To all my readers who also blog:

I recently changed my site template here, and I'd sure like to reset all my old links and set up linking exchanges with other bloggers, especially other LDS bloggers. So, just leave a comment, and I'll add your link onto my site, and you can link to me, too!

Thanks!

Yet More on Death

Last wednesday, while I was at work, my lovely wife IM'ed me to tell me that my uncle Jim had died. He'd had a big stroke and passed a few hours later.

I wasn't really "close" to him, but all of my memories of him are fond.

When Ieft on my mission (I won't tell how long ago that was), it was he and his family that picked me up at the airport and put me up for a few days before delivering me to the MTC.

After the mission, I moved from Indiana to Utah. As my old VW Rabbit limped into Salt Lake City on I-80, he was the one that looked it over and discovered that it was the clogged fuel filter that was causing the problem. It was fixed in no time.

He and his sister, my mom, have always been very close. It soon became tradition for my mom and dad to fly out from Indiana every Thanksgiving. Then we would all gather for the feast. As my sister and I each got married, our spouses were welcomed into the family without question at the annual dinner.

Years later, my wife took a photography class at the Community College, Jim (a former professional photographer and camera repairman), gave her a nice Minolta SLR. We still use it when we shoot together.

Jim was a vey prolific and creative poet. He's one of the few pure poets I know who writes in rhyme and meter. I mean, I do, too, but I'm a songwriter, intending to set my words to music. He'd really mastered the ability to meter and rhyme just for its own sake.

And above all, he was just a great person, as is his wife. And together, they raised their kids the same way.

The funeral's today. While it will be nice to see everyone, Jim will be sorely missed

Mark Hansen Music

A Very Touchy Subject

Ok, on eBay, there’s people that are posting LDS garments for sale.

Now this is a very touch topic for me. On the one hand, that enrages me. It’s clearly something someone is doing just to get the Mormons riled up. And it’s working. There’s all kinds of discussions running on the net as well as email petitions aimed at eBay to force the seller to remove them. So, a part of me is really getting upset about it.

Then, another part of me is wanting to just be quiet about it. I mean, the symbolisms of the garments are sacred to us as Members of the Church. While it hurts us to see them trivialized by cheap gimmicks like that, it also is not something that we want to make a row about. We don’t talk about the symbols out of the temple itself. It’s THAT sacred.

On another hand, we do wear them underneath our clothes. That means that they’re underwear. We do that so that they are with us, close to us always. They remind us of our commitments to God on a daily basis.

Or do they?

That’s the question that this whole issue raises with me.

Day in, day out, I wear them. I put them on, I take them off and change them like I would any other piece of clothing. With all that constant contact, I admit I don’t think as much as I should about the sacred symbolisms in the clothing. I don’t think about the blessings that were pronounced on me as I wore them the first time, if I were faithful.

So, are they sacred to me or are they just underwear?

I hope I can refocus where it should be.


MRKH
Mark Hansen
markhansenmusic.com