We are always being watched

Today I read Alma 39, Alma's opening statements to his son Corianton. Corianton was one of the two that had gone with Alma to the Zoramites along with Shiblon. Unlike Shiblon however, Corianton did not preach the word as he should have. Rather he left the mission field and went after a prostitute named Isabel.

As can be imagined, Alma is deeply grieved by this and he makes a statement in what might arguably be my favorite verse in the Book of Mormon. In verse 11, the 2nd half of the verse, Alma says: "...O my son, how great iniquity ye brought upon the Zoramites for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words. " In my last set of scriptures, I had written in the margins under this verse, "we are always being watched".

How many of us who read this who are Latter-day Saints have heard someone say when they discover we are LDS that they used to know an LDS person and then they proceed to tell you exactly what type of person they were. You can also tell by the way they describe the person and the way they talk about it, how they feel about the church, and in 90% of the cases if it was a bad LDS person, they don't like the church, and vice versa.

As unfair as it may seem, people judge the church based on their one interaction with an LDS person. But as I think about it, this is not so uncommon. We do it with everything. We do it to people of different elasticities than ourselves, different cultures and backgrounds and even different cities. We have all had that experience where we meet 1 person from a place and think to ourselves, "Oh that must be how everyone from (insert name here) is."

Unfortunately, since most LDS people are not in the habit of announcing who they are, the people of the world are much more likely to meet two people from Montana in the course of their lives as they are to know that they have met two LDS people. However, if someone has met an LDS person who lived their religion, they are VERY adept at recognizing another one. I have had dozens of people come up and ask me if I am LDS that I know for a fact I never mentioned it to them. They just know the signs. I am not shy about the fact that I do not work Sundays because of my religion, that I don't drink alcohol, don't smoke or drink coffee or tea. While I have a slip up every now and then, people recognize that I don't use swear words or other foul language, that I don't tell off color jokes.

In a way that is a HUGE compliment, that I am doing a good job of living my religion. On the other hand it is a tremendous pressure. I sometimes feel like a bug in a jar, and all eyes are on me. I really hate it when I hear people say, "Wow, I would have never thought I'd hear you say that, Fred." That lets me know, no questions asked, that I have screwed up. And it always helps me be better next time I am faced with that scenario.

I have no idea how often is happens, but I wonder how many people meet another LDS person and reminisce about me and say that they knew a "Mormon" once and they liked him and he was a good person, etc, etc. I sincerely hope that no one speaking about me mentions they knew a "Mormon" once and boy was he a such and such. But one never knows. I think sometimes we meet people who recognize us as LDS but don't ever say anything. Hopefully in those cases, I have left a good name for our religion in their minds, but I know myself and it's all too possible that I may have been having a weak moment and left them with a sour taste in their mouth.

I will end here because I could literally go on for days on this subject. Suffice it to say, be who you want people to remember you as, always. Because they will remember you once they know you are LDS, and by the time they realize it, the impression is already made. So live your life the way you want to be remembered. That is how I live mine and I have very few regrets. Until tomorrow.