Take your blinders off! Life is grand! A poem from a former Mormon.
The following is from Eric’s ex-Mormon mailing list.
"Blinders"
(an insomnia-induced "rhyme")
My troubled mind drifts behind, to paths so long ago-
When I leaned upon my "heritage" to think, to learn, and grow.
A peculiar perk of that cultural path & its legacy to me
was a pair of dulling blinders which made it hard to see
the narrowness of my thoughts and inflexible naivet�.
The infinite array of other ways, to think to learn and grow-
lost in the periphery of my blinders; I simply didn’t know.
Unseen and undiscovered, I simply didn’t know
of the different ways of thinking & different ways to grow.
As I continued along with my blinders on,
I began peeking side to side;
With curiosity I wanted to see
the "fuller, bigger picture", that my blinders tried to hide
My blinders built "privacy fences" limiting my line of sight
interfering with my reason and defining "wrong" and "right"…
Confined upon that narrow trail, with blinders on my face-
with tall fences on both sides — what an awful place!
So I discarded my personal blinders and scaled the nearest fence
looking for a fuller picture — one that made more sense.
It was a little overwhelming, the expansive open view-
so I had to rest & contemplate what I would choose to do.
Like Alice’s adventure with the grinning Cheshire cat…
An infinite array of options – which would be my path?
With a Cheshire grin, I knew right then the direction I would go-
Ever-forward, ever-forward — to think, to learn, and grow!
The Cheshire Cat
…The cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect. "Cheshire Puss," she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. "Come it’s pleased so far," thought Alice, and she went on, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don’t much care where–" said Alice. "Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk," said the Cat. "–so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
— Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, excerpt from ch. 6 – "Pig and Pepper", by Lewis Carroll
Mike Jensen 2/14/98