One more post about being Mormon: Trek. WTF.
If you aren’t familiar with Trek, it’s where people dress up as pioneers and pull handcarts across comparatively long distances. Usually this is an activity that is foisted on the teenagers of the Mormon church, though adults and children sometimes do it too. When I was a teenager it wasn’t called Trek, but we still had to do it. This week, my ward (congregation) took all their teenagers out to Wyoming for Trek, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit this topic.
First, Trek is just about the stupidest activity I can think of. Now, before you write me off, keep in mind that some people enjoy Trek and others don’t. If you are one of the people who likes it, great. You should keep doing it. However, when it comes to the youth of the Church, generally everyone goes, regardless of their personal preference. For the sake people who hate it (like myself), I believe that we should stop making it a required activity. In other words, we should stop pretending that there is some inherent value in dressing up and making-believe that we are living in the most miserable moments of Mormon history.
The Mormon handcart pioneers truly had a really miserable time. I appreciate their strength and perseverance, but I don’t think they became pioneers because they loved the lifestyle. Their activities were a result of necessity and though those activities built character, it wasn’t anyone’s favorite thing to do. Thus, I don’t think the original pioneers would have approved of people wasting their time reenacting their experiences. Did the pioneers reenact the most horrific moments from the Revolutionary War? Instead, I think that the pioneers would have wanted us to move forward. We can use our time for all sorts of things (service, spreading the gospel, being with our families, etc.), but Trek is none of those things. Instead, Trek focuses entirely on the self and personal growth (arguably a selfish use of time). The self and personal growth are fine, of course, but isn’t the gospel of Christ about serving others? Shouldn’t that be our primary focus and way we use most of our time?
What’s more, some people don’t even really achieve any personal growth from Trek. The problem is that not everyone has transcendent, spiritual experiences by being outside and pulling fake handcarts. So while one person’s off hearing angels or whatever, someone else is just really pissed off about being covered in dirt and wearing fake old-timey clothes. For those (youth) leaders who would say that the pissed-off people just have an attitude problem, ask yourself if you really think that everyone experiences religion and transcendence in the same way. If your answer is yes, I suppose we have more to disagree about then Trek. On the other hand, I think that most people would acknowledge that different individuals have different tastes and ways of understanding, which would necessitate different approaches to spirituality.
Ultimately, some people who love Trek appear to have somehow persuaded everyone else that we should all experience religion in exactly the same way. Unfortunately, that way is, in my opinion, a waste of time and a simulacrum of true spirituality.
Haha! this post was really funny! luckily the opportunity to go on a trek never presented itself during my youth slash i was never forced to go. i think i would hate it.
ReplyDeleteWe're talking about an activity for teenagers... who are pretty selfish as a whole. The teen years were huge for personal growth and figuring out who I was. (I for one was very, very selfish and it continued without me realizing it until Daphne was born and it's not all about me anymore, well... sometimes!).
ReplyDeleteI quote "Instead, Trek focuses entirely on the self and personal growth (arguably a selfish use of time)." If that is what the teens are focused on, wouldn't we want to get in there on their level and help them become the best thems they can be? There are many ways to do this. This is why the Trek isn't the only more or less required activity (girl's camp, church, week activities...) Good to keep teens busy.
Jill, I have serious serious problems with the idea of "keeping teens busy." In fact, I think this is one of the most damaging philosophies I can possibly think of. Teens, like everyone, need to be able to develop their personalities and grow into responsible adults. I see the keep-them-busy philosophy as similar to the Floating Fortress activities in the novel 1984. It really just prevents people from look around and doing something better.
ReplyDeleteI think keeping the constantly busy is why so many LDS youth are conspicuously less well-adapted to adult life than non-LDS youth. Sure, LDS kids work hard and are honest or whatever. However, so many of them are woefully under read in the major "texts" of American and world culture (history, literature, film, music, science, whatever). Of course, that may be a larger cultural problem, but I know that in my case, when I reached adulthood I suddenly realized that there were all these things I had been missing out on. I learned about new music, films, historical events. I got (more) involved in politics. I started writing. Basically, I started doing all sorts of things that I had been kept to busy to pursue before. More frustrating still, many of my non LDS friends had already been doing these things. My experience, then is that youth activities generally occupy the time of the good kids, preventing them from accomplishing more, while alienating the bad kids who go out an get into trouble anyway.
In the end, if I have learned anything from teaching (both college writing and primary), its that younger aged people are not necessarily less capable of making good decisions or doing interesting things. When I teach the 8 year olds at church, we have group discussions based on literary analysis, much like we do in my college writing course. Sure, I could read them a picture book or something, but I’ve found that they don’t need to be treated that differently just because they’re kids. I feel that teenagers are the same way. I know that as a teenager I would have been much happier if everyone had treated me with respect, rather than acting as though my age meant I was a walking time-bomb.
Okay, my wording wasn't the best. I am the last person who wants their life or children life so structured that their creativity and exploration of the world is thwarted... I think you know that about me. I will let Daphne touch the hot steel of the trailer or stove so she can learn, and explore. I think when I say that I mean that it is good to encourage and engaged kids in meaningful activities. Working at the treatment center I came to love a lot of undirected, confused kids who spent their free time poorly resulting in life long challenges and sorrow. I KNOW the value of people, and that all ages have something to add. I would never use activities as a way to control or "put away" an unruly child/teen/adult. What I'm saying is that even if the kids don't like all the activities the church has to offer, and even if they don't mean the same thing to different people, I think a variety of activities address our individuality and give more changes for growth. The ones that mean less to me, I can find a way to laugh about them.
ReplyDelete... give more chances for growth... I should have re-read that!
ReplyDeletePlus, its a great lesson to learn about doing things we don't want to. We all have to do it.
and having said all this... it would have been kinda hard but I could have and didn't go on the trek twice...
ReplyDeleteand lastly... I want to have a star trek party where we watch old reruns and eat cake in the shape of the thing on their shirt... I wish you guys were here! ")
ReplyDeleteThat Star Trek party sounds AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, as I was writing I wasn't thinking about your experiences with young women, which when I was just reading made me suddenly realize both how different our perspectives are, and how limited my own was. I would definitely concede that there are people who would benefit from Trek-like activities and probably don't have the chance to participate in anything as meaningful as Trek otherwise. I guess my feelings stem from the admittedly limited perspective of a kid growing up in the suburbs of california who seemed to be constantly busy as a teenager. Then suddenly when I was no longer a teenager my life was exponentially richer, happier, more fulfilling, etc. and I was like "why was everything not like this along." But then again, I didn't have many problems as a teen and so I can't speak for everyone. I was never in trouble, or depressed, or involved in drugs, or whatever else I could have done, so I probably would have been using my time wisely, which some people might not.
Anyway, my point is that as I considered different experiences after reading this I realized that there may be some value in forcing some kids to do tough things. I still wouldn't say that that's for everyone (me, for example, as I am apparently still bitter about having to go on Trek when I was 15), but its certainly good for some people.
What I like about you, Jim, (and Jill, but I don't know her) is that you're willing to say "I might be wrong about ____" and are willing to let your opinions morph and grow as you see the need.
ReplyDeleteJim, I wouldn't say that non-LDS kids are more culturally aware. I teach non-LDS kids and they thought Anne Frank was from Arkansas. Being culturally aware is deficient across religious lines I think. I also think that forcing/encouraging teens to do tough things helps them discover things about themselves that they would have never known. Not all, or even most, teens are as self motivated as you were. Lastly, there is power in revisiting past events. It helps us appreciate where we came from. It helps us understand. Looking out the Bronte sisters' bedroom window at the overfilled cemetary and treking across the moors helped me understand how they wrote such distrubing books! P.s. I like your blog. It helps me think again!
ReplyDeleteKim, hows it going!?!
ReplyDeleteI agree, as I mentioned to Jill above, that forcing some kids to participate in activities they dislike can be good. However, I also think that a lot of kids would benefit from being allowed to develope their own interests. Its true that not all kids are as motivated as I was; however I think its also true that most kids aren't as aimless and prone to getting into trouble as people make them out to be. Sure, they will do irresponsible things, but so do most adults. I know for my part I really didn't discover anything about myself on Trek (or other mandatory activities), but once I had more time as an adult I began to understand who I was much better.
In terms of history, I actually agree that revisiting the past can be a valuable experience (though I would disagree, strongly, with the implied significance of Victorian and Pre-Victorian British history). However, I also acknowledge that the history that a person chooses to emphasize is up to them. I can choose to emphasize Trek, British history, American history, pre-history, or whatever. The point is that most of what we understand from history is a construction and in some cases one of our own choosing. Personally I am more inclined to take ahistorical perspective arising out of Nietzsche's concept of genealogy, as developed by later theorists as well.
Also, I acknowledge that while you and I see value in history, that is merely one perspective and someone could easily argue a stance that downplays the importance of history altogether. I might not initially agree with that person, but the fact remains that our own positions are subject to questioning and criticism. My point here is that just because you or I see the value in understanding the past, it doesn't mean everyone agrees with us. In turn, by forcing people to go on Trek, we are forcing them to adopt one, ideologically-laden attitude toward history. In other words, we require OUR interpretation to be the ONLY interpretation simply by engaging in the activity. I would argue that this is a fascist approach to history in that it doesn't allow for a variety of positions and requires people either subject (by going on the activity) or rebel (by not). In other words, just because I am a youth or church leader doesn't mean I have the right to shove my attitudes about history down the throats of other people who may or may not share those attitudes.