Over the past few years, I've been slowly eliminating a lot of my Mormon Facebook friends. I now have only six left: three former BYU roommates, two people I grew up in the church with, and my sister. These are pretty much the bare minimum. These are the people who I still care to interact with and who, because of our friendships, can conceivably get past the idea that I'm no longer a member.
The two that I grew up with are brother and sister. We came from similar families--both faithful ward staples. The three of us were also very academically-minded. While most of the other kids at church would talk with their friends about video games, television shows and other normal stuff, the three of us would be engaged in animated discussions about classic literature, American history or English grammar. It was more than a little dorky, but we had fun. I still respect them for being intelligent, analytical and academically well-rounded.
The other day, the sister posted a picture on Facebook. It was a photo of herself, shot in profile, showing off her pregnant belly and grinning like an idiot. It was kind of disappointing. She was a capable, independent woman who'd breezed through admission to BYU on a bucketful of AP credits and an astonishing SAT score. And here she is, a few years later, a homemaker for her new husband, posting pictures on Facebook that proudly display the culmination of her life's achievements to be accepting her role as a breeder.
It's depressing to see just how much potential was utterly quashed.
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