For what are you thankful?

[Moksha]

It would be fun if we had some Mormon Discussions thanks. What kind of non-personal things are Gadianton, Lemmie, Dr. Scratch, Honorentheos, and Dr. Shades thankful for? What about Kerry, Shulem, Res Ipsa, Bought Yahoo, Dastardly Stem, and others?

Must all the thanks come from those others?

[Dr. Shades]

I can't speak for the others, but my list is:

1. I'm thankful for the large pile of recruitment literature that the Special Olympics keeps sending me.
2. I'm thankful for blind strippers who keep grinding on you as you stuff their g-strings full of Monopoly money.
3. I'm thankful for that large box of pre-owned anal beads that my elderly neighbor left me in her will.
4. I'm thankful for what that non-LDS Girl Scout troop did to me--repeatedly--when I accidentally wandered into their campsite back when I was 13.
5. I'm thankful that that tranny hooker was too nearsighted to pick me out of a police line-up.

#GiveThanks

[Some Schmo]

I can't speak for the others, but my list is:

1. I'm thankful for the large pile of recruitment literature that the Special Olympics keeps sending me.
2. I'm thankful for blind strippers who keep grinding on you as you stuff their g-strings full of Monopoly money.
3. I'm thankful for that large box of pre-owned anal beads that my elderly neighbor left me in her will.
4. I'm thankful for what that non-LDS Girl Scout troop did to me--repeatedly--when I accidentally wandered into their campsite back when I was 13.
5. I'm thankful that that tranny hooker was too nearsighted to pick me out of a police line-up.

#GiveThanks

You drive me crazy sometimes, Shades, but it's posts like these that bring me back.

Good stuff. You made me laugh.

[msnobody]

It would be fun if we had some Mormon Discussions thanks. What kind of non-personal things are Gadianton, Lemmie, Dr. Scratch, Honorentheos, and Dr. Shades thankful for? What about Kerry, Shulem, Res Ipsa, Bought Yahoo, Dastardly Stem, and others?

Must all the thanks come from those others?

I suppose I might be one of “those others,” but I’ll venture over to the dark side. I’m thankful for the many times I didn’t get caught. That’s all I’m say’in.

[Jersey Girl]

It would be fun if we had some Mormon Discussions thanks. What kind of non-personal things are Gadianton, Lemmie, Dr. Scratch, Honorentheos, and Dr. Shades thankful for? What about Kerry, Shulem, Res Ipsa, Bought Yahoo, Dastardly Stem, and others?

Must all the thanks come from those others?

What about Jersey? What's she? Chopped liver?

[Jersey Girl]

It would be fun if we had some Mormon Discussions thanks. What kind of non-personal things are Gadianton, Lemmie, Dr. Scratch, Honorentheos, and Dr. Shades thankful for? What about Kerry, Shulem, Res Ipsa, Bought Yahoo, Dastardly Stem, and others?

Must all the thanks come from those others?

I suppose I might be one of “those others,” but I’ll venture over to the dark side. I’m thankful for the many times I didn’t get caught. That’s all I’m say’in.

I didn't get caught either. It probably would've been better for me in the long run if I had. Example: Shoplifting make up in North Jersey. Ironically, I was good at it. And what if you bought a case of beer when you were 16 and the liquor store guy didn't card you? Who's really at fault there, huh?

[Lem]

I'm grateful I left the LDS church before my guilt drove me to the bishops office to confess I touched my own breasts while putting on a bra my Sophomore year at BYU.

No, wait. That's going too far back.

2.I'm thankful for blind strippers who keep grinding on you as you stuff their g-strings full of Monopoly money.

Damn. I thought I was the only one that did that.

(Seriously, though, I did mention on Thanksgiving Day that I was thankful my current husband's hobby is cooking. Which is a big deal because I was woefully inadequate as a traditional Mormon wife. Too many brains, I guess. My only saving grace was that I would never have needed to get breast enhancements, as seems to be all the rage these days with Utah Mormon wives. God was good to me there. Although, dammit, that's probably why I couldn't put a bra on when I was 19 without fondling them. Full circle.)

[ajax18]

I'm actually thankful for my current ward and the Church once again. Not being allowed to go with my family and fellowship with like minded Saints has made that more clear. I never thought I would say that again. And I'm thankful to Dr. Shades who allowed me to say how I felt either way over the years.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

#grateful for space. Outer space. Space colonization is the ultimate filter*. Space doesn't care about your race, your creed, your political beliefs; if you're stupid, or lazy, or selfish, or degenerate, or malicious it’ll kill you... and if it doesn't your fellow colonists will because they know that if they stand by and tolerate incompetence, or sloth, or greed, or depravity, or hostility it will get them killed.

Nothing the multiculturalists say, or the ethnonationalists say, or the Left says, or the Right says, or any PR nonsense that might happen over the next 50 years matters to space; space is a crucible that burns away weakness and whatever the future of humanity might look like will be stronger than it is now. If it survives space.

* https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UjtOGPJ0URM&vl=en An awesome nine minutes of your life, well worth the watch.

- Doc

[Some Schmo]

I'm grateful I left the LDS church before my guilt drove me to the bishops office to confess I touched my own breasts while putting on a bra my Sophomore year at BYU.

Wow, this took my down a rabbit hole.

I've been thinking a lot lately about power and how we all bestow it on others. There's a little parable in the second Game of Thrones book from Vary:

In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the name of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me – who lives and who dies?

The point of this is that the answer depends on who the sellsword believes is the most powerful. In a sense, the sellsword is the one with the most power here, because he's the one to grant it.

I've reflected many times on how the church lost all it's power with me as soon as I decided it was all BS. All the guilt, the burden, the constant consideration of their concerns... all gone in the flash of a decision. I'm amused to think back that it ever held power over me in the first place, but really, it was deference to my father. He gave the church his power over me, while he transferred his own power to the church.

I remember about 20 years or so after I left, some missionaries came to my house, accompanied by some middle-aged dude (not sure why he was there - maybe in case things got rough with the rowdy exmo?) My father must have given them my address because they knew I was an ex-member (or "inactive" in mo-speak - also amusing). They asked me if I'd like to join them that Sunday and return to church. I couldn't help it - I burst out laughing. I remember both of the young missionaries had visibly hurt expressions on their faces, but the middle-aged dude's look was more knowing. I had an idea he knew exactly where I was coming from, and knew this task they were on was a lost cause.

That whole experience would have looked very different if I were in a different headspace, where I actually gave the church some kind of authority. I don't, and so everything they do seems like a joke to me.

So yeah, Lemmie, I once confessed to the bishop that I masturbated. Today, I'd be reminiscing fondly about it if they wanted to listen.