Sunday, December 16, 2012

To My Fellow Pants-Fighters

Dear Pants-Fighters that I know, don't know, kinda know, or maybe have just seen occasionally being clothed in public:

Today you all went out into your respective wards and church buildings clad in your two-legged butt coverings (or as some people call them, pants) and made a statement for you and what you believed in.

Some of you may have stepped into the doors with slight trepidation, some with a bolstering pride that shone like the thighs of a thousand red-haired men. Whatever entrance, you decided to strut your stuff through those doors and take a well deserved seat in your meetings.

A lot of you may have been given wide-eyed stares, possibly even the narrow squint of disapproval that is no easy thing to sit with.

I say to let them stare. To give them the satisfaction of you looking at yourself, doubting what you came to do in the first place, only strengthens their views of ,"I'm right, and they're wrong."

They: Those women (and men) trying to stand in solidarity with one another to promote more togetherness in a gospel that is centered around the very principle.

To those who weren't aware of the your panted oncoming, educate them. "So, why are all you young gals wearing those fancy pants to church today?" Old Widow Bates might inquire to you as you exit the sacrament hall.  Educate the wig off this woman.  Educate her so hard the tennis balls on her little walker fly off.

Not being a very religious person (but knowing general principles of Mormon doctrine), it saddens me to hear of all the hate that has been circulating over this day.  The very people speaking of love and understanding over the pulpit might very well be the person so afraid of this demonstration that they would actually use acts of aggression to preserve their views.

If they honestly believe that those putting their opinions out into the world don't deserve to be heard, they should just close their mouths as well. They should look back into history and look at all the times when their group was the underdog and the feelings that develop inside of them when they think of how if their small group of opinionators hadn't said anything, then where would they be now?

Also, if there's anything else I've learned from history, it's the small outspoken group that usually makes the most change. Often times they don't even think they've made an impact to their cause until they stand back and look at the completed project.

So some of you may think to yourselves that you didn't make a dent in your cause by wearing pants today. I say to that just because someone didn't explicitly accost you, grab you by the blouse, shake you with the force of one hundred 3-year olds, and tell you with how you personally changed their life, doesn't mean you didn't. Remember that there are a lot of quiet onlookers who just need someone to show them a new example.

In closing I am proud of all you pants wearing rock-stars.  You Stay-At-Home-Mom pants wearers, you single mother pants wearers, you working mother pants wearers, and whatever other manner of pants wearers out there, I am proud of you. Thank you for saying that you stood for something and thank you for your small bravery when entering a situation of unknown outcomes.

You're all making those first steps onto Everest where you aren't acclimatized yet. You throw up everywhere, but you keep going.  You keep going with your vomit stained shirt all the way up that damn mountain.

Also, thank you to the men out there that stood with these woman (because one needs not be a woman to be a feminist).

Just keep climbing past those squinty-eyed onlookers looking down upon you.  Eventually (and hopefully) you'll all be able to stand at the top together helping each other get there.

Rock stars, each and every one of you. You survived Pants-Gate, Pant-mageddon, Pant-pocalypse, or Pant-what? (as my dad said).

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