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Guest Post
Exponent II features the work of guest authors writing about issues related to Mormonism and feminism. Submit a guest post Write for Exponent II.

Guest Post: Quick To Observe

Guest Post by Moss. Moss is a mom who lives in the desert and loves cooking, memes, reading, and faith.

Sister Bednar and I are acquainted with a returned missionary who had dated a special young man for a period of time. She cared for him very much, and she was desirous of making her relationship with him more serious. She was considering and hoping for engagement and marriage. This relationship was developing during the time that President Nelson counseled the all members of the Church to get vaccinated for Covid-19 and wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible.

The young woman waited patiently over a period of time for the young man to get vaccinated or wear a mask but he did not. Instead of listening to our Prophet, he listened to anti-science strangers on YouTube. This was a valuable piece of information for this young woman, and she felt unsettled about his nonresponsiveness to a prophet’s pleading, to say nothing of the pleading of the medical community. For this and other reasons, she ultimately stopped dating the young man, because she was looking for an eternal companion who had the courage to promptly and quietly obey the counsel of the prophet in all things and at all times, and one who was willing to put the safety of others above his own comfort. The young woman was quick to observe that the young man was not quick to observe.

I presume that some of you might have difficulty with my last example. You may believe the young woman was too judgmental or that basing an eternally important decision, even in part, upon such a supposedly minor issue as how someone responds to a major community health crisis is silly or fanatical. Perhaps you are bothered because the example focuses upon a young man who failed to respond to prophetic counsel instead of upon a young woman. I simply invite you to consider and ponder the power of being quick to observe and what was actually observed in the case I just described. The issue was not earrings!

This guest post is a play on Bednar’s 2005 BYU Devotional address, Quick To Observe.

Exponent II features the work of guest authors writing about issues related to Mormonism and feminism. Submit a guest post Write for Exponent II.

6 Responses

  1. Well, good for her, I’d say his non actions was telling her a lot about what the future would be with this returned missionary. If wise counsel in such an important matter is ignored and belittled, a wise woman could see how they are going to be treated in their future relationship.
    His disregard for her want for safety is the most troubling aspect, and these signs should not be ignored.

  2. Love this play on Bednar’s example of the woman who didn’t take out her second pair of earrings.

  3. When I went and read the original, my first thought was, “Wow! That woman narrowly escaped a bad marriage!” I’m sure my YSA self would have been tempted to accept Bednar’s judgment of the situation and this woman. However, after 18 years of marriage, I find this ridiculous. His partner can’t read his mind so he breaks up with her. No communication? No opportunity for them to understand each other better? No chance for her to gain a testimony of what he believes or for him to understand better what a prophet gets to dictate or for them to find out they can’t reconcile their positions? This young man was clearly not ready for marriage and hopefully this woman was able to find an actual adult to marry.

    This adaptation is genius though really and I very much appreciated it. (Kudos to Moss.)

    But I just can’t get past the question of why a GA elevating this kind of behavior in a relationship?

  4. And this scenario makes so much more sense than a second pair of earrings! Thank you for the comparison. I’d be curious about seeing some rebukes on this subject in GC but I find it increasingly hard to watch.

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