Being a Mormon Teen — A Little Hindsight
November 30th, 2009 | 
Author: I once heard some members refering to Utah as Zion and everywhere else as the mission field. Well, if that’s the case then I was definitely a child of the mission field. Being a Mormon among a whole lot of non-members wasn’t a big deal until I got to my teens. There were a few other members who went to school with me, but for some odd reason, we never formed as a group (maybe all the others did and never told me, but I suspect not, well, hope not).  Since I’m not the only member to have gone through High School with little Mormon support, I have a couple examples, and accompanying lessons learned of instances where my Mormonism came into play.
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Situation 1: At thirteen one of my close friends, not a member, told me there was a girl who said Mormons aren’t Christians. He tried to reason her out of the absurdity of it but to no avail. She wouldn’t have any of it. Not knowing anything about the anti-Mormon business at the time I thought she was just unaware of a very simple fact.
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I took a Book of Mormon to school the next day intending her to show the big subtitle “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” The second she knew what I was about to show her she turned her head, told me “no!” several times and marched away. I stood there absolutely shocked in her wake, and would remain confused for a few more years.
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Lesson: I learned that Mormon doesn’t mean the same thing to all people. That girl had a very different view than others. It was important for me then to decide what mattered more to me: my religious identity, or someone else’s perceptions of me that they didn’t even bother to look into. I’m not going to be defined by the negative reactions of others.
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Situation 2: Moving on to High School, I was in a group of friends who met up all the time to play video games and mess around. My religious background was no mystery to any of these guys. Once we met up to see a movie in one of their basements. The movie was great until it hit a pretty sketchy scene between a guy and a girl. I was in a moment of crisis. Do I watch like the rest of the guys? Do I look away and come off oddly religious? In this instance it didn’t matter. As soon as everyone else knew what was in the scene I heard cries all around me, “Cover your eyes David!” This gave me ample excuse to turn away. At the time I felt a little mocked, but it didn’t take me long to realize that I was held to a standard by my friends.
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Lesson: While some people tried to tear me down from my standards, others would have been disappointed in me if I faltered, even if it was a little hypocritical of them. Because most of our religious talk revolved around teasing me, I had no idea how much they truly respected me until it really mattered. My guess is, although it was small and in its own little way, I had a lot more support than I was ever aware of.
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It’s true, being Mormon as a teen is a challenge. We are only teenagers once, after all, and when its over, its over.  But I would have a tough time saying my life would be better than it is now if I didn’t choose Mormonism for a few years of fitting into teenage culture that I’ve now left behind anyway.
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that’s cool.
I’ve had several times in my life where my being a Mormon came into play as a teen, but there have been many that are more subtle. Like the time when we were learning about evolution in science class in the seventh grade. My teacher, Mr. Jones, wasn’t used to people standing up against it when he said, “In this class, you will believe in evolution. I don’t care if you don’t outside of it, but in here, you do.”
I was shocked and hurt. How could Mr. Jones expect me to believe something I didn’t? How could all the other students accept that? I wasn’t having it! I raised my hand and said, “Mr. Jones, I don’t believe in evolution.”
He kind of looked at me funny, and said back to me, “Well, in here you do.”
“No, I don’t.”
We had this fight constantly throughout the class. I could feel everyone staring at me, and I felt like an utter moron. I mean, no one else was standing up for their beliefs, no one else agreed with me. And by the end of the class, after it seemed no one won the evolution vs. no evolution battle, they appeared rather annoyed at me that I had interrupted their learning with my sudden hostility toward a certain subject being taught.
I remember being teased about that for the rest of the day, and it still comes up sometimes, two years after it had happened. I’m not bothered by it anymore. I apologized to the teacher for my unexplained behavior that day, but did not take my words back. I can still remember what he said. “That’s alright. You don’t have to apologize. You were standing up for what you believed. And that’s okay.” He told me that he had his own religious beliefs, but that as a science teacher, he had to teach about evolution. I don’t think he ever before experienced a student willing enough to argue against that.
My life as a teen has been full of other trials and joys. I handed out a Book of Mormon to my friend at school, and he said that he was reading it. I asked about it in middle school, but in High school, I don’t really see him as much. I still say hi to him sometimes, but other than that, it’s like we aren’t the friends we used to be. And the same with my other friends. But they still know my standards. They try not to swear in front of me and things like that. Sometimes it slips, and they say sorry. Or some of them don’t. Because some of my friends are better at it then some.
One of my closer friends, Mack, knows more about me being a Mormon than anyone else. I’ve been trying really hard to get him to stop swearing, and it’s working. He told me one day that, at home, if he swears, he corrects himself because of me. I just said that was great and to keep up the good work. It’s nice to hear that my influence is working on some people.
But I have got to say, your friends, David, seem wonderful. They told YOU to keep your standards. And if you didn’t, they’d be disappointed. See, that’s how it works. People are watching you all the time. And they know your standards, whether you think so or not. And if you do something wrong, they’ll probably be the first to notice and point it out. So, stay strong. We all have these experiences.
Thanks for sharing. I must admit not all of my High School experience was rosy. These same friends who secretly respected me also teased me about being Mormon. I had to learn to know what to care about and what to not worry about, which I still do even now at a Church university (BYU). It’s not an easy ride for any of us.
Hey, Angelena, that was a great comment. As Latter-day Saints, we’re definitely from opposite sides of the tracks (I’m a staunch believer in the Theory of Evolution–yes, even human evolution–, and it’s been thoroughly absorbed by my Testimony), but I have to give credit where credit is due. You stood up for your beliefs, and you did it with more courage than I am generally able to muster. I write for this blog because I’m too afraid to let my light shine in the real world.