Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

One thing that sets apart The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is our building of Temples, and Temple Worship. I had the opportunity tonight to be a part of the dedication of the Draper Temple. It was a wonderful experience. The sacredness of this structure and what happens there is peculiar to our religion, but I believe is beautiful.

Contrast that to a recent episode of Big Love, which portrayed for the whole world something which we consider to be sacred. That portrayal in my opinion was unnecessary to and added nothing to the story that show was trying to tell. It was included because the “Mormons” are considered a peculiar people. I was offended by the insensitivity of the producers of that show. What incredible differences there were from the dedication which was a high light, and a crass portrayal on network TV.

I watched the Series finale to Battlestar Galactica tonight. A lot of people didn’t like the turn this show took after it’s second season. I have my own doubts about that, but the one thing that I did like about this finale was the fact that sometimes we just need to start over. That was one of the main messages that I came away with from this show. Sometimes despite all that we want for keeping the status quo, we just need to give up the old ways and try something new.

I liked the Series Finale for Battlestar Galactica. I think in my family I may have been the only who did like it.

Recently Bonnie and I were on a cruise aboard the Princess Line Golden Princess. I remember watching a show in the 1980’s called the Love Boat. I really hardly ever watched the Love Boat, but since having been on the Golden Princess I have thought about that show. First, in a show on the boat they kept playing that theme. Second, there is a decided lack of young people looking for that special someone because they all travel on Carnival now. Instead, there is a significant preponderance of silver haired, seniors, some of which are on the prowl for a possible mate in their senior years.

However, for the most part there are just a ton of seniors on these cruises. I would guess that of the 3,000 or so guests on this cruise, about 60% are senior citizens. It is a little bit depressing for me because we are moving into that crowds age range. Oh well, maybe the boat should now be called the Senior, maybe sometimes love boat.

I was flipping through the channels yesterday and came to the same, inescapable conclusion that I do every time I turn on the TV. There is almost nothing worth watching on TV. I mean, I flip up and down, have 200+ channels to choose from, and nothing looks interesting. There are a few shows that I tape and watch later, like 24, Heroes, Jericho, and Battlestar Galactica, but I just can’t sit in front of the TV all night long like a lot of people. There are too many other, more important things to do.

The interesting thing that I discovered this summer in Taiwan is, they have the same problem we do. When Bonnie and I lived there 30 years ago, the TV was bad and there were but a few channels. Now, they have lots of channels, but when I flipped through the Ho’s TV I found the same problem, lots of channels but nothing to watch. At least mediocrity seems to have no national boundaries. All those channels, and nothing to watch.

Well, all I can say is it was awesome. One of the best episodes in TV I have ever seen. What human emotions played out. It was just awesome.