By Jonathan Madsen
The members of my family haven''t always been stereotypical white Mormons from Provo. Before 1847 I''m pretty sure the Madsens lived somewhere else.
My grandmother on my mom''s side actually spent her first few weeks of infancy in the colonies in Mexico. Because of this I claim that I''m one quarter Mexican.
Other than that, my heritage comes mostly from Scandinavia and the British Isles. My ancestors from both sides of my family were pioneers as well as polygamists (and I''m talkin'' polygamists from before the manifesto, not new-wave polygamists which are so popular today). My dad is from Provo and my mom is from Springville. You can''t get more white or more Mormon or more Utahn than me.
People always ask me how I can stand living in Utah all my life. Well considering I''m surrounded by an environment where little crime occurs, there''s next to no humidity and I''m constantly around people who have the same beliefs and ideals I do ... it''s not that bad at all.
I''m even more surprised when others are surprised that I really am from Utah. 'Oh, I didn''t realize,' they''d say. 'You just don''t seem like you''re from Utah at all.' I''m not really sure if that''s a good or a bad thing.
All I know is that all the people I grew up with are actually a lot like me, so somehow we avoided a stereotype at least to a few people (honestly I probably fit the lily-white boy from Utah stereotype to most people, they just haven''t told me yet). The Utah stereotype is far from good, because when some people find out I''m from Utah before actually getting to know me they pre-judge me instantly (ironically in much the same way many accuse Utahns of being overly judgemental).
This got me thinking of how I''m always making fun of Californians who feel they''re too good for this place and are always complaining and say 'dude' a lot. That''s when I realized that when I think of all the individuals in my life, most Californians I know aren''t anything like that. The people I know from California cover a very large range. In fact some people I know from California seem at times to be just as naive as I can be about the world outside BYU (and wherever it is from California they''re from).
Unfortunately some (not many) people from California really do act like jerks. Unfortunately a portion of people from EVERYWHERE really do act like jerks. No one place has any monopoly on any one trait.
Most of us know what God has given us, try to be nice to people, try to earn a living and just try to fit well in society while the rest of us are simply jerks. Although I''ve lived my life completely in Utah I have visited several glamorous locales including the Carribean, New Zealand and the Middle East. I found that the majority of the people I met were extremely pleasant, but EVERYWHERE I went I still found jerks. There are jerks in every state, country, culture, ethnicity and even religion.
I very well could be incredibly naive. I could be incredibly judgemental. I could also be incredibly stupid. You know my history, my religion, my culture and my location which all have some kind of affect on who I am as a person. But before you decide what kind of person I am let''s snag a bite to eat together or something. I think we''ll find that we and just about everyone else at this University are even more the same than we think. That''s not a bad thing. It just comes down to us and the jerks. All other traits are nothing more than fancy trim.