Corrections and Lessons

First the corrections. It's Jason, not Joshua. Sorry, Jared, I mean Jerry. Sam says I am a lousy blogger. No correction there. I just don't have time to keep up. And my favorite writers don't write often enough, like Pinetree, Smurf, and Tito. There are others that I have met, and love, but I don't know where their blogs are, and I just can't keep all the names straight. Perhaps if I had more time to spend online...

My local Mohos (in my YSA ward) have not been around. One went home for the Summer, and the other just hasn't been around. One of them and I went to the Dave Matheson fireside a few months ago. I have been thinking a lot about it since then. At first, I think he over simplified things. He seemed to say that if you would just remove the blockages in your life that prevented the natural heterosexual development, you can then become a heterosexual. Hmmmm, ... remove the blockages... We joked about it a bit afterwords. "Yeah, just take your homo laxatives and you'll be all right."

Tito actually helped me to take him more seriously. I have actually thought about a lot since then. Certainly, he couldn't have given us all the complexity in just one brief fireside. On the long drive back home the next day, I talked more about with this guy in my ward. He had been thinking about quite a bit too. He finally admitted that there had been some relationship issues between he and his father as he was growing up - a blockage. He figures that this probably did affect the development of his sexual identity. Interesting.

Obviously there can be many different kinds of blockages in the life of a child - an absent parent, sexual abuse, mental abuse, conflicting interests of the parents, lack of understanding of life principles, excessive pressure to live a certain way (like living the Gospel), fear of disappointment, etc. As combine this with the info I have gained from Evergreen and other sources, things start to make more sense, and I feel I can understand a little more. I admit that I still have a long way to go, and I am enjoying the ride. I love to learn.

Okay, the previous paragraph may sound weird. But I have witnessed some of our young moho friends who struggle more when there is more stress and strife in their lives, than when there isn't. And I have witnessed many other people who give in to temptation and struggles, even alcoholism, when they are burdened with other problems.

So stress, depression, fatigue, anxiety, and other negative impressions that beat down on a person probably make the SSA worse at times. These are the same things that I have seen that cause others to have problems with pornography, masturbation, and other sexual immorality and chastity issues. These things also cause people to neglect their prayers, scripture study, and meeting attendance. And they diminish one's faith. Interesting.

I know there is a lot more to it. But these are just some of the things I've learned lately. What have you learned?