So. What can you do?

So the lesson in Relief Society yesterday was interesting. It was based on the concept of "provident living" and these were the 5 main areas the teacher covered:

1. We are responsible for our own social, emotional, spiritual, physical, and economic well-being.

2. We have been counseled to participate in home food production and storage.

3. We should work for what we receive.

4. We can become economically self-reliant by saving, avoiding debt, and living within our means.

5. Preparedness is a way of life that brings its own rewards.

The problem with these kinds of lessons is that they end up becoming All About Food Storage, and this one was no different. I really would have like to have spent more time on #1, especially about social, emotional, and physical well-being, because it seems like those are things that the some of us in the room are actually concerned about and perhaps struggling with. And it could have been that the teacher wanted to go there but didn't get a chance because the lesson had already veered off into Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness Land, with everyone wanting to share tips and comments and personal experiences.

During the bit about "home production," one girl went off about how a friend of hers asked her for help sewing a baby quilt and it turned out that her friend couldn't even sew a straight line and it was just so absolutely baffling to her. She went on and on about this, and about how stunned she was that her friend couldn't use a sewing machine and doesn't already have a room full of the quilted art she has created.

Only here's the thing. Why is that so baffling? Why should her friend know how to sew? It's not like we learn in school. It's not like the knowledge is passed down through Mormon amniotic fluid or in the Cache Valley water (although, seriously, that last bit wouldn't surprise me). Unless someone takes us aside and teaches us at the age of 6, or unless we have the desire to be all crafty and buy ourselves a machine and figure it out (and perhaps ask a friend for help in getting started), how would we know? Also, what if we don't care? What if we're not crafty? What if we don't want to make our own clothes or tie quilts or create Americana-themed wall hangings for our living room?

Also? What's up with canning and all that? Why should we do it? If I already have a year's supply of peaches from Costco then shouldn't I be good? Why on this sweet earth should I spend a Saturday up to my elbows in sticky nastiness just to give myself botulism? I mean, if you like to do those things and you like knowing where your food comes from and it gives you a feeling of satisfaction, then that's wonderful and I say more power to you. But what if you just don't care?

So that's the question I really wanted to ask, even though there was no time for it: If you really could not care less about this stuff and you can get your food/clothing needs met in other ways, why bother with it? Should we learn just because you never know what might happen and it's good to have as many self-reliance-type skills as possible? Because I actually can accept that as a reason. I just want to know if there are others.

Also, I'd like to know what the guys talked about. Because even though they had the same lesson, I'll bet you money they didn't talk about the important of learning how to sew and can peaches. They probably just said something like, "So . . . try to marry a girl with skills. But who is hot at the same time." And then they went outside and played touch football or something.

ps. The title of this post comes from a sweet overzealous boy I knew once. That was his conversational starter with women. He basically wanted to know if they could sew and can peaches. He eventually did find his dream girl, which just goes to show that this game is rigged.

Posted in: being a Mormon,dating or not so much