do you live under that you haven’t heard of Mozilla?”
It came to me very quickly that it’s me who lives under the rock. I’m a geek. I use a Wiki. I write a blog (you’re reading it now), and have since before 90% of the blogs in existance came to be (aaaall the way back in 2000). I’ve been online for ten years, and am online, on average, for ten hours a day. I’ve installed Linux more times than I wish to count, and know why I’m supposed to hate Microsoft. I don’t live in the regular world, where computers are used for homework, and a terminal is at the airport.
I’ve been doing this so long that I don’t remember not doing it. Some days, it doesn’t feel like I speak English anymore. When confronted with the fact that 99% of the people I know outside of work don’t know anything about my world, I get confused (I was asked Sunday morning what a blog was… I almost cried).
I accept it, and am moving on, learning to cope. I’m not normal. As someone said last night, “Kevin, you’re proof that the church has some diversity in it.” I thought that was kind of a weird thing to say, until I thought about it. Yeah, I’m diverse alright. I’m a progressive Mormon geek who’s never going to come down on the side of the Religious Right or be much of a social conservative. I support the idea of gay marriage. I don’t think it’s the government’s place to define morality, no matter how the majority of the country feels about it. The majority of the country was in favor of segregation and Jim Crow laws, and look how well that worked out. I don’t like Utah. I don’t like LDS Bookstores. I don’t like those sappy stories that people tell in church because they think they’re spiritual (they’re really just emotionally manipulative). But, with all of those things that make me a “weird” Mormon, I also believe the Church is true, and I support my local leaders. I do a lot of what I’m supposed to (really, who does everything they’re supposed to?), and I’m trying to be the best person I can be… how well I’m doing at that I can’t say.
So, instead of being freaked out by the fact that I’m obviously a “minority” member of the LDS Church, I’m going to embrace it. Vive Les Weirdos, man… vive les weirdos.
