The Worst Human Trait

Today on North Star someone asked what they thought was the worst human trait. I have been talking with someone who has been open to being my friend while we don't agree on a lot of things. This has been refreshing because I see a chance to see things through another perspective. This led me to respond with this post.

Honestly I think selfishness is the worst human trait there is. I also think intolerance bred from ignorance or from reacting to other peoples prejudices. I see a lot of this in the world but I also see a lot of it in the church. My institute teacher often says the only place gossip and gospel are close to each other are in the dictionary. I've also seen it within the LDS SGA community which is really sad because this should be the one place where we can turn for support from people who do really understand. Within the so-called Moho community that has come to mean guys who have an LDS background but don't always live it, it often manifest itself in hatred, resentment and intolerance towards anyone who does hold to the faith in the church as it is presented by the Lord through the prophet, and yes faithful members who struggle see their actions as apostate or trying to rearrange the gospel to fit their needs. It's funny because there is enough contention between these two sides that any kind of conflict between both of them and those who don't struggle seems sort of relative. I also think that even among those of us who struggle with this, just trying to stay faithful doesn't change some traits that I more and more think may be inherent in all of us. Things like being over emotional, over judgmental of anyone who may disagree with us, sometimes over concerned about things like age, looks, and status and judging a persons worth on those things. I don't think those are "gay" traits per say, but I do think they tend to be over emphasized withing that community. I think both cultures are in some way obsessed with different types of perfection that often seem like unobtainable goals. I think the major difference is that worldly perfection and eternal perfection are total opposites. One is prideful and has to do with being "better" then someone else and the other is only met by stripping ourselves of pride. I think when when I begin to see others the way God see them, then I may start to wonder if blocking that person, or ignoring that person was really the Christlike thing to do or if the things that annoy me about someone are just things that I see reflected in myself that I don't want to see and so I try to hide from them.