Ignorance Isn't Bliss

It’s been a busy week. I’ve been a little backed up on homework the past few days (and lacking the energy to do it ahead of time like I’ve been trying to do this semester… hence why I’m backed up). So this probably won’t be a long post, but I felt I should write it.

It’s kind of frustrating when people say things without thinking or making assumptions. I made a joke out of one of these experiences before, when my elders’ quorum president said to me “Congratulations on not being gay” but on a different day, that could have been hurtful (but no worries, Ben). After reading that post, Ben said to me “Oh the things we say when we don’t know.” The day he said that to me, I had a good laugh about it. On a worse day, who knows?

Garrett and Daniel (Juliana's brother) at
Daniel's Eagle Court of Honor

With Boy Scouts of America considering the policy change lately, it’s been a rough subject for a bunch of my North Star friends. For those of you who don’t know, BSA is considering letting gay scouts in and allowing gay scout leaders. Now, I understand the apprehension towards this (who would want a gay man going on a camping trip with their son?), but that assumes that you think the gay leader would prey on your son.

One of my North Star friends recently posted on the Facebook group (he gave me permission to tell this story) about a conversation he’d had with a coworker. His coworker had commented saying that “It looks BSA isn’t going to die today”, talking about not changing the policy. This (and the ensuing conversation) upset my friend, especially since he was already in a vulnerable state. Granted, I doubt this coworker knew my friend had SSA, but the carelessness of the comment can hurt people. You never know who is going to be affected by the issue, whether it’s because of they, a friend, or a family member deals with SSA (by the way, they later talked and my friend learned that his coworker has problems with BSA anyway).

Bottom line: we all have our opinions. That’s fine (in fact, that’s encouraged) and in the proper setting we should express those opinions. However, it should never be carelessly and it should always be thought through, because we don’t know who our words could affect. Everything we say should be in a spirit of love. The old saying is that “ignorance is bliss”, but I disagree; other people’s ignorance is hardly bliss in my life (yes, it goes both ways).