Pay Attention to Your Reaction

It was a beautiful and sunny Friday afternoon in Seattle. I was there by myself for 5 days to attend a conference. Since it was my first time there, I planned a day to tour around downtown Seattle. I went to the famous Pike Place Market, Gum Wall, Space Needle…everything looks great and I was a happy and satisfied tourist, until I reached to the first Starbucks. Seattle is famous of its coffee shops, especially it’s the origin of Starbucks. I walked into the first Starbucks on Pike Pl, downtown Seattle.

As I was looking at the menu and deciding what to get, an inexplicable feeling crashed my mind and all of a sudden I looked around and checked if there was any Mormon around the shop. I felt like I was a thief, broke into a house hoping no one would see me. After a few seconds, I told myself, “Grace, are you kidding me? You are here alone by yourself and in no way you will meet some Mormons that you are acquainted with and think that you are going to order a cup of coffee and break the commandments” By the way, all I wanted to get is a Strawberry Cream Frappuccino. 

You might think that I have a suspicious frame of mind and acting as a weirdo. Let’s do a test and pay attention to your reaction/thought when you read the below scenarios.

1.      You were in a supermarket and saw your Relief Society President at the coffee and tea aisle.

2.      A member from your ward walked in to Church with t-shirt and jeans during sacrament meeting.

3.      You saw a brother from your ward at Starbucks, ordering drinks.

4.      You were on the bus/car, you saw someone you know from Church walked out from a store on Sunday afternoon.

5.      A member from your ward posted an article related to supporting same-sex marriage.

6.      Or any other similar situations that trigger your mind and make you think that the person is not being “Mormon”.

Either you are the one standing inside Starbucks (or anywhere) and have that odd feeling or you are the one witnessing other Mormon in such situation, isn’t it stressful for us to have such wariness in our heart and mind? I am not here to provide a solution to ease these odd feeling. YOU are the only solution to this problem.

G.K.