Follow Up on the Apology Letter

First, thank you all for your support on the blog post. Other than a couple of people who have anger issues towards people who question the church, it has all been extremely positive. At the time of this posting I've had over 11,000 people read, which I realize is a drop when you consider how many people are on the internet, however when my normal readership is like 5, then it is a big deal to me.

I have also been told sad stories about how the church has negatively affected people's lives individually. They are not my stories to tell and it hasn't just been through the letter that I've heard them. Last year I heard many many stories and the ones on sexual abuse alone were so numerous that it would take days to wade through them all even if you didn't break down sobbing.

So I've been thinking. It happens sometimes. I wish that my letter could change things. However, my one lonely letter can't. Even if I sent it to Elder Oaks, it wouldn't reach him. He would have several people opening his mail and reading it. I have no problem with this. No one in his position would be able to keep up on all correspondence without help. It is the job of these elves to go through all that mail and keep the leaders safe in the ivory tower. These people would either file my letter under "dangerous upstart must send out squad to keep eye on her", or they would simply file it in the garbage. My bet is that they would just garbage it. I am a woman with no voice and no following and therefore the correlated leader approved route would be to ignore me.

However, it seems to me that if everyone who has a story to tell, would write Elder Oaks a sincere and respectful (in other words avoid calling him names and swearing at him) letter telling their story and asking for an apology, then possibly it would be noticed.

Imagine those thousands of people who read my post sending a similar letter all at once. And not email letters. The old fashioned kind written on paper, sealed in an envelope, stamped and put in a mailbox.

I know that many would want to remain anonymous. You wouldn't have to sign it and if you needed to, you could mail it in another town so it's not traced back to you. You might want to sign it with something like "past devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". Something respectful. I could think of all kinds of disrespectful ways to sign, but that would weaken your message.

So there you are. The things I think about when I'm taking a shower.

Oh, and if you're wondering "what the heck is she talking about?" then here's where you'll find the blog post this is referring to. Dear Elder Oaks: I Want an Apology