Blog of the Week: Single Dad Laughing

Single Dad Laughing is written by a 30-year-old man who is struggling with the consequences of the second of two divorces.  He writes humor the vast majority of the time, but when he turns thoughtful he is insightful, and his posts make you sit up and think.

The author is the second of nine children who has grown up in a staunchly LDS family which appears to all the world like they have everything together. They are the perfectly happy family, except when they are not.  In his post, A Disease Called Perfection, he takes about the things people cover up for fear of what other people will think, and about the need for each of us to share our imperfections so that we can be part of the cure for Perfection.  The net result of this post is that in the eight hours that it has been posted, over 107 people have shared it on Facebook, 108 'like' it, and more than 60 people have left comments sharing their own struggles as they try to appear what everyone around them believes they should be.

A quote from his opening:

As a warning, the following post was written in complete desperation. I have recently learned some very sobering truths from people that I love dearly. These truths have set in motion a quest within me to do whatever I can to make a change. Today is not geared at funny. Today is geared at something greater. Read it to the very end. I promise you will be affected in a way you have always needed to be. I spent more than twelve hours writing this post because its message is that important to me.

I wonder. Am I the only one aware that there is an infectious mental disease laying siege on us right now? There is a serious pandemic of "Perfection" spreading, and it needs to stop. Hear me out because this is something for which I am passionately and constantly hurting. It's a sickness that I've been trying to put into words for years without much success. It's a sickness that I have personally struggled with. It's a sickness that at times has left me hiding in dark corners and hating myself.

Please, take the time to read this, share it with those you love, and talk to your family about it, especially your children.  Only when we learn to shake loose of our fears of the opinions of others will we really be able to truly love ourselves and all of God's children.