I was born to a mother who had converted to the LDS faith a few years before my birth, and a Father who had been born in the covenant, as had his father, and his father before him.
My paternal great-great grandfather joined the LDS faith in Switzerland after attending a single meeting, at the request of his mother. He crossed the Atlantic, and then the plains, not once, but 3 times, before the railroad was built. He married a pair of sisters. He left his families and returned to Switzerland to serve a mission. He was the clerk over the finances of the local United Order until it’s forced dissolution. He served time in the penitentiary for practicing polygamy. He was a weaver, a farmer, a miller and a businessman.
My paternal great grandfather was the oldest son born to his father’s first wife. Like his father, he was also a farmer, and in that capacity, he died in an accident where his head was crushed by a wagon.
My paternal grandfather was his infant son at the time, and like his father, and his father before him, was a farmer too. Not that that was his desire. He wanted to be a forest ranger. But being the son of a widow, he had no opportunity for higher education, and was forced to take over the family farm.
Somehow he was able to serve a mission in Australia, but he never really had an opportunity to travel after that.
My father graduated from BYU, and served a mission in Brazil. He was a high school teacher by profession. He met and married my mother in southern California, where I was born. But shortly thereafter they moved back to Utah so that my dad could help my grandpa run the farm. He built a house next door to his parents, working on it nights, weekends, and during summer vacations (He sort of finally finished it when I was in college, after which he sold it). He taught school during the school year, and farmed during the summer. When I was about 4, my grandfather died, and my dad ended up running the farm by himself.
As the oldest of 4 boys, I began driving (OK more like steering) the tractor while my dad stood on the wagon and pulled bales off the the elevator and stacked them at the age of 8. We had ~120 acres of farm, about ½ of which was either barley or alfalfa, and the rest usually pasture, and anywhere from 20-150 pair of beef cattle on the farm where I grew up.
I was very close to my grandmother, until she died about 3 years later. I would go to her house every day, and sit on her lap, and she would read to me. Until I began to read to her. Like my dad, I much preferred to read a book (or watch a movie when we finally got one of the first VCR’s) to plowing, seeding, furrowing, irrigating, swathing, baling, or hauling hay, or to feeding cows. I still did all of those things, but usually only when I had to.
The ward I grew up in never really accepted my mother, because she was a convert to the church, and came from God-less California. I had the distinct impression that they never cared much for me either. Maybe that’s why I’ve probably spent less than 48 hours there in the last 30-35 years.
As soon as I turned 16 (and had 3 younger brothers who could help on the farm) I got a job in the nearest town. First in fast food, then in retail.
During these years I had a group of 5 friends. In a graduating class of 72 (70 of whom were members), the six of us were an odd combination. We had the football team captain, a guy who lived down the street from me since 4th grade, who was an inactive member all his life; the student body president, who moved in when we were in the 10th grade, who was the only Methodist in our school; the editor of the school paper, an atheist, who was also the smartest kid in school (once his even smarter brother graduated and went to Yale); the Principal’s son, who had been my best friend from the time he moved to my tiny town when we were 4 or 5, until he moved 2 towns over to live next to the school when his dad changed from being a teacher to an administrator, he was an active member until he was old enough to find excuses not to attend church, about 16; and the Seminary Class President, the middle child of a family of 5, his father had died when he was in Kindergarten, and I’d known him ever since. He was my only good friend growing up that actually lived the gospel.
When I was younger, I liked to argue. I was a debater in high school, and for my first two years of college. Between my first and second year of college I served a mission in New Zealand. It was an experience that stays with me to this day, not for what I did, but for how it ended.
When I returned from my mission I got a job working in a law firm, and (with the exception of being a welfare eligibility worker during my senior year of college) have done so since.
I also lost my fire for arguing for argument’s sake. I only do it when I’m paid to at this stage of my life. (Since I'm not being paid to write this blog, I don't plan on arguing with any visitors who may feel inclined to attempt it.)
I graduated with a degree in Sociology, and a minor in Applied Ethics. After college I went to law school, where by chance I was able to room with my one of my best friends from high school. The one that was my only good friend growing up that actually lived the gospel. He got married after the end of our 1st year of law school. But not before dragging me to the “Young Adult/Student Ward” and making sure I did more than just show up for the 3-hour block on Sunday.
I got married after the end of my 2nd year of law school. My wife is 5 years older than me, and we have 3 daughters together. We met in the “Young Adult/Student Ward” and we were “just friends” until we realized that we were actually dating, and 2 months late we were married in the temple.
I’m an attorney by profession. It’s what I wanted to do since I was in high school. I’m not sure what I’d do if I didn’t practice law. I am sure I could make a lot more money, and work a lot more, if I’d stayed in a big city where I had a partnership offer some 14 years ago, but I don’t. Instead I chose to move to a rural area, where I have a general, solo practice.
I abhor politics. The US political party system is just plain evil to me. It, falsely I believe, tells people they only have 2 real choices, and both of those choices are so heavily influenced by the super rich, that there’s very little difference between them. Yet both parties rely on stirring up contention, by paying lip service to social issues that they can distinguish (or more accurately divide) them from “the other.” Regrettably, almost everyone I know views the world around them through the lens of the political party they tend to agree with.
For the record, I think I was registered as a Republican when I turned 18 (because it was Utah, and that’s pretty much all there was), I think I registered as a Democrat in California, when I returned from my mission, because that’s who was doing the registrations on the mall where I was walking at lunch time from my summer job (and I wanted to be a California resident for school purposes). But when I moved to Nevada, I registered as “NON PARTISAN.” No it’s not the same as independent, or 3rd party, or anything else. It’s NO PARTY affiliation. No one in the last 20+ years has done anything to convince me to join a political party, but plenty have confirmed my decision to remain unaffiliated.
While liberals may claim to have common ground with many of my thoughts, they also disavow many others. Conservatives, on the other hand, I find don’t really have many thoughts, other than what’s fed to them through their party machinery (though liberals are also more and more guilty of this too) but as long as they don’t open their mouth (and remove all doubt), we generally get along, and enjoy many of the same things I do. The problem is most of them can’t resist the temptation to proselytize for their party/world view at every opportunity.
I wrote a theory essay in college once where I said, Conservatives (who I believe for see the past as far better than it actually was, and fear for a future far worse than it ever actually turns out) are fools because they refuse to see any problems with “the system” that can't be fixed by regressing to how things used to be; Liberals are cowards and fools (for claiming to see many major problems with “the system,” but for thinking they can just make minor changes to fix major flaws; and for failing to actually even make those minor adjustments when they have the chance) and our only hope is in Radicals. Of course the problem, as I’ve since come to see it is that while radical change is needed to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth, there is no one with an actual plan that appears to be in place to achieve that. (Well, no one who is mortal.)
History is replete with examples of how a people can have a good life under a good king, but things are turned upside down when the successor king is not good. Whether that “King” is a single man, or a small group of super rich men, appears to make no difference. Other than, I’ve never seen an example of a group of good oligarches.
Well, that’s the way I see it, but then again, I’m Dence
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OK, this is part 1 of my personal history and commentary. I guess I’m writing it mainly to give prospective readers some insight into why I may believe what I do. In this blog I’d like to write about certain issues that I find interesting or important, and hopefully get your feedback. I figure, if you understand where I’m coming from, you may be able to have a better conversation with me.
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