A little Las Vegas at the DC Temple
I'm so not a fashion queen. Trust me. One thing I like about the temple is that fashion is not a part of it. At all. Everybody wears white--how can you go wrong with that? Well, apparantly, you can.
I went to the temple yesterday, and at the end of the ceremony, when I handed my little pink slip of a name to the temple worker, I was stunned at what I saw. No joke, this lady was sporting 3 inch long fingernails painted with what looked like gold glitter. There were sparkles on her temple dress, and white lace on her high heeled shoes. Ok, I was a temple worker for over a year, and I'm tellin' ya, working a 5 hour shift in those babies just looked painful. I couldn't even imagine how she could walk in those things, as the heels must have sunk down at least 4 inches into the soft carpet every step she took. She was also doing her best Tammy Faye Baker imitation. I tried not to stand too close for fear of getting smeared.
The whole effect among the rest of the plainly clothed white haired gnarled knuckled gentle grandmotherly temple matrons was completely jarring. And standing there, at the end of the endowment, which is really supposed to be the spiritual culmination of the whole thing, all I could think was, "Wow. Where are the fashion police when you need them, anyway?"
I'm so going to hell.
posted by Heather O. at 8/20/2006 06:55:00 PM
14 Comments:
oh you met my aunt tilly....say hi to her next time for me
j/k
You know, your reaction is exactly why I am suprised they allowed her to work at the temple dressed like that. If someone is dressed so disimilar to the rest of the group, it is distracting. Instead of thinking about spiritual things,you are wondering about her fashion choices. I am quite suprised she was allowed to work there with that "aura".
By the way... I probably would have had almost the same reaction as you... But I even have issues when the guys passing the sacrament are wearing novelty ties... blue shirts don't bother me, women in pants at church don't bother me, but those novelty ties get me every time! It is hard to concentrate on teh sacramental covenants when the guy that just blessed it has on a Looney Toons tie.
If the Lord allows for differences in personality, why shouldn't the temple?
I'm usually heartened by the fact that there are some crazy looking folks in the temple with me because:
1) It means I'm not the nuttiest looking person in the joint
2)It reminds me that the gospel is for everyone and your taste in clothes or hair don't matter.
Maybe she has the most amazing spiritual presence of anyone you will ever meet and her co-workers know that so they don't care about her fingernails.
That's my girl!
When I was serving as a missionary it really bothered me that my mission president had an unspoken policy of never sending a missionary home. There were missionaries out there who were nothing but trouble, and I seemed to get stuck with a lot of them.
Fortunately, my mission president was a lot wiser than I was. He knew what this service could do for them, even if they were a bit different. He saw the individual much better than I did, and he recognized that their future was more important than our comfort in the passing present.
mo mommy, I agree with you. I would have loved to see her at the Manhattan Temple, and chances are, being in Manhattan, I might see "her" yet.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't let her into the temple because you needed sunglasses to look at her fingernails. Clearly, the Lord looketh upon the heart, and doesn't much care about the rest of it. I was just pointing out that, well, you don't see many gold lacquered ladies in the DC temple these days. Maybe attendence would go up if we had more?
LOL, Heather! Reminds me of my brother's wedding in Redlands: it wasn't a white sealing, but we had to leave our street shoes in little cubbies in a room off the foyer. After the ceremony, when we were all getting re-shod, my grandma saw my three-inch strappy heels and said, "Who on earth would where *these* to a temple?!" We laughed and made up with a hug.
This is one of those situations where a double-standard should rigorously apply: if it's somebody else dressed outrageously, I should smile and appreciate the human diversity; if it's me, I should considerately put the spiritual comfort of the body of Christ---my brothers and sisters---above my own self-expression.
The Wiz - you made me ROFL with your comment. My hubby and I had the same person take us through the veil once...his hand appeared and it had big gold rings on every finger. And all I could think was "Elvis is in the building". We still laugh about that. It didn't bother me...just made me laugh.
My experience is, people learn different things at different rates. I might be years ahead on one principle, but completely hopeless at another (and might be judged for it! *Chrissie shrugs her shoulders* Ah well!)
I'm quite sure that some lovely temple matron will talk to her at some point. For all we know, it may have been her very first time officiating and they weren't about to crush her confidence for something which actually doesn't affect her worthiness (which would be like telling an investigator that they may NOT wear trousers/jeans/mini skirts/low cut strappy tops etc. etc. to church).
But she made for a GREAT blog post eh? Perhaps she and 'Elvis' could get together? LOL :D
I was in the Jordan Temple last week and my Aunt was told her small hoop silver earrings were inappropriate. She just said "okay, I'll remember" and then laughed when she saw the dangling colorful earrings of a Temple worker down the hall...
I haven't seen that veil worker, but have you seen the little old lady at the D.C. temple wearing white tennis shoes with springs or coils or something on the heal of the shoe? She looks like she could just bounce down the hallway. They must be really comfy!
I've seen the different styles within the realm of temple dresses and I have wondered about the "fashion show" aspect. I prefer the simple, standard dress. I own one of the same style that the temple rents out. But I also understand the need to feel "princessy" in the Father's house.
I wear lipstick in the temple. It is rather dark, but I have just always worn fawn fatale and my lips look bleached when I'm not wearing it. So I wear it and hope people don't bump into my lips.
Hmmm... she must've transferred from the Reno Temple, because I'm sure I've seen her there!! VERY distracting trying not to stare at her!! And it made me wonder where those Provo Temple Nazi-type matrons were right then -- the ones that used to tell me that my earrings (small and plain) or my hair restraint (neutral colored and plain) needed to be removed...
And I was told they reason they outlawed beards for male temple workers was because some people were distracted by them ...
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