I’m not looking for anyone to come changing after me.
However, I do need to look in the mirror. I have always been bothered by the trash talking mentality and always felt that it was disrespectful. But in many ways, that’s a me problem.
And by “trash talking mentality” I mean talking about the people rather than the subject.
Many perfectly respectable and good people do that. I don’t or haven’t. And I guess I do have a thin skin over it.
But it’s not fair for me to expect others to change to my values and opinions.
To all of you, including Jim, I apologize for making this about me and taking up so much time and energy of OWA.
I will ( try) to learn from this and just let things roll off my back in the future.
You would be missing out on more baseball knowledge than most of the rest of us have combined if you use that feature. He is a crotchety old man (about my age), but a wealth of knowledge and insight. Be patient. You will be old someday too (if you are lucky).
Oh, I know that there are plenty of Mormons in Idaho. In my experience, Mormons are not like vegans in that they won’t tell you all about their fucked up belief system within the first few minutes of conversation, but they aren’t that hard to identify. If someone’s always smiling, has a stupid haircut and wants to sell you some essential oils, well, more’n likely you gotcherself a Mormon.
I have a friend/co-worker who is very Mormon, and while we disagree on everything from politics to haircuts, I have an enormous amount of respect for him personally. He’s never tried to preach to me, and he has an unrelenting drive to be a good citizen and to help others. I’ve never met anyone who puts his time, and his money, where his mouth is more. Perhaps he’s an anomoly, but we need more people willing to do that.
The company I work for is based in Utah, and pretty much all Mormon. Very nice people but odd. They try hard to be “cool” and remind me of that “how do you do, fellow kids?” meme. Very pleasant folk tho. Very white, like Eddie Murphy white guy imitation white. It’s pretty funny.
My friend is cool, without trying too hard to be. For example, he goes to the bar for office happy hours with us, though he drinks cranberry juice. It doesn’t feel forced, we just know he doesn’t drink alcohol or caffeine. It’s all cool, and he has a good time with us while we’re having a beer or a cocktail. He’s fun to be around, and it’s not awkward at all. Again, that’s one individual, and he’s a very outgoing personality in general, so I’m sure that helps.