rise and shout

On Saturday night I was fortunate enough to attend the BYU vs. Utah game, a.k.a "the holy war." My sister and I sat together which was a good time, but I never thought I'd walk away from a football game with a life lesson learned. Sitting in front of us were about ten people cheering for Utah amidst a swarm of cougar fans. A couple them were clearly drunk, and one in particular was so wasted he couldn't stand up. Now granted, he was kind of an idiot for getting plastered just before the game.. but that's beside the point. 

This man who was drunk wasn't harming anyone, being belligerent, or anything of that nature.. but a BYU fan started harassing him anyway. He mocked him, said hurtful things, and even asked the man's buddy "why he would ever be friends with someone like that?" At this point, the rage I felt almost caused another scene.. but I kept quiet. 

The tipsy dude ended up vomiting and his friend had to walk him out of the game. As he was leaving, there were more comments made from a couple of BYU fans. I turned to my sister and said "what do you think the Savior would do if he were here?" She replied, "he would be the one escorting him out." I was appalled and ashamed to be wearing that blue shirt and wanted to tell those people that not every member of the church is like that.. that there are open-minded, non-judgmental members. I think one of the most frustrating parts about being a member of the LDS church is having the labels that come with it. We are constantly being called hypocrites, judgmental, closed-minded, and most of the time we just sit there and take it. We all get thrown into this stereotype that only a select few fill (stepping off my pedestal). 

The lesson I learned from that game is to just love everyone, along with trying to prove the stereotypic labels wrong. I live the gospel because it makes me happy, not because I think I'm better than anyone.. I'm so grateful for parents who taught me to love people despite the choices they make and hope to instill that principle in my children someday. Although losing the game was a bummer, I will always remember that night.

Ps. Just to clarify, I'm not implying that every BYU fan is LDS and every Ute fan isn't. Can't we just have a fun rivalry?