Duel On!!!

So Liz put me up to this. I was not going to post since I do not feel strongly about this issue one way or the other. I do have some comments about the entire discussion and I am pretty sure that I will be persecuted for them. :) These comments are in no specific order.

First, I have no idea why the men were uncomfortable with Sara breastfeeding. Maybe it is the way that Sara does it (I doubt it). But, if she is like many Argentine women, she lifts up her entire shirt exposing both breasts and puts the baby on one breast leaving the other breast exposed. (again, I doubt it). If she does it like my wife, she has the baby ready to eat before "exposing" her breast and promptly puts the little one to the bottle. If anyone can actually see her breast during this whole process, they are clearly trying too hard and should probably go talk to the bishop about the steps of repentance.

Second, I do not agree with the comment: "when in Rome . . . ." As members of the Church, we do not follow this principle. Maybe Marcia was trying to say something about how she feels Church members are expected to deal with breastfeeding, but "when in Rome" is far from that sentiment. We should not acquiesce to the status quo if the status quo is wrong. Rather, when in Rome, remember that you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and act accordingly.

Third, I understand where Jarem is coming from, but I think he is a little preoccupied with skinny women with large fake breasts :) On a serious note, I understand how he and Sara feel. Feeding a child of God should not require that Sara forfeit her ability to be spiritually fed. If people even notice that she is breast feeding, there is no way that they were actually paying attention to the lesson/speaker/prayer/sacrament. Again, there are more serious issues that these people need to address other than where Sara feeds Ari. Why are they paying attention to her anyway? Again, I reserve the right to withdraw these comments if she does breast feed like an Argentine woman.

Fourth, I understand where Marcia is coming from. I can see how this could make people uncomfortable, but who is actually uncomfortable? No one should be able to see Sara unless they are sitting right next to her (Jarem and maybe the other person sitting next to her) or unless they are sitting on the stand. To the person sitting next to her (other than Jarem) I say LOOK ELSEWHERE. To the people sitting on the stand I say LOOK ELSEWHERE.

Fifth, with regard to the noise involved with breastfeeding, it should be no louder than feeding from a bottle. If it is, so what? I am sure that there are noises in Sara and Jarem's ward that are much louder than the noise made by little Ari while feeding. (I imagine that there are little children in the ward).

Sixth, is this the ward where the guy talked to Jarem about Sara when she was sitting there? (We want to give your wife a calling . . .). If so, the people you are dealing with have issues and you should have already known that :)

Seventh, I do not necessarily agree that the preoccupation with breastfeeding in public is part of the LDS culture. I know many LDS people who have absolutely no issues with women breastfeeding in public (No, I am not referring to the three members of this family that are on the breastfeeding crusade :)) The simple fact is that breastfeeding is natural and the sooner people become comfortable with it the better. Generally, people are uncomfortable with those things that they have not been exposed to. Maybe what they need is a little more exposure to breastfeeding (No, I do not mean more exposure in the Argentine woman sense) If fear of public breastfeeding is part of the LDS culture, that is something that needs to change.

Eighth, maybe Sara needs to wear a big button that says "If this makes you uncomfortable, stop looking at my boobs!"

Ninth, because there are unreasonable people that will be uncomfortable with the breastfeeding in public, I think Sara should probably breastfeed in the mother's room that has the audio from sacrament meeting piped in. Wait . . . her building doesn't have a mother's room. On a serious note, I do think that it would be kind of Sara to use the mother's room if one were in fact available. Since there isn't a mother's room, keep on going! :)

Tenth, I have no idea where Jarem and Sara sit in the salon sacramental, but I suggest that they sit in the back against the wall. This way the only person that will be sitting next to Sara is Jarem. (I am fairly certain that he has no problem with her breastfeeding next to him) This way, the only people that could possibly see that Sara is breastfeeding are those people sitting on the stand. To them, I say STOP LOOKING AT SARA'S BOOBS! If those people sitting on the stand have a problem with staring at her breasts, they have bigger issues to deal with and they need to go meet with the Bishop. If it is the Bishop that has the problem, he might need to go and meet with the Stake President. :)

Eleventh, I hope no one was offended by my comments. Rather, I hope no one chose to allow themselves to be offended. If so, shame on you. :) Go repent.

Twelfth, Liz and I take both yogurt and milk to church for Soren. Come to think of it, we also take yogurt raisins, and granola bars, and gold fish, and fruit snacks, and pretzel sticks, and bread, and Yo-Gos, and almonds, and we even take a spoon to feed Soren the yogurt. Come to think of it, we used to take jars of baby food and I am pretty sure that we will be taking jars of baby food in the near future. Our boys would not function on dry Cheerios. I guess they have their Daddy's appetite.

Finally, I love you all and I hope that there is some way that Jarem and Sara can go and talk to the Bishop about how to go about meeting everyone's needs: Ari needs to eat and Sara needs to be able to feed him in a setting that she is comfortable in. Maybe they will find a way to get you a nice mother's room with a glider and audio from sacrament meeting. If there is an issue with you feeding him in Relief Society, the sisters that are staring at your breasts have really big issues to deal with.

Finally, and I mean it this time, I love you all and I hope Sara and Jarem can find a way to find a resolution to this conflict. In the end, Ari needs to eat. Did I mention that I am a verbose writer?

PS . . . I WIN! (I am the longest poster)