Disturbing P.C.

No, not a personal computer. I'm talking about political correctness. You know, that phenomenon where you have to pretend that there really isn't a HUGE PINK ELEPHANT POOPING IN YOUR LIVING ROOM?

This whole thing going on with the Muslims who are outraged at the Pope for quoting someone else is really disturbing me. It has been on my mind a lot lately. I guess to speak more generally, this whole notion of having to be "p.c." is bothering me. If some stereotypes aren't true, then how exactly is it that a person or a group can become stereotyped? And, why exactly should the Holy Father be apologizing again? I missed that. In this instance, it seems many of the people of Islam are retaliating by doing exactly what it is that they were offended by being associated with just a week ago.

Disturbing.

My Aunt Meredith has this wonderful saying I have heard many times; " If you're always looking to be offended, you always will be." Right on, Auntie M, right on. At one of our staff meetings at my volunteer counseling job, I suggested that, at the fundraising banquet that we have coming up, we acknowledge all the mothers in the room who have chosen life (we are a pro-life crisis pregnancy center). Another of the volunteers quickly pipes up, "Well, I don't think that's a good idea at all. It puts people on the spot. And besides, some women can't even get pregnant." Hmmm. I, of course, reply back with "Oh, it all has to be so dang p.c. nowadays, doesn't it?" She fires back, "It's not p.c.! It's just being courteous."

Okay, let me get this straight. I cannot compliment or thank person "A" publicly because there might be someone in the room who can't do what I am complimenting person "A" on, or chose not to do what I am thanking person "A" for doing? Yeah, just wanted to get that straight. Forget it. This topic exhausts me.

So...I took my little brother's senior pictures this past weekend. It was a ton of fun AND I figured out that I am pretty decent photographer! Of course, Kellen was a great subject to work with and laughs so easily that it really was a ton of fun. I just keep adding things to the list of stuff I have been willing to try. Both my mom and my mother-in-law paid me some beautiful compliments about the photos. The sad thing is, while I am proud of myself and excited about this newly discovered ability, I keep thinking about all the things I still can't do. What is that? Why are we so self critical? To keep us humble. To remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, I suppose. My mom and I had a really good talk about this very thing while she was here. We just have to give it to God and know that our perceptions of ourselves are NEVER going to be accurate (which in no way means that we shouldn't treat our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, and feed, clothe, and excercise them accordingly! It just means that when looking in the mirror, we might as well be wearing big red clown noses and hula skirts. We are that distorted. )

Oh, an update about our over-commited household; we decided to scale back. We are no longer going to put clothes away, dress the children, feed the dog, or vacuum. Ahhh....that feels so much better. That stuff was really beginning to stress me out.