I have heard the phrase "a peculiar people" at church throughout my life. It kept echoing in my mind this weekend. I knew that I am different from most people outside of the LDS church in many ways, but until this trip I don't think I had realized to what extent I am different. Over and over again I was struck at how different I am from everybody in my class and how peculiar I must seem to them in some ways.
One of the main things was that everyone drinks alcohol. When I was in high school I generally had the impression that I should avoid becoming too close to people who drank alcohol, which was probably the right idea for teenagers since it's illegal for teenagers to drink, but then there's not usually any talk about what it's like when you're 21. The thing is that outside of the LDS church most people drink alcohol at least occasionally. If I were to never spend time with people who drink alcohol then I would be missing out on wholesome relationships and good experiences. Most people who drink are still worth knowing and befriending. Anyway, it was interesting to realize that everybody in my class who was 21 or older was getting drinks last night, and the people who weren't old enough yet were complaining that they couldn't. I got dinner with some other girls and two of them ordered a beer (the other girl wasn't 21 yet). Even though we didn't talk about it, I realized that they were probably a little confused that I wasn't doing the same. I know very little about alcohol and because of that I didn't really even know how to respond when they talked about different kinds of beer and whether they like them or not. It wasn't a temptation at all for me because I'm really not interested and I made the decision to keep the Word of Wisdom a long time ago, but it did feel sort of weird to be the different one. I'm still trying to figure out how/if to let people know that I don't drink without making them feel awkward. I mentioned it to a guy from my class the other day and I could tell I had surprised him.
It was kind of a similar case with coffee. People just make offhand comments about coffee (like how they like it or how they need it to be alert) as if I know exactly what they're talking about, and it's kind of weird because I actually don't know what they're talking about since I don't drink things with caffeine, which means I don't really know what it feels like to "need" some caffeine to get more energy or whatever. If I'm tired I just go to sleep!
I am also much more careful with my money than most people are. Before the trip I planned out my meals and made things to eat for dinner so I wouldn't have to spend a lot of money on fast food, and then once we were on the trip I realized that I was literally the only one who wasn't just planning on buying food at restaurants or gas stations. I actually did end up spending some birthday money to get Chicago Pizza when I went to dinner with those other girls, which I wasn't planning on, but I did think through how I would pay for it and how it would work in the budget, whereas others didn't really worry about it. That's not necessarily a Mormon thing, but it still throws me off when I realize how often most people go out to eat, and it felt kind of weird to be the only one pinching pennies and eating homemade food on a field trip.
Overall, it occurred to me that I am much more religious than most people. It's a very significant part of my life. Things like keeping the Sabbath day holy and reading the scriptures and words of the prophets are habits now for me and they seem normal, but if other people observed my habits a lot of them would be surprised at how much of my life I devote to my religion, even outside of church. To me it seems normal, but many people would find it peculiar.
And of course there is also my family. Apparently there are only around 30 other undergraduates at UNC who have children, so I am definitely a rarity in that respect. That alone makes me very different from the crowd. Outside of my church the average ages for marriage and children tend to be much higher.
It was just interesting to experience all this and try to analyze my feelings. It's not that I ever felt any pressure or temptation to compromise my values, but it was interesting to be around others who are good people but don't share these values and to realize how different I must seem to them. I felt a little self-conscious and uncomfortable about it. But after pondering about it I realized that is what it means to be a peculiar people. It's part of what it is like to be a follower of Christ. Many people do not follow him. Many have not found him. But I have found him, and if I am to follow him that means I am part of a peculiar people and I will always have to deal with being different from the majority. It's a little bit intimidating. I hadn't realized this concept to this extent before. It means I have to have a little bit more courage if I want to share the gospel. It also means that if I want to try to convert people to the gospel I have to realize how much of their lifestyle they are being asked to change as part of that conversion. So in that way it was an interesting trip and I came home with a lot to think about.
Next time I write about my trip I will post a lot of pictures of cool rocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment