The Doctor

Last week I made a reference to Doctor Who.  It's about time I shared some of my feelings about this absolutely incredible television series.

The short version.

Quick summary of Doctor Who:  That one on the far right is named The Doctor.  That's it, just The Doctor.  Not Doctor Smith or Doctor Watson, just The Doctor.  He's an alien.  His race is called the Time Lords.  They live a very, very long time and, when they're about to die, can regenerate.  When they regenerate, they gain an entirely new body, new personality, but keep all the memories.  Each Time Lord can only regenerate about 13 times in their life before dying.  So, all of the people in the following image are The Doctor:

These are all The Doctor

So is this guy:

John Hurt as The Doctor

 And this guy, Peter Capaldi, is the latest, but we don't yet have any episodes with him actually in them, except right at the end...

Not sure how I feel about the power pose...

So, clear enough so far?  He's a really, really old alien (something like 1300 years old at current), and he changes his face every couple hundred years or so.




So, what's so interesting about that?  Well, The Doctor is quite the interesting character.  He's brilliant, absolutely brilliant, but also sincerely compassionate, fair, kind, fun, and generally a good person.  One character once described him this way:

Powerful, incredible, and wonderful.

And one time, he described himself like this:

The next line is, "that is who I am."

To boot, he is a time traveler.  He travels time in a machine called the TARDIS (it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) that has taken the form of an old police telephone box.  Time travel is complicated, and his adventures are complicated and dangerous and exciting.

Kinda got away from me...

But all of this is not the reason I like Doctor Who.  I love it because of what The Doctor stands for.  He is a Doctor, after all.  He is a living embodiment of trying to heal, of trying to do what is right, to never give up, never give in, never be cowardly, and never stop caring.

--The Doctor

He doesn't travel with a weapon of any kind.  The only thing he really carries around?  A screwdriver, but a sonic one instead of the normal kind.  That actually makes it significantly less intimidating, but remarkably more useful.

Jack Harkness: Who has a sonic screwdriver?
The Doctor: I do!
Jack: Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "Ooh, this could be a little more sonic."?
The Doctor: What, you've never been bored?  Never had a long night?  Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?

 

And he doesn't give up on anyone.  All life is sacred to him.  All things have to die eventually, sure.  Death is just a part of life.  But all life, wherever possible, should be protected.

He was in a war once, and it changed him a lot.  As far as he knows his entire species was likely wiped out, and it was entirely his fault.  As a result he's an advocate for peace to a fault.  Just because something looks scary doesn't mean it's bad or evil or really scary.  It just means it's different.  The Doctor is very accepting.

There are many, many lessons from Doctor Who...

Not my list, but a darn good one.

I could rant about it all day.  It's not perfect.  There are parts that I would skip if I were you.  The parallels to life lessons, the gospel (try modeling your life after "the Great Physician" and see if you don't feel a bit like a Doctor), and just good fun are many.  This is one of the few shows that I really, sincerely enjoy.

And, let's face it, I really just want to get through medical school, walk up to a patient and say, "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Gallifrey Falls No More

This post is not my normal silliness.  It rambles a bit, but it's about something that I'm very passionate about.  It is not a post that makes people feel warm fuzzies usually.  It is also about my church.  If you choose to skip this one, I will not hold it against you in any way.

This painting...

 The name of this post comes from the name of a painting in a Doctor Who episode.  The painting isn't really a painting, it's a kind of alien (Time Lord) art that takes an actual moment in time and freezes it exactly as it happened.  This is the picture of the protagonist's (The Doctor's) homeworld being lost in the last great battle between his race and another, the Fall of Arcadia.  He is left the only member of his species, the last of the Time Lords.  There are many things that I love about this episode and this show in general, but allow me to give a brief synopsis of some of the key points of this episode and why I chose to use it as the title of this post:

WARNING, DOCTOR WHO SPOILER ALERT, DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!

The Doctor sealed this war in a time lock, using a great weapon, saving the universe, burning his own species.  The war was tearing the universe apart.  The Gallifrey High Council receives a message, Arcadia has fallen.  The Doctor has stolen a device that will destroy his people and the enemy troops but save the universe.  But the device is sentient and leads him on a journey that ends up giving him a different solution.

For those of you unfamiliar with SciFi or Doctor Who the above paragraph probably made no sense at all.  No matter, the ending has the moral.

The Doctor is a title, a name chosen with a promise.  That promise is to save, to heal, and to give hope.  The Doctor does something impossible and incredible because of that promise.  He comes up with a plan to save his world.  He sends a message that Gallifrey, his homeworld, stands.  He ends up saving everything because he stands true to his promise.  He can't remember that he didn't destroy them all for very complicated, timey-wimey reasons, but he saved it nonetheless.  That's why his name is the Doctor.  Healing, hope, no cruelty, no malice, kindness, peace.

The painting is revealed in the end to be called, "Gallifrey Falls No More."  Meaning that his plan worked, against all odds.

So why am I so worked up about this?  Because the Doctor stood by what he knew was right, even when it seemed like there was no alternative.  He took a stand, even when the future was murky (an especially uncomfortable feeling for a time traveler).  

This post is a stand.  It's a very roundabout way (those who know me know that sometimes I take a long time to get to a point, and sometimes I don't make it very well, but this is who I am :P) of talking about what is going on around me right now.

This post is really about these people.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A "Mormon," as it were.  There is a lot of media right now about my church and various social issues.  This is my way of saying where I stand right now.  I believe that this church is led by Prophets of the Almighty, Living, Loving God.  I believe that He guides His church through them.  Whatever the issues of the day are, now or in years to come, I will stand by those Prophets, whoever they may be.  It will be considered old-fashioned at times.  It will be considered brilliant at times.  I don't really care.  When they say things are changing, I will embrace the change.  When they say that things are a certain way, I will stand by them.  Why?  Because I believe that God will put His church into whatever position He wants it to be at any time.  Will they make mistakes?  Probably.  They are human and fallible, same as all of us, but God will make His way known somehow.  I am willing to trust Him and them in patience.  Policy may change or it may not.  Doctrine that I thought I understood may be shown to be more complicated and I may need to deepen my understanding, or it may stay the same.  Whatever the path that this church leads, I will trust these people.  Questions should be raised by those who have them, but once a question is raised to those who need to hear it, I will wait patiently for the answer and accept whatever that answer is at that time.  If the answer changes later, I will embrace that fully.  I believe this is God's work and that, in His own way, He will make things right.

I will love everyone, whatever their decisions may be.  That is my task, none other.  Those decisions may lead them to disagree with and even leave the church.  I will be sorry to see them go, as I know the happiness and joy that is to be found in the Gospel.  I choose today to "trust in the Lord with all [my] heart, and lean not unto [mine] own understanding..."  That includes His prophets.  I sustain, support, and trust them.  I lend my voice as one for them.

hmm...

I'm sorry if this means that I sound bigoted, brainwashed, uneducated, misogynistic, patriarchal, evil, hateful, or whatever else you may think.  I felt that you, dear reader, should know this about me.  I am all in.  I made that promise years ago.  I will stand by it.  I trust that, by so doing, the Kingdom of God, as Gallifrey, will fall no more.  I believe that is the only way to ensure that.  I may not understand everything.  I may not have all the answers.  There will be things that trouble me.  I will stand by this Kingdom and Church no matter what happens. 

Yup

I took a name too, with a promise, years ago.  It was His name.  As part of that promise it was to trust in God's timing.  He is God.  He loves us all.  He will give us all that will be for our good.  I trust His leaders completely. 

This painting means, to me, to do what is right, no matter the personal cost.  To take a stand and to stick by it, keeping the promises that make you who you are.  To stand for something even when nobody else believes it will make a difference.

No More

I'm sorry if this didn't make much sense.  Such am I, sometimes.  I'm doubly sorry if you took offense to anything I wrote.  I don't mean to give it.  I just want to be clear that this is where I stand.

To those considering leaving, please stay.  Please trust that it will clear up in the end.  I don't know how, but I know it will.  I need you in this church.  Please don't leave. 

Dearest You,

Dearest You,

You don't know who you are.  I don't know who you are.  But we know each other from long, long ago.  You are my Faraway, Forever Love.  I've been looking for You.  Did You know that?  I've been trying to be the person You would have me be.  I'm not perfect, but I'm trying.

XKCD knows :P

I love You.  This isn't a small, friend's love.  It is a full, blooming love.  I may have never met you in this life, but I know You're there.  This is my message in a bottle.  I don't think you'll actually read this, at least, not right now.  But I can't help but write it.

I almost wrote this letter before, but I didn't know how.  I woke up dreaming of You.  You took the form of someone I thought You might be.  Maybe You are she, and we just don't know it yet.  How can I know?

I'm searching, trying to find You.  Please let me find You.  I don't know how.  I've been trying to shine so You can see me, but maybe You can't yet.  Are You looking for me too?  Sometimes I think I've found You, but that person doesn't seem to recognize me.  Maybe You just don't recognize me yet.  Maybe it's not time that we recognize each other yet.  Maybe I just didn't measure up.

This is what I know about You: You are the example of faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue.  You will sing with me.  You will dance with me.  You will try to understand my crazy science and medicine interests and life.  You will want priesthood blessings.  You will believe in the priesthood.  You will be all-in with the church.  You will know how to sustain our leaders.  You will help me be better.  You will let me help You be better too.  You will understand that I need someone to believe in me.  I need praise and trust.  You will know how to give that.  You will not mock me or ridicule me.  You will know how I feel by sensing it, as I don't tell people often.  You will love service.  You will believe deeply in missionary work.  You will support me in callings.  You will want to serve in callings Yourself and will let me support You too.  You will love the temple.  You will go with me to the temple often.  You will want to found our relationship on righteous principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You will help us form good habits.

This is a Rorschach test.  What do you see? :)

You will not be perfect, but You will be perfect to me.  You will be just as crazy as I am.


And You will love Doctor Who.

Because everyone is important

My heart aches for You.  The nature of male and female spirits is such that they complete each other.  I am not whole without You.  I feel a deep, almost overwhelming desire to be with You, but I don't even know who You are.

Said it, you did :).

We made a special agreement before this life with each other.  That's not true for everyone, but it's true for us.  Do You know that?  Do You believe that?

Where are You?

Why can't I find You?

Oh, that's why.