Awards of Tony

Last night I decided to watch the Tony awards. I’ve never seen one before and I was curious. Plus I like NPH. He’s funny. I kind of feel bad for thinking he’s funny, since it’s dirty most the time. Nonetheless…

I liked seeing all the performances. It was very entertaining. One of my favorites, was War Horse! That was amazing. It's a musical that uses a horse puppet. Puppet is putting it lightly. It's more like a feat of engineering!! Look it up! Worth your time. That's one I'd really like to see.

I found myself wishing that I had the talent to be on a Broadway stage dancing and singing. That just seems like it would be a great job. A lot of work, but work that is fulfilling and rewarding. Hmmm, how would that be?....

The musical, The Book of Mormon won nine whole awards! I was appalled when I heard that the producers of South Park (a show I’ve never seen and have no desire to see) made a musical making fun of something that is very dear and sacred to me. I was curious, so I read the plot. It’s about a missionary who serves in Africa and is confronted by an evil village war lord. I went on to read some reviews. It seems that it is a comedy and a vulgar one at that. It wasn't negative, just lots of vularity, which is why I won't ever be seeing the show.

So I was nervous when they performed a song from the musical at the Tony awards. This missionary sings about how he was excited to go on his mission but his faith was shaken because of the bad things that were happening to the village. He starts singing about the things he believes in and his faith is restored. It was funny and the missionary was spot on, right down to the part in his hair. He was bright eyed and cheerful and walked right up to the war lord and sang to him that he should get baptized, as the war lord stared at the missionary like he was crazy. In the song, it described the things that we as Mormons believe. As the beliefs were being listed, the audience was laughing. I found myself amused as well, not in a “I’m mocking my religion” sort of way, but in a "laughing at myself” sort of way. The things we believe are peculiar. For example, believing that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. To someone who isn’t a member of this church, that would sound weird. Think about that; the Garden of Eden in Missouri? Weird, right? And yet, that is something I believe to be true. Just like I believe that Christ came to this earth to die for me. I believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in a grove of trees to tell him that he would be the one to bring the true gospel back to the earth. I believe that God speaks directly to President Thomas S. Monson so that we may know His will for us (by the way, the actor was singing about all of these things and the audience was laughing, a LOT). In the song he kept saying, “because a Mormon just believes”, as if we haven’t taken the time to find out for ourselves to know that these things are true, not JUST believe them.

I found myself thinking, yes these things seem odd and peculiar. Do I really know these things, or do I just believe them? I spent the rest of the evening in quiet introspection. What do I know to be true? Is what I have believed my entire life true? Would I be able to stand up to ridicule and slander? Would I be able to defend it? Would I be bold enough to proclaim that this is the one and only true church on the earth? And withstand the persecution that would follow? Would I still be bold if I was being tortured? Would I defend it with my life?

To Be Continued….