get off your high horse.

tonight as i was walking with my friend matt and a girl he hometeaches to spanish stadium singing, i witnessed the most infuriating conversation known to man.

kayla* let us know that she was "ten percent engaged" because her almost-fiance had put ten percent down on her ring. she then proceeded to badger matt about how he's not dating anyone right now, even going so far to say, "the prophet has told us that we need to date. you should be going on a date every single weekend." as he explained to her that he barely has enough time to get all of his projects done every week, let alone even think about asking a girl out, she kept going on and on about how she's getting married and how he needed to get married as well.

now, let me just say that i understand the importance of temple marriage. i look forward to finding a man perfectly suited to me and being sealed to him for time and all eternity. i can't wait to be a mother. marriage is a good thing! i know this to be true!

however, as a young, single woman living in the Bubble, i get the marriage sermon at least once a week whether its from a bishopric member, the devotional speaker, a professor, or a sunday school/relief society teacher. the very last thing i want to hear is another lecture about the importance of marriage. especially from a peer.

moving on.

i held my tongue during her speech about marriage and tried to think positively.

but things got worse.

somehow, byu provo was introduced into the conversation. she mentioned something about tunnel singing [?] every sunday and how byu-idaho's knock-off of tunnel singing is stadium singing. so, i made a joke about how that makes sense because byu-idaho is basically a knock-off of byu provo.

bad move, kellie.

i was then subject to another speech about how byu-idaho is "the Lord's University".

now, if you know me at all, you know this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. i listened to her say that byu provo isn't the Lord's University because they focus on educational pursuits more than spiritual growth.

i'm sorry, but how does that make us better than them? isn't gaining secular knowledge important in the eyes of the Lord? don't byu students in provo have to take religion classes just like us in rexburg?

it took all the strength i possess to not fire back at her. i know that even though she had a joking tone in her voice, she really meant what she said and i didn't want to make things awkward [especially because i had just met her], but i'm just so fed up with the bad attitudes that people have up here in regards to other universities.

i wish there was something i could do to help people see that we're not the only people on the face of the earth and that there are good people all over the world.

i wish there was a way i could stomp out the prejudice and rash judgements in people's minds and make them see that every single person on this earth is a true son or daughter of God who deserve love and respect.

i wish i could make them see how wrong they are.

i just want to drop every person like kayla* at byu-idaho somewhere other than rexburg and make them see how stupid they are to think the way that they do.

and that is all i have to say about that.

for now.

[only 2.5ish semesters left]

*name has been changed