I've searched my name lots of times and every time I'm shocked at how much information comes up. A name can link you to a lot of things... I found pictures, my whole family history, wedding registries (that is the most annoying-anyone know how to take those down?), race times for any race I've ever been in, MVHS honor roll (haha, high school honor roll... YES! ;), all my google buzz statuses, my fb profile, my address, my age, DOB, my friends on Google +, concert rosters, a place I volunteered at, and lots of information on my family. Oh yeah, and it has all the recent people I've become friends with on fb. That is all just slightly disturbing. But heck, what is anyone going to do with that information anyway? When I first started this blog, I left it searchable. Then I realized that if I ever put someone's full name on here (I should just never do that-I think I'll go back and change that right now) my blog will come up. So now it is no longer included in google searches. I saw yesterday the craziness of finding someone's blog from a name that they wrote in a post. Anyways. The internet is not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. That's all ;)
On another note...
I've been having a lot of conversations lately about growing up in Utah and being "sheltered" my whole life. So many people have teased me about being the naive, sheltered, Utah Mormon girl. Being taught at home only compounded that problem. But is it a problem? I know I've been sheltered. I rarely heard swearing, I didn't watch much TV, I knew nothing about movie stars and singers, etc. I definitely was not exposed to how evil the world can be. I was told it was out there though. BYU is still a very sheltered place. However, being in nursing (hospital environments, public health clinics, the Prison, etc) has "opened my eyes" :)
I've thought a lot about this. If I had not been so sheltered, if I had known more swear words, if I had seen how horribly evil things can be, would I have been a better person? Would I have been more prepared to cope with life? Would I have a stronger testimony? Would my relationships be different? Would I be more confident? I believe the answer to all of those is no. I don't think it would have benefited me in any way. So what is the big deal? Am I still naive? Yes. Does that make me a lesser person? No. Does that make me a worse student, nurse, sister, friend? I don't think so. Will I eventually have to deal with it? Yep. But why is earlier any better than later? If my testimony or my confidence or my foundation in life was based on other people, that might be a problem. But it isn't. And the foundation it is based upon will never change.
"remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation;...a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12).There is definitely a need to be able to interact with all kinds of people, to be confident and self-assured, to have good people skills, and be socially competent. But that doesn't come from knowing more about pop culture or being desensitized to inappropriateness. That comes by interacting with people often.
In the long run, it is all based upon our willingness to have faith in Christ, our willingness to be taught, to be humble enough to learn, and to be sensitive enough to be guided down the paths He wants us to go. And that can happen no matter your background-whether you've been as sheltered as I have been or weather you're an experienced veteran to the craziness and evil of the world.
Any thoughts?
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