Backroads

I tend to agree. Or rather, that we have such a confusing view of medicine that we tend to over or under-medicate. 
As far as ADHD, I am speaking merely as an observer, but here's typical squirrely kid, a kid who is a little squirrlier than others, and then there's the true ADHD child who many would be shocked and possibly horrified to observe.

I always try to be polite to them. If for no other reason than I lose my right to call out people being rude to our missionaries. 

Another similarity is both of us have active missionary efforts, which is why you get an opportunity to scare them off in the first place.  
They first came around my house like 15 years ago.  I remember complimenting them on the artwork in the Watchtower.   Nobody does a "whore of babylon riding the beast" as well as the J-dubs!
 (View it and weep, Arnold Friberg!)
Anyway, I guess I was so friendly to them, my house ended up on their permanent list of places to go tracting.  Probably over half a dozen visits over the years.  
And yes, the visits are always short when they find out I'm still LDS.  But for whatever reason, that info doesn't make it into whatever file they keep on me, because another pair stop by next year. 

I didn't mean to say that I'm "anti-medication."  I just tend to believe that we too easily have a knee-jerk reaction to "anything" that is "a tad" outside of the ordinary.  This has led to a net over-medication society.
Of course I believe there are cases where medicating is absolutely warranted.  But on the balance, I believe we do it WAYYY too much today.

Speaking for me only, I was on Ritalin (not uncommon for 90’s boys) in my teenage years and it did nothing. When I stopped taking it in college I began to thrive.
 
I don’t think Ritalin/not being on Ritalin had much to do with it. Environment and mental health matters much more.   

Meth is a big problem up here, and I know people who have used MJ to get off of it. It's also popular with reformed alcoholics and opioid abusers trying to get clean (kind of the opposite of a gateway drug). I use MJ medically for my anxiety and the physical pain I deal with as a result of my psychosis episode*. My LDS mom has toyed with the idea of using it medically, but she's on lithium and doesn't want it to interfere.
*The only drug I was on was Lexapro, and I was several months sober from alcohol. I had 6 mental health crises during the two years I was on anti-depressants, and zero since switching to medical cannabis. It's true that paranoia and increased anxiety are risks for heavy users, especially if they aren't mindful of what strains they're favoring. Some "cerebral" strains will help with anxiety, others will make it much worse. I favor the pain-relieving strains, and I mostly use in the evening. Day users can be a problem if they make it too habitual. 

I had a group of friends in high school who began to distance themselves from me because they began doing drugs and other things that they knew I wouldn't approve of.  The results were all over the place.
One of my friends (Paul) who, bless his heart, wasn't the brightest of the bunch.  But after drug use, he couldn't string two sentences together into a coherent thought.  It was bad enough that the rest of the group was worried about him.  He grew up hardly being able to do a manual labor job.  He did the most drugs of the group -- both weed and cocaine.  He became the textbook case of a failed person -- medically, socially, spiritually, personally... One friend (Mike) still grew up ok.  But he had much more potential.  And he lost some mental capacity.  He went from high achiever to slightly above average.  He did MJ from time to time.  He may have used coke once or twice. Another "member of the group" (Tim) whom I never really got to know very well seemed unaffected.  But I don't know if I was in a good position to make an accurate assessment.  I don't know what he took.  But he took something. The leader of the band (John) didn't seem to be affected.  He grew up and established his own business.  He sold it for a pretty penny and retired early.  While he was above average intelligence, his strength was being a people person.  He was a natural leader.  And he had a great ability to deal with customers, sales, and management of subordinates.  While he rarely partook, he did use from time to time.  So, I don't know if it really affected him in the big picture. Apparently, the girls in the group were at the same parties.  But I never heard if they took or not.  At the very least, they would have had some side stream smoke.  But I never noticed much of a change in them other than changing from God-fearing young ladies to being the sluts of the group (being "passed around"). So, like all drugs, the type of drug, level of usage, drug interactions, and personal traits all play a part.
I don't really see a need to use any of this stuff.  When I consider that an entire generation of boys have been told to take ADHD drugs from a doctor, and we see how few of them matured into responsible men... I'm not all too keen on medicine in general.  So, for people to self-medicate with stuff that everyone KNOWS has bad side-effects... SMH.
NOTE: I'm not saying these things as a way of criticizing the people I mentioned above.  They were my friends whom I cared about.  And to see this happen to them...

We had a nasty murder in our state awhile back that ultimately seemed caused by marijuana-caused paranoia. That was the first time I heard the issue, but now I see it mentioned everywhere.

We had a nasty murder in our state awhile back that ultimately seemed caused by marijuana-caused paranoia. That was the first time I heard the issue, but now I see it mentioned everywhere.

We had a nasty murder in our state awhile back that ultimately seemed caused by marijuana-caused paranoia. That was the first time I heard the issue, but now I see it mentioned everywhere.

Over the decades I've gathered maybe half a dozen or so stories from folks who smoked mj at some point.  Some are of the "yeah, I tried that stuff when I was younger and it was fun but I don't do it any more" kind.  I don't know enough to know if they're more crazy or stupid than they would have been without the mj, or if they're unaffected.
The other group has regrets.  One guy told the story about how he was excited when medical mj was legalized in Colorado, and gladly started a regimen to help with his anxiety and improve his marriage.  During the legalize MJ fight in CO, such things were touted as the norm.  It had the opposite effect.  His anxiety turned into depression, he lost his job and everything got worse in his marriage as he self-medicated himself away from giving enough of a crap to work on his stuff.
Over the years, I've grown ok with the various well-studied medicinal benefits, and I've watched the industry mature in some ways.  I notice folks understanding that smoking anything is bad for you, and going for THC distilled into oils or candy or whatever.  Colorado is learning when you wrap it up like candy, then kids eat it and end up in the hospital.  Colorado is still mostly refusing to deal with the fact that we've turned our state into cartel heaven, as they moved their mj production across the border into our state.  
But yeah, if something had been available legally in the '90's when my mother was dying and couldn't keep pills down because of nausea, and her veins were too frail for a needle, I would have brought her a toke or an oil or something, to see if it might have helped in her final months.  That's about as close as I ever want to come to the thing.    Maybe if someone is trying to get clean off of meth, I might support MJ as a step down replacement, but I'm not exactly surrounded by people I know hooked on meth, so it's an intellectual exercise for me at best.

Once again, I am disappointed with some relatively young fellow that has turned homicidal, and no one seem to have seen it coming.   I have a theory that I have expressed.  That drugs are involved.  I believe it is time to put HIPPA aside and make public a full toxicology report of individuals involved in “mass shootings”.    I strongly believe that marijuana is involved as a minimum and that mixed with psychotropic drugs could be a play.
Why do I suspect marijuana?  While employed at Boeing I worked with a sharp young engineer that tried marijuana and fell in love with it.  He believed it was harmless, but I watched over less than a year that marijuana rotted his brain and cognitive functions.   I first noticed something was odd when he attempted to convince me he could fly.  I have wondered if the “Wicked” Broadway show and movie play into the beginning of someone losing touch with reality because of marijuana.
Soon afterwards this fellow started to express paranoia (someone was after him to get flying secrets – not related to our project) and then within a month he disappeared.  He was working under me on a classified military project.  I was contacted by the FBI a couple of times, but I had no idea what happened to this guy.
One day at work I got a call from this guy.  He said he was in Hawaii living on a beach with some extra-terrestrials planning a revolution to take over the world to save humanity.  He wanted me to get the keys to his truck and take his truck so the bank could not repossess it – he wanted me to have it.  I contacted the FBI.  They did not find him (at least that is what I was told) and I was to contact the FBI if he contacted me again – he didn’t.
I have known two other individuals develop a chain marijuana habit and that have lost contact with reality with paranoia tendencies.  I do not believe it is that far from pushing someone into homicidal tendencies – especially if they have previous mental problems and have been prescribed psychotropic drugs.   But I cannot investigate beyond speculation because of HIPPA.
 
The Traveler

I think there's a lot of truth here, but I gotta say it also creates rather large cross-section of a pet peeve of mine. I am admin for a couple of buy nothing/local needs groups, and we have actual problems of ostensibly very poor people who are completely generous to the fault they can't take care of themselves. Now, I have no doubt some of the claims are pure fiction, but I also get the impression some are true. "I need groceries and dog food and money because I just gave all I had to my neighbor!" "I just adopted three starving cats and I have no means to feed them, please help!"
If I'm honest with myself, I agree with the political compass quizzes that put me as pure moderate, but I agree with the conservative ideal of taking care of one's own as a value. 

The cuts at the VA were upsetting, but unsurprising. I'm also seeing a lot of frustration over widespread staff cuts at social security offices. Trump and Elon are playing a dangerous game by messing with the care and income of two of the GOP's most reliable demographics: veterans and seniors. And we haven't even seen yet what will happen to Medicaid under the Republican budget, but I imagine it will be hard to hit the goal of $800B+ in spending cuts without affecting Medicaid and SNAP, and some Republicans know it. 

Criticism of the IDF and Israeli government isn't antisemitism, and that's most of what I see on my side of the fence. I also see plenty of left-leaning Jewish Americans speaking out against Netanyahu and the IDF. The group of lefty organizers I affiliate with has rabbis, imams, and pastors working side-by-side. Sometimes literally.

I am currently away from home (in the mid-west).  I was with a friend (and wife) celebrating their 50th anniversary.  Among those attending was a lady that is currently a nurse working for VA.  She is a supervisory nurse that has worked mostly from home since COVID.  She told me that she had to weekly send in a status report with 5 accomplishments.  She felt that a month of doing so ought to be sufficient.  She is not a Trump and Musk fan.  I defended Trump and Musk that under the current government circumstance a status report was hardly an overreach.  She agreed.
There is another problem.  This dedicated nurse (VA nurses are paid less according to her) serving our veterans informed me that nurses are the most critical service to the veterans needing medical care (I agree) but that the VA budget and been cut and at the VA hospital where she worked 20% of the front-line nurses had received termination notices.   They are already woefully short.
There are a number of seemingly overreaches taking place by the Trump agenda.  These overreaches are touted only by the Trump opposition (like NPR) but are never-the-less serious and needs to be addressed (true or not).  Though I am a veteran, I am healthy and utilize my benefits acquired as a civilian – so I am unaware of any VA problems.
It is my belief that as a nation we need to listen to one another without a spirit of anger.  But more so we must be charitable as Saints.  I a-d m of the mind that if we waver from our covenants with G-d – to love one another – things will not go well.
 
The Traveler

I just realized something that may add to the discussion on who tips more. (I think it was briefly mentioned before, but I'll carry on).
One adventure I recall in a particular restaurant where I worked:  One man had a large party come in.  Our waiter served them and really hustled.  The table ran up a $50 bill.  Back then, that was a lot of money.  I'd estimate about $250 to $300 in restaurant food today.  
He left a 4% tip.  This was before the policy of mandatory minimums for large parties was a thing.
The waiter chased after the man who paid and threw it in his face.  "You run up a $50 bill with all these people and give me a lousy $2 tip.  I worked my @** off!!!  Keep your money!"
I watched as the man walked out to his car.  I was a pretty run-down rusty vehicle.  This man couldn't tip any more than that because he was trying to keep up appearances.  He didn't have any money.  But all the waiter saw was a guy who wore a nice-looking suit (it wasn't really) and paid for the entire party.
We all know about "keeping up appearances" or "keeping up with the Joneses."  While I haven't seen the actual studies. I've read here and there, that the tendency has risen quite a lot with the advent of social media.  The Influencer is a new phenomenon that is the epitome of this trend.  People don't just want to watch things that are interesting.  They want to be those people and live like them.
Well, we all know what happens to people who try to keep up.  They live beyond their means.  They make believe they are rich. They tell people they have all the money in the world.  They brag about how important they are and how well off they are.
But secretly, they have spent whatever they have on keeping up appearances.  To further hide their poverty, they will complain about their (probably perfect) service they received so they can justify leaving little to no tip.
One more thing is that many people in this mindset may not even know they are supposed to tip 15% to 25%.  They just put a couple of bucks on the table because that's what they think is normal.  No one told them otherwise.

Nice.  
I saw a TikTok the other day: Guy said "I don't want to be rich, I just want to be able to pass by a sofa on the side of the road and not think "should I?"     I really resonated with that comment.   
I'm a member of our ward's Relief Society facebook page, because the wives are so good at giving away their hubby's stuff!  The used air compressor got a 2nd life with us for a full decade.  Same with an entire home sound system, a sofa set, various tables and bookcases, and more than one TV.   
Probably my most fun story: We saw someone giving away a king-size bed /w frame.  We drove into the richest area I think I've ever seen in my life, other than the palace at Versailles when I went to Europe.  The guard at the gate buzzed the house we were directed to, got approval for us to enter.  Marble driveway, IIRC.  It was 9am and the lady had already started drinking for the day.  She gave us a tour of her massive house and all the fancy stuff in it.  Then apologized for the sorry state of the 1 year old bed, apparently it was dusty because they rarely used that particular guest bedroom.   As we were loading it up, her neighbor showed up, even drunker than she was.  Apparently we were quite the spectacle in the neighborhood, being neither idle rich nor hired staff.  As I was bending over and grunting away at loading the mattress, I heard the dude slur out the words "oh, he works out".  I can count the number of times someone has commented about my posterior on one hand, and that's still my favorite. 
 

No, it is not.  Almost all of what you posted has been said by prophets in not-so-many-words.
The danger of emphasizing our belief in a Heavenly Mother comes when we tend to believe that our Heavenly Parents are somehow of different minds. 
They are both perfect. They are perfectly in harmony with each other.  They are perfectly loving to their children. They would both provide the same answers to the same problems. 
So, I don't see how some people (especially women) who get it into their heads "My Father hasn't been fulfilling my needs.  I know that my Mother would certainly treat me differently!"
No.  No, She wouldn't.

On the topic of Heavenly Mother, I have a few personal thoughts. 
Joseph F. Smith taught that in a family, the priesthood holding father is the ultimate authority who presides, and the mother is the primary nurturer. He said this "patriarchal order" continues into eternity. Part of the patriarchal order is that both parents are equals in this world and are responsible for the care and teaching of their children, and as Heavenly Father and Mother are exalted humans, they are subject to this system as well. 
Therefore, I think that it is possible for Heavenly Mother to communicate with us in some way. I don't agree with praying to heavenly mother, but I think if you reverently to pray to Heavenly Father with the goal of coming closer to both our Heavenly parents, then it becomes acceptable to ask our heavenly father, about Heavenly Mother. 
 
Secondly, in the initiatory women are ordained as priestesses in the afterlife. I therefore believe that Heavenly Mother as an exalted being, (and I'm assuming a priestess) has some involvement in the priesthood, and a level of interaction with the church. 
 
This is all pure speculation of course, but I don't believe it is contrary to any teachings. 

I don't have anything to add to what you've said. The Church is handling this well, IMO.
I know beyond doubt that the Family Proclamation is correct and teaches eternal, unchanging truth. Those who hope for changes in the Church regarding sexual orientation or chosen gender rather than biological sex are hoping in vain.

Ann, most of what you wrote is fairly common, even among many conservative sisters in the Church.  And I don't think you're wrong about most of it.
Now that we know that we agree more than we disagree, please allow me to comment on certain points of clarification.
Yes... for a million flaws in the world.  But, it was commanded by God.  It is important to note that most of the first generation of the church did not want to participate.  They thought it was an ancient practice that was not inspired.  But it turns out that it was.
We may never know or understand all the principles surrounding it.  But it is certain that it was the Lord's will, and it was in accordance with the principle found in King Benjamin's speech.
Also consider that most of history shows that men went astray, but women remained firm.  And the Church (or whatever equivalent for whatever era) stayed strong.  But a few times in history, when women eschewed religion, and men stayed firm, the Church fell.  And this is what is happening now.  For the first time in American history, we're seeing more women leaving religion than men.  And ALL churches are suffering.  So, this is not just an LDS phenomenon.  It is almost ALL religions and sects.
Well, I'm afraid that this is just a mixed bag that developed as a reaction to the status quo.  Believe it or not, to the God-fearing American Christian, it was pretty egalitarian among men/women.  It doesn't seem that way when we look at things from a secular perspective.  But by the meaningful spiritual criteria, women have been fairly equal.  But something happened in the 70s.  The proper push-pull balance was thrown all over.  One example: male chauvanism in spiritual things went so far to one side, that to compensate, we started saying that women were more spiritual than men.  But the truth has always been that we need to be equally yoked, but assigned different complementary roles in the governing of the family.  It has always been about the family.
I would encourage you to learn all you can about Eliza R. Snow.  Growing up, I'd heard her name and knew she was a priminent figure.  But when I learned in recent years about so many trials she went through and all the leaps she made for women in the Church, I am in awe of her.
Truly, if she would enter the room, I would have knelt before her.  Not in worship, but in sincere admiration.  I just don't know of any women other than my wife that I'd feel such admiration for.  I think it is because so many women are now falling away and choosing dark paths.
Sunday School?  When did we do that?  I taught SS for a long time.  We had both men and women in the class, and both participated.  What is your ward doing?
Actually, our ward is doing just that.  The ministering program is creating "pods" (that's what a brother in the ward called it).  There are groups of 5 households of people who are all over the ward boundary.  They all teach each other and get together with each other.  After a while, they will rotate.  But husbands and wives will all be part of the same circle of households.
I kinda see where you're getting this from.  And there is some wisdom in this.  But I think that it is also important to have men and women also do things separately.  
Without going into too much detail, I will tell you about my BIL.  He divorced about a year or two ago, and just remarried a couple of days ago.  What he found was that there was a great support group in society, government, and Church for his ex-wife.  But there was nothing for men.  A few spoke to him at Church.  No one could really offer anythying.  Most people automatically assumed that he was to blame because he was the man.  (To be clear, it was 90% his ex's fault for the divorce).
But during the time of recovery, he found a men's support group made up of Christian men.  They did wonders for most of the group.  Not him.  Only one person in the group kept encouraging him to continue in the group.  The rest were anti-Mormons.  Imagine how that made my BIL feel.
If we look at the Old Testament, it is pretty clear why we don't explicitly name Her in our prayers/worship and liturgy.  But She is there.
No, it was not really like that.  The statement given by the prophet at the time was that women could give prayers asking for healing as anyone can.  And if they felt to do so, there was nothing forbidden about a woman putting her hands on the head of the one being prayed over.  But this never meant that she was "giving a blessing by virtue of the priesthood."
But because as they say... it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck, the rumor was that women could hold the prietshood and give priesthood blessings.  And it appears this was what you had heard about at some doing.
Well... a later prophet caught wind of this false doctrine circulating and made a declaration,"OK... everybody, out of the pool!"  He agreed that there was nothing wrong with the previous procedure "per se."  But the fact that people were getting the wrong impression was something he was not willing to propagate.
 

Greetings @Ann.  I will make an attempt to respond.  I am an old guy that is at least a generation ahead of you.  I am a super nerd that is retired in the field of automation and robotics.  Rather than say I disagree with some of your thoughts – may I add to them some of my own thoughts.  I am concerned with this generation concerning marriage.  I strongly believe that there is much more to marriage than a covenant between a man and a woman.  At a minimum we need to remember that a Celestial marriage of necessity needs to also include G-d in the covenant.  I am also of the mind that a marriage includes a covenant of children and generations.  It is also my understanding (according to the Prophet Malachi) that the marriage sealing connects generations and includes all of G-d’s convent Celestial children.
I am unable to comprehend how any Celestial covenant includes any act or intent of the LGBTQ+ community.  I agree that we are commanded to love all of G-d’s children and to honor them as His children.  But I do no know how it is possible to include such in any Celestial covenant.  
As for polygamy, I have to little understanding to be of much help – except that if G-d commands us so, that we ought to comply.  My great grandfather was a polygamist.  But when he first commanded, he and his wife refused.  Only after meeting personally with the prophet did my great grandfather and his wife include a second wife in their covenant.  Both recorded that they did not understand polygamy and its importance.  Unfortunately, neither he or his wife ever explained what was important about polygamy.  My one wife has been enough of a challenge for me.  I do not feel I have sufficient understanding to make any recommendations to anyone beyond having faith in G-d and his commands.
Concerning the roles of men and women concerning the priesthood.  I take my understanding from what is taught in the scriptures and the temple.  Mainly that in scripture a man is not without a woman nor is a woman without a man before G-d.  In the temple we are taught about G-ds and G-ddesses, priests and priestesses.  Anciently that title of g-d and priest could be given to the same individual.  I assume that plays out as well for g-ddesses and priestesses.  I conclude that there is no G-d without a G-ddess and no priest without a priestess; and vise versa.  I do not believe it possible to pray to our Father in heaven without including our Mother in heaven.  Since Jesus commanded that we address only our Father in heaven, I do not believe we should not specifically address our Mother in heaven.  That is unless or until we are commanded otherwise.
I am open to discuss any point or possibility.
 
The Traveler

One time I was in the donation line at the local thrift store and realized the car ahead of me was our family doctor. Waved hi, did some quick chitchat... and found myself wondering just what goodies he donated perhaps I should go spy for in there.
There's an entire hobby of finding awesome deals at thrift stores. You often hear about "shop the thrift stores in the rich neighborhoods..."
I discovered Thredup online and recently treated myself to a very nice Camilla tee for about fifty bucks instead of hundreds of dollars.