A profile in extreme courage
I don’t have too much to add to this beautiful piece on Olympic gold medalis snowboarded Torah Wright. I just encourage everyone to read it. Sister Wright is an active, passionate and articulate member of the church and she conveys the importance of her beliefs quite well. In the incredibly hedonistic snowboarding culture she maintains her values. This is a must read!!
What I found even more incredible in this article was the fact that Wright passed up hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships in order to fully live up to her values.
“”We’ve definitely knocked back approaches in the past from energy drink companies, given that Torah has a position on excessive caffeine consumption, and that’s been a big area where Torah could certainly have made significant amounts of money, but she’s stayed solid in her beliefs.”
I was a bit amused by the articles conflation of the traditions or beliefs of Wright’s specific family with the church on the whole. Wright’s family, for instance, practiced homeopathy and avoided modern medicine and so of course the article says
“In line with the beliefs of the Mormon Church, Marion Bright, a nurse, ensured that her children lived virtuous lives. This meant rules such as no lollies or junk food, and no pharmaceutical drugs – not even so much as a Panadol for a headache.
I guess it is inevitable when a member is profiled. Even though our church is the fourth largest in the country, there is an assumption that all members are identical in their practices. Many faithful members do drink caffeine (Including President David O. McKay) and certainly we have several general authorities that served as doctors. We are not a tradition that discourages sweets or fun though things should be in moderation. I guess I should take such a positive article and just be satisfied, but these inconsistencies stood out to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment