J.M. Bell

Posted By JM Bell on November 29, 2007

Ah the lethargy of Utah. Hoo Hum. New License Plate Idea:

UTAH

Life Medicated

According to this morning’s news papers, radio reports and television “news,” Utah is depressed. In fact, Utah is the most depressed populous in the country. Now, I am sure that there are are a couple of bus load of Prozaced GOP lawmakers on the hill that will deny this report (much like dental and vision care for the poor, disabled and elderly), but, the simple fact that Utah is full of sad people is, if you pay any attention at all, plain truth.

Part of it, as I recall from my childhood, has to do with finding yourself unable to live up to the dominant religion’s expectations of you and your behavior. This is not a sweeping criticism if the COJCOLDS, by any means, more a reflection on what happens when you let someone else’s definition of Jesus and his ministry destroy your sense of humor.

This is certainly not just a Mormon thing, either, but, for my progressive and liberal friends: how many times do you walk away after some family function feeling like you were just mentally and spiritually violated by a Mack Truck? And for my conservative friends: think back to your last family get together … remember that member of your family who leans to the left? You know … The Liberal? When you and nearly every other member of your family stood in a line to tell him he was going to hell and threatened to shove a Turkey leg up his ass because he asked you tell him HOW gay marriage would destroy America … do you think maybe you were being a bunch of assholes? No? Didn’t think so.

But this certainly doesn’t explain why Utah is so depressed, does it? I mean, the State is full of Republicans, so, what’s the problem? Guilt?

I’ve written about this before.

The ministry of Christ, his message of love and forgiveness, seems to be a major sticking point for self purported “Christians”.

Conversations with family about Christ’s message vs. Religious hatred and condemnation always end up with someone in my family slapping down the “It’s in the bible” card.

I have often remarked that the Gospels of Christ in the New Testament would be far less powerful without the context of the Old Testament to show you what the world was like when Jesus came.

I have always believed that Christ’s visit; his life, example and message, as well as his ultimate murder at the hands of the Romans to give us the chance of repentant redemption, were, in the modern equivalent, a punching of the reset button on centuries of freakish, brutal and often mind blowing interpretations of “God’s will” and that God sent his son down to straighten everything and everyone out.

Jesus, if you will, was God’s Cleaner; set upon this Earth to clear up the tonnage of misinformation and persecution, among other things, done in the name of God by power mongers and imperial-minded boneheads and tyrants.

From a personal standpoint: My son goes to Sunday School and is told that Democrats and Homosexuals are in league with Lucifer and are damned. My son then comes home and reads the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The boy has questions. Lots of questions, that are hard to answer in a non-scurrilous way.

My son knows gay people. He has seen them as extended members of our family and has seen the way they behave. They are charitable, kind, generous, always helpful, the first friends to arrive when tragedy strikes and the last to leave in times of hardship.

My son knows his religious relatives. He hears them denounce and demean women, minorities, homosexuals, and the “different,” and he has questions.

He knows his old ward where my former Democratic Party position and activism made him the target of parents’ vehement discrimination, passed onto their children, and resulting in active persecution and ostracizing in the neighborhood and at school, and he has questions.

It’s sometimes too easy to blame the institutions of religion, or to shy away from individual targeting of hypocrisies and hate. It’s harder, and thus more intimidating, to isolate the general herd mentality and the dangers of common sense. Common sense lends excuses for any behavior or belief. It’s common. “Everyone else feels this way” or “This is how I’m supposed to believe.”

The common sense of fear has given us the destruction of Habeas Corpus.

The common sense of fear has given us the the torture of detainees, forever staining what America supposedly stands for.

The common sense of white exceptionalism has made, for so many people, the hated and distrust of Hispanics and ethnic Europeans, as well as the continued distrust of other minorities, part of the fabric of our American society.

The common sense of a dominant religion has given us an intolerance of those who have different beliefs (while this is not just a Utah, or a Mormon thing, we’re really good at here).

The common sense of economic panic in Utah, an economic fear bred right from the guts of GOP legislative behavior, from the Federal Government right on down to our local legislature, from massive foreclosures, one of the highest rates of bankruptcy and a middle class just struggling to survive has given us a disposition toward blame.

A common sense of blame, so against the teachings and the direction of the dominant religion’s central teachings, can only lead in a couple of different directions: massive guilt and malaise, or hatred and violence. Sadly, yet thankfully, Americans in general and Utahns, in specific, aren’t the massive crimes against humanity type.

The common sense of guilt, fear and struggle, I believe, has lead to Utah being the most depressed out of all the other states, and, since there were 51 contestants, I’m guessing Puerto Rico.

So, we’re all depressed, or, at least, heavily medicated. How many members of your family are on anti-depressants? How many people do you know that are hanging between making ends meet and financial ruin? We live in the new Zion, and it’s making us all blue.

So … what’s the solution? Ah, there’s the rub.

Change.

What is more terrifying than a GOP stump speech? Change.

Life is so terribly short and, for most everyone, devoid of purposeful direction. Are we really set upon a path of divine direction, locked for life in a pre-ordained muddle of mediocrity and constant struggle, or, is the gift of life a deeper thing; a opportunity to shine and grow and achieve?

Try something over the next month: Give.

It’s the Holiday season where the mass majority of this state’s population celebrate the birth, the life and the teachings of the divine son of God. So … go do some of that. Volunteer at a homeless or a women’s shelter, run a neighborhood toy drive for the Marine Corps Toys For Tots*, visit the infirm and read to the elderly, whatever: just Give. It will make you happy, I promise, but the flavor of happiness might not taste as sweet as you want it to. I can’t guarantee sweetness.

Oh, and don’t wuss out and just send a check … take the check to wherever and get your hands dirty (figuratively or literally, I don’t care). Work for the good of the community and enrich your life. Besides, it’s what Jesus would do on his birthday, and, you can quit feeling so damned depressed.

Categories: America
Tags: Utah