The Beauty of Castle Dale

It may surprise many that I am breaking my blogging silence. That is, if anyone even reads my blog anymore since it has been months since I posted and even longer since it was a meaningful post. You may wonder what has caused this extended absence from the blogging community. Well, that question will not be addressed in this post but it will be addressed in the next post.

This post is dedicated to the awesome little town in the center of Utah. I certainly don't mean Price! Many people don't even know of the existence of the town of Castle Dale, Utah.

Founded in the late 1870's the communities in Castle Valley (among which is Castle Dale) were part of the last colonization call given by President Brigham Young. This call was issued just 7 days before the death of the Prophet. In the 2000 census there were found to be 1,657 people living in Castle Dale. The main source of employment for the town of Castle Dale is probably Pacific Corp. (Rocky Mountain Power, formerly known as Utah Power and Light). There are also many farmers and ranchers in the Castle Dale area as well as the employment that comes with being the Emery County seat (ie. school district, county office, and Emery High School).

Now that the demographics are out of the way let me tell you the top 5 reasons why Castle Dale is an amazing place, and why I could honestly see myself living there in the future.

1. The People

The people of Castle Dale are some of the nicest, most hardworking individuals I've ever seen. Its very impressive to me that a person can go to the many activities (4th of July, 24th of July, Dinosaur Days, etc.) in Castle Dale and the surrounding communities and that person is welcomed in as part of the family even if they have never been there before. The people of Castle Valley, and Castle Dale specifically, are certainly part of a dying breed of people in this country. Just think of the problems facing the world today and then realize that if the people of the world, or even just of the United States, would remember their roots and act more like rural America, these problems would disappear very quickly. If you want to meet the friendliest, most helpful people, go the the country (places like Castle Dale and Blanding of course).

2. The Location

Castle Dale is situated along Cottonwood Creek in Castle Valley, Utah. Many people might say that it is the middle of the desert and as such is quite unappealing and ugly. Moreover there are two massive coal power plants within just a few short miles of Castle Dale so how can it possibly be a location that I love? Well, very simply, I love the desert and I love Coal Power! Call me crazy but the whole global warming thing is a load of crap and I quite enjoy seeing the steam rise from the triple (when all three are working) stacks of the Hunter power plant from my brother's front porch. To me it signifies why America is great and serves as a reminder of the natural resources God has blessed this country with TO USE. Also it serves as a reminder of all those brave men who work in the coal mines and power plants to keep America (and California which I hesitate to include in the word "America") lit at night, cool in the summer, and warm in the winter via electricity. Besides this the area out in what the locals call 'the desert' is absolutely amazing. I've been out there geocaching on many occasions and it steals my imagination and my heart every time. To think that it is the same area that the legendary Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch roamed and that somewhere out there the infamous Robber's Roost is tucked away from the public view. The 'desert' is quite enchanting, I could spend days out there without even the quaint desire to return to 'civilization'.

3. The County Community

As was previously mentioned in the 1st reason the people of the area are amazing. This 3rd reason is about the people of Castle Dale alone but to the whole Castle Valley community (orangeville, cleveland, huntington, ferron, etc). While living in Cache Valley I have seen how the once rural communities of this valley have their own individual celebrations and invite everyone in the valley to attend. I was quite impressed with the set up and had thought it to be unique until I went to Dinosaur Days in Cleveland a couple years back. It was then that I realized that Cache Valley had departed from its rural roots and had probably, at one time, had the sense of community that it now lacks but that is found in abundance in the Castle Valley Community. While one might argue that the reason the county acts so much like family is because it is, in reality family, I argue that this is simply the ignorant urban population accusing the more content and more ideal part of America of such absurdities in order to make themselves not seem like such a culturally defunct lot. While it is fact that often times there are families in the rural areas that seem to enjoy intermarriage it is not the rule, but rather the exception. In reality the reason why rural communities such as those found in Castle Valley are so close and so familial-like is that they share one another's ideals. They are content at being hard working, under paid, and under appreciated. They also enjoy being left alone by the cultural rot that urbanization and city life bring into the relaxing life of the country. The County as a whole consists of the type of people you can rub shoulders with in any circumstance and know that you are part of a family.

4. Family

The 4th reason why I could live in Castle Dale is certainly not lacking in importance. My Brother and his family live in Castle Dale. This brother use to live in Logan and took great care of me. I was pretty sad to see them leave Logan and move so close to Price (I'm not a fan of Price). However, I have seen them be welcomed into the community with open arms and have never seen them more happy. I love my brother and his family and would enjoy living so close to them.

5. Jackie

Jackie is the reason I am writing this blog. During the summer I was in a jam and Jackie bailed me out. My payment to her was to write a blog praising her community because I tease her so incessantly about it. However, let me make it clear that the things I have said in this blog are my sincere thoughts on the subject and are in no way tainted by the necessity to praise the community of Castle Dale to pay a debt to a friend. So let me take a minute and explain why Jackie is so amazing. She is my computer go-to-girl since Jason had to leave me to go to Missouri (not that Jason was my go-to-girl but he certainly was my computer whiz prior to leaving Logan for the truly inbred state of Missouri :) ). Jackie is always willing to help me figure things out with my computer even when she isn't at work at the IT desk at USU. Plus she is such a smart girl when it comes to so many other things on top of being a computer whiz. Also, Jackie is a very friendly person. She truly has carried on forth the community banner from the small town of Castle Dale and has established it here Logan. Her community should be proud. So besides bailing be out of a desperate situation over the summer that allowed me to talk to Kendra via cell phone Jackie has been a great friend and help. She's usually pretty happy and is even OK at Taboo (better than me of course). So Thank you Jackie for everything.


Well Friends and Visitors if you have any desire to see what America is all about I recommend that you visit Castle Dale. It truly is an amazing and pleasant place.

High School Poetry

I was looking through a file of my high school English assignments and found a poem that I had written.

GIRLS ARE LIKE PARKING SPACES

Girls are like parking spaces,

all the good ones are gone.

You must search and search for the one that fits your car best.

However, if you wait too long,

all the good ones will be gone leaving you with one that is wrong.

If she is perfect let your car stay there and don't look around cause soon as you leave your

spot will be stolen in a Christmas shopping rush.

If you feel left out cause everyone else is already parked,

don't rush into the first one you see and suddenly find yourself in something without a spark.

Now many will say, "what is one compared to another, as long as they don't bicker?"

I say, "they don't have my handicap sticker!"

Kendall Laws

10th Grade

Not exactly the most romantic 'love poem' but isn't life great when you are able to find an available handicap parking stall? Nothing makes you more angry than to see some 'pimped out rice grinder' of a car, with no sticker, parked in a perfectly good handicap stall.... Think about the imagery :). Anyways just wanted to share this.... masterpiece. ENJOY

When in the Course of Human Events....

Today I've had the opportunity to spend roughly 10 hours on a piece of equipment and have contemplated the more recent developments in the relationship between the BLM/Forest Service/Federal Government and the citizens of San Juan County. As the title might indicate my mind has been brought to bear on the Declaration of Independence. That is the approach I will take with this post.

"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Now I know what you may be thinking, " Kendall has lost his mind and has turned into some fanatic." Well, that might be so but lets look at the situation and then I'll let you decide what the writers of the Declaration would say about the events.

Before I delve into this let me first establish that I am not saying who is guilty or who is being falsely accused. Quite frankly I don't care if the men who were rounded up yesterday are guilty as charged or not. What I do care about, as will shortly be evident, is the complete disregard on the part of the Federal government and her ghestapo-like henchmen of the BLM, Forest Service, and National Park Service of meaning of 'citizen' when dealing with the people of the rural West. Please feel free to comment.

I will assume that anyone reading this is familiar with the raids that took place in the 4 corners area yesterday morning and with the sad developments of today dealing with yesterday's raids. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about then check out any of Utah's major news websites. I am not disputing the fact that what these people are ACCUSED of is a crime (although I think it is ludicrous, it is still considered a crime) but what I do dispute is the necesity of putting thousands of man hours over the course of several years into an investigation to appreahend such "HEINOUS CRIMINALS" as those who dig indian ruins. Many will argue that they are stealing America's cultural artifacts, others might argue that they are stealing 'tribal property' and to both I say BS. Who's tribe do these artifacts belong to? Last time I checked the Anasazi's have been dead and gone in their entirety for nearly a thousand years. If in fact some tribe does have ownership of these 'artifacts' then I want them to know my family is going to charge them rent not only in the future but also an insanely high back fee for storing all of their left over dishes and discarded weapons and clothing for the past 80 years. Feel free to contact me if these articles are the property of your tribe and make sure you give me an address to send the bill. As to the argument that these people are 'stealing America's heritage' I say, "atleast these people have the ambition to go dig this junk up so we can know more about these lost civilizations!"

All arguments aside the fact of the matter is that the FBI and their fellow goons raided homes and arrested people yesterday to close a several year investigation. How much money was spent on this investigation? How many Border Patrol agents could we have trained for that much money? How many DEA agents and drug dogs could we have trained for that much money? How many terrorists could we have waterboarded with that much money? In the world we live in are there not more important things for the government to be doing to protect us? In the quote from the Declaration that I already used it says that when the government stops providing for our future security it is our RIGHT to find a new guard for our future.

I found several aspects of the press conference held by the government yestarday to be quite interesting. Mr Salazar (who I think is about as worthless as worthless gets) said (quoted straight from CNN.com), "Let this case serve notice to anyone who is considering breaking these laws and trampling our nation's cultural heritage that the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], the Department of Justice and the federal government will track you down and bring you to justice," There you have it, yesterday's raids on American citizens were nothing more than terror tactics brought to you courtesy of our own government that should be protecting us from foreign and domestic dangers not from pot hunters! When a government starts allowing its people to be terrorised in order to 'prove a point' then that government is no longer functioning as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the like set it up, but rather as Hitler and Stalin set up their respective 'governments.'

The other part of the press conference I found to be quite disturbing was the fact that all of the officials were flaunting the fact that they had the Redds again. The attitude was that of "well we were too sloppy with out case on them ten years ago so we came back at them and got them this time and regardless of what the truth is we WILL convict them." Thats not the way the legal process was designed to work but alas the government we are governed by today is not the organization that Hamilton so nobley defended in the Federalist Papers either.

Basically what I'm getting at is that yesterdays raids that resulted in 24 people being arrested and lives being broken and ruined forever was nothing more than terroristic scare tactics by a government that would rather have the citizens of this part of the world be evicted so they could turn the 4 corners into a play ground. The government that was founded to save us and provide safety to us against the tyranny, oppression and despotism of England has, over time, BECOME that very institution it was developed to deter. Once again I am not saying anyone is guilty or innocent but what I am saying is that this is a poor use of our limited funds and law enforcement resources and that if Mr. Salazar wanted to 'send a message' he did a fine job of it. Message sent AND recieved, you don't want us here and thats fine cause we don't want YOU here either! You keep taking our land and our ways of enjoying it, we know you will, but stop fighting our desire to have freedom in our own land with trumped up charges and ridiculous laws!

In closing I just want to tie the complaints back in with the Declaration of Independance. What do you think? Are James Madison and Thomas Jefferson rolling over in their graves? You bet they are!

Rifles for Watie

What would summer be without getting a chance to read a good book? In my opinion it wouldn't be a fulfilled summer without reading at least one great book so the past couple days I decided to read a book I hadn't read since before my mission. Before I could read it I had to find it. I ended up crawling all over in the attic digging through all the boxes I had packed up with all the stuff I'd accumulated over the first 19 years of my life in order to find this amazing book. Once I finally found it (in the last box left in the attic of course) I realized just how many times I had read it growing up since the number was recorded with tally marks on the inside cover of the book, 12 times before the mission. After being read that many times its not wonder that pages 184- 213 are completely free of the binding and fall out anytime you casually pick the book up. Also the cover is so worn you can barely read the back of the book to know what the story is about, lucky for me I don't need to read the synopses to know what Rifles for Watie is about!

Anyways, after having read a book that many times you'd think it would be hard to get 'into' the story but the 13th time around was the best yet. I stayed up really late last night (early this morning) to finish the book because I didn't want to put it down and sleep! Maybe I'm just crazy but I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction would be the same way with this book.

Rifles for Watie and I met when I was in the 5th grade and my teacher, Mr Bayles, read it to our class. For anyone interested in a pretty easy but very enjoyable story of a young boy who joins the Kansas Volunteers of the Union Army at the start of the Civil war and ends up being and infantryman, a Cavalry man and eventual a Union scout/spy and in the process of being out on scout for the Union is enlisted into the Confederate Army and serves under Colonel Stand Watie in his Cherokee Mounted Rifles for 18 months before making a harrowing 125 mile escape back to Union lines with the whole confederate army after him, I highly encourage you to look into Rifles for Watie. Oh and did I mention that I have a huge crush on Miss Lucy Washbourne? You'll have to read the book to understand but just remember, I already spoke for her!

:)

Finals Week

Finals week is here!! I'm excited for the part about being done with school but I definatly have my apprehensions as well. Lots of things are up in the air with me these days, work, school, and other things as well. So rather than dwell on the things that are out of my hands I went and had a BBQ last night with Jason and his date Cami, Micah and his date that stood him up, and I was lucky enough to have Camille with me. So I took a few pictures and I'll post them on the blog so anyone that is hurting themselves studying can be jealous that we had fun.


Micah working the mountain man routine and getting our fire started on the 5th or 6th try!



Camille not sure if she's cold yet or if that is just the sensation of having FUN during finals ;)

Jason and Cami (aka jackie, trixie, and waffle). Not really sure what they were doing but Cami was laughing as always.

Micah still working the fire... Camille and Cami wondering if he'll get it started before they freeze to death.



:)

Well there ya have it! If you're not jealous you're not human:) GOOD LUCK TO YA"LL ON FINALS!!!

Another Season Soon Ends and a Chapter Closes

Do you ever realize that a chapter in your life is about to end whether you want it to or not? Well I've recently noticed that another chapter in my life is quickly coming to a close. I must say that this chapter has not included all the things that I had imagined it would at the onset but it has also included many things that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. So, although this chapter of my life still has approximately a week left I just want to take a few minutes to reflect on the things that the past few years have held for me. Lessons learned, lessons missed, mistakes made, friends made, friends lost, loves lost, understanding gained, and heaven felt are all part of this game we call life and I am so grateful to be able to be a player in the game and not just a sideline observer.

1- Friends gained and lost: I can't believe its been nearly 2 1/2 years since my best high school friend Eldon was killed! Time definitely flies past us if we aren't careful. I feel lucky to have had him in my life and am grateful that I haven't lost any more loved ones than him. Along with losing a great friend I have gained 3 of my closest friends in the entire world here in Logan. I count my blessings every day that I was put in an apartment two years ago with Jason and Micah. They have been such a great blessing in my life and I love them like brothers. We have had a lot of fun and interesting times together and have never had any roommate drama.... well besides that time I pushed Jason just a hair too far... whoops! The third friend will remain unnamed but she has literally been my salvation in the past year. I don't know what I'd have done without her! She'll probably never know just how much she means to me. I have also made many other friends and associates that have helped me so much in this chapter of my life. I will truly miss those that are moving on to new chapters of life and leaving me, especially Jason and Micah. Thanks guys!

2- I have gained a whole new understanding of who I am and what I am doing with my life. Its crazy how Heavenly Father will remind you that you're not going the direction you should be going and will help guide you to retrace your steps and make the right turns in your life. We really can't go wrong with Him in our corner. My testimony and understanding of the atonement and other essential Gospel principles have grown immensely. So grateful for the learning opportunities that God has put in my path. Its nice to have a more clear idea of where you want to go in life and how you intend to get there. Doesn't mean you wont have to work your tail off but it does mean that you can be certain that the hard work will actually get you someplace, not just anyplace but someplace you actually want to go.

3- The depth of love that I have for my family has really come into focus in this chapter of my life as well. In the past three years I've had the opportunity to hold 3 new nieces and 1 new nephew and I tell you what, holding one of those precious little infants is about as close to touching Heaven as I've ever come. The most recent addition to my family was this past Monday with the birth of Kyle and Becca's second child Abigale Kate (spelling?). I was so happy to be able to drive down and see her the day after she was born. Family is probably the most important thing in my life right now. I don't know when I'll be blessed with such blessings of my own but for now I am content with sharing these precious moments with those that I love.

4- The loss, gain, and eventual loss again of love has been a very active part of the last few years. I don't feel it is necessary to go into any great details on this topic. I hate the topic and have yet to have any lasting good experience so there is not reason to dwell on the losses right? I have seen the hand of the Lord in this aspect of my life. Sure it is tough when someone you become interested in leaves and goes on a mission but I accept that this is the right path for them and I am so jealous of them for being able to get away from the world and serve the Lord for their allotted time. I can't believe how soon one gets home and I wish the other all the luck in the world. She will be just as successful as the first. The one thing that does frustrate me about this part of my life is when a very amazing and steadfast friendship suddenly appears to be so much more. But I have also learned that when in the pursuit of a meaningful relationship one can never assume to know what the other is thinking. As the old antage goes, "when you assume you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'." I couldn't agree with this more. But every once in a while you come across another person who is as honest and straightforward as you are. When you find that person you need to fight for them like there is no tomorrow. I intend to do just that! Love isn't always fair and almost never makes any sense but I'm confident that it will all eventually make sense.

Basically I want you all to know that you have each touched my life in the past few years in a way that only you could have touched it. You are each important to me. I struggle to express these feelings and because of that inability I find that most of those that mean so much to me never realize just what they have done to touch my life. Thank you all! I hope many of you will be key players to some extent in the next chapter of my life!

I Guess it Means I Have Good Taste....?

Followers of my blog aren't used to me making short posts but this one is going to be quite short and to the point.

My mission helped me to clear up a very popular Mormon legend: "Sister missionaries are worthless."

Some of the greatest missionaries I had the opportunity of serving with were Sisters. Such hard working and dedicated Elders are hard to find. So I guess the "cream of the female crop" are those that go on missions..... If that is the case then I must be attracted to the "cream of the crop" but dang its frustrating! Sending one amazing girl on a mission was hard enough but I don't know if I can do a second one.... But for those of you that know me I always have a hard time getting between a person and something they feel very strongly about. I know how I feel when people do that to me so I struggle to do it to others. So basically I'm STUCK! What to do?

I guess I'll look at the bright side.... At least I'm attracted to the Cream of the Crop huh? RIGHT?

I'm Glad Michelle Obama is 'Finally Proud to be American"

As the title of this post might indicate, I am going to vent in this post. For those of you who are unaware of the titled quote from the great princess of the New America it was said at a rally towards the end of the Presidential Elections last fall. So what am I going to vent about? I am really disgusted that the French President Sarkozy has more backbone than our savior president Obama! Let me explain.

For any of you that are living someplace besides under a rock you have heard the buzz the past few days about the U.S. flagged ship that was attacked off the coast of Somalia this week. If you haven't heard anything about this, crawl out from under your rock and listen to the news, or HEAVEN FORBID read a newspaper. The sailors on this ship epitomized the spirit of America by fighting off the heavily armed pirates and at one point even taking a pirate hostage. As Americans these are individuals that we can be proud of! In the scuffle, as we know, the American captain was taken hostage by the pirates and currently they are sitting in a 'dead' lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with one US Destroyer on site and two more that should be there later today. So now that there has been some background on the situation let me explain my beef with our invertebrate of a president.

The first sign that we, as a country, are in trouble when it comes to security came yesterday when, following a Presidential briefing on the housing crisis a reporter asked the President about the current situation off the coast of Somalia. The Obama said, and I directly quote, "we are talking about the housing issue right now." He then folded up his papers and exited the room! Not even a, "we have specialists on site and we are working towards a peaceful ending. Our prayers are with the family of the Captain." So my blood has been at a simmer since that happened yesterday and now it has again returned to a healthy boil. The latest news reports are that they are negotiating a 2 million dollar ransom demand by the pirates for the captain. WHAT? There is very reliable intelligence that proves these Somali pirates are funneling a good portion of their money to known terrorist groups, our enemies, but rather than kill these worthless pukes of humanity and take back our captain we are NEGOTIATING WITH THEM? At the same time the French military stormed a French yacht held by pirates earlier this morning and killed the pirates and took back the boat. Its true that one of the french civilians on board was killed as well but atleast the French had the guts to fight back!

Now they are reporting that several pirate controlled ships are heading to the area and the standoff will soon become much more critical. Thankfully we have a President, Commander and Chief, that will NOT make decisions when it is critical and now unstead of just killing 4 worthless Somali pirates and moving on with life we are now involved in a situation that can only get worse! So much for the French being gutless. It seems that the shoes have switched feet and the U.S. is now the gutless nation and the French are willing to fight for what they believe in.

So, Michelle Obama might be proud to be an American FINALLY but I think right now I'd rather be French!

A Copycat or the Real Thing?

I very rarely go back on something I vow to do but times like these call for exceptions. For anyone who has followed my blog the past several months the Lucky Charmer was banished from my blog months ago. For those of you who are new to my blog I would recommend reading about this phantom of the night in my previous blog entries.

Why am I talking about the banished follower of my blog? I'll explain. Last night my favorite neighbor from BLAPT 13 was at my place visiting Jason and I and when we walked her to the door at a little past midnight we were surprised to see the LC's calling card (a box of Lucky Charms) sitting in front of our door. Those of you who are familiar with the LC will recall that each item that was left on my porch was littered with meaningless clues to nowhere in an attempt by the adversary to piddle my time away chasing false clues (it worked). Well, last night's 'gift' followed the same mo with the words 'Grow up' and 'time is running out' circled very prominently on the box. Today I decided to open them up and have a bowl of cereal only to find that this particular box of Lucky Charms was lacking the marshmallows! Upon further investigation I found that the perpetrator had opened the bottom of the bag, poured out the cereal, sorted out all the marshmallows, put the puffed poop leftovers back in the bag, and then melted the bag shut again! Once again, for those familiar with the LC's beginnings you will recall that it all started when I made reference in a blog post to Lucky Charms in a post dedicated to life and dating. In that reference I pointed out that while most of the time, in life, we are stuck dealing with the menial labors of life (nasty puffed oat pieces in LC cereal) once in a while we are blessed with sweet little morsels that persuade us to continue looking for love, success, education, etc (this would be the marshmallows). So, in essence last nights little escapade by the LC (or a copycat) was meant to show me that they have essentially taken it upon themselves to deprive me of the sweet moments in life. To me this is an act of war and I refuse to stand idly by while they do such things!

You may be wondering, "what can he do since he doesn't even know who it is?" That is an excellent question, and one that I have a very solid answer for. A very close friend of mine just happened to be out in the parking lot in his/her car that was parked very closely to my door and noticed the package being dumped on my steps! Yup, the LC was caught red handed! Well upon investigation we figured out who it was that made the drop last night and we are planning retaliatory measures that will, essentially make them cry. I have my doubts that last night was actually an impersonator that only wished they were the LC but regardless the war is on. The ONLY way that you can escape the wrath of BLAPT 14 is by admitting your actions. You might think that by saying this I am admitting that I really don't know who you are. In that case, you are absolutely WRONG and will suffer the consequences. Choose wisely.

If you are in fact the original Lucky Charmer I will gladly admit your greatness on my blog if you come and fess up. If you aren't the original LC then apparently you had nothing better to do last night so you pulled a flawed copycat prank (flawed since you were caught) after stalking my blog. Anyways, Copy Cat or "Real Deal" the choice is yours. If we have not heard from you by Thursday night you can expect a visit from us. Good Luck!

Is Having a Taste Better Than Ignorance?

Well, I'm still alive! Hopefully the majority of those that read this are glad to hear that news. Sorry I haven't written in so long. I have been really busy and really shouldn't have time to be writing tonight but for two nights in a row I am unable to sleep. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things though.

It seems like all of my closest friends have been going through one hardship or another recently. Admittedly most of them have to do with relationships with the opposite sex. I was in the middle of a conversation last night with a dear friend of mine about her recent let down and the question came to my mind, "is ignorance really bliss?" I mean just about all of us have experienced some sort of situation in our lives where we feel like, at least for some short period of time, we were able to taste what the happiness of heaven might be like. We have also probably felt the sting of having that little taste of heaven ripped away from us, never to return again. Maybe this was a relationship, a friendship, or an outpouring of the spirit, but we have all felt the highs of life and the lows in some facet of our life thus far. If you haven't... get away from the computer and go live a life.

So, back to the ignorance issue. Since it was a broken heart at the hand of a boy that brought this question into my mind I'm going to focus on that. Anyone that has had a dating experience that seemed so perfect, you clicked with the significant other in every way possible, you felt like there was nothing negative about the experience, and, in the best of cases, he/she brings out a side of you that is so good it surprises even you to find it inside yourself. I've had a couple such experiences and, to me it seems like that's the closest thing to heaven I've had the pleasure to experience thus far in life. However, in the aftermath of the collapse of such relationships the pain is so immense you wonder if you'll ever want to clear the emotional rubble and date again because you just can't imagine finding such happiness with anyone else. At least that's how I've been following surprise breakups. This is where the ignorance question comes in.

Those people that have never had such an experience as outlined above are, essentially in a state of ignorance. This ignorance may or may not be of their own choosing but, nonetheless they are ignorant of the happiness and joy that such an experience can bring into their life and are left hoping that one day they might taste of the fruits thereof. At the same time there are those of us who HAVE tasted the positive fruits of a healthy, happy relationship but are no longer involved in one. For us the single life is bitter sweet. Sure its nice to have 'your own life back' but on the other hand hanging out with the fellas just doesn't have the same appeal that it once had (with each healthy relationship that appeal seems to diminish) and you may find yourself wishing, albeit on the inside only, for something more to brighten your life. Basically what I'm getting at is this: Those who are ignorant don't have first hand experience of what they are living without and as such can't fully understand just how good it really is. Those who have tasted, to some extent, the fruits (both good and bad) of the better parts of life are keenly aware of what they are living without and, in many cases, mourn its absence. This is applicable to nearly everything not only in life but in the eternal scheme of things also. So while I don't regret having the life experiences that I have acquired I still wonder if maybe ignorance in some things is the way to go.

One has to wonder what other things we as humans are living in ignorance of. For those things I guess all we can do is hope that someday we can taste of those fruits.