Mazy Diller: A Study
At the town of Provo, in Utah, there is a fairly well renowned university located, Brigham Young University. Attracting some 30,000 students throughout the year, there are currently far fewer students due to the time, it being the month of June. Ronald Summer was one of the few students who stayed in school this time of year. He had come from the state of Oklahoma to study and lived with his aunt, Mrs. Summer, in the tree streets close to campus. While he was a mid-Westerner by nature and custom, he had an old attachment for this metropolis of Mormonism; he had lived here for two years as a young teenage boy and was now back for college. Twenty-two years old and a returned missionary for his faith, he had been encouraged by his mother to go study at BYU to find a good Mormon girl to marry.
At this moment, Ronald was tending to the needs of his aunt. She was usually very sick and when she had health she would either do her genealogy or try to convert the old man across the street from Presbyterianism to the Mormon Church. Occasionally, she would sew some clothes for that old man, Mr. Diller, and as she had a few items to return but did not feel disposed to leave the house in her current condition, she asked Ronald to return the clothes.
Ronald walked across the street and knocked at the old man’s door which was presently opened by somebody unexpected: a young woman. She was his own age, dressed in tight black shorts and a yellow t-shirt. Her hair was blonde and her eyes signaled straight-forwardness and energy; she was strikingly, admirably beautiful.
“What do you want?” asked the girl in a slightly impatient, yet not demeaning, tone of voice. “How hot she is!” thought Ronald, composed himself and replied, “Is Mr. Diller available?”
“Yes he is. Just one moment,” said the girl and went back into the house to find Mr. Diller. Disappointed in himself for having let her go so quickly, Ronald soon found himself facing Mr. Diller at the door.
“Yes?”
“I am Mrs. Summer’s nephew. She asked me to bring you these,” said Ronald, pointing to the stack of clothes in his arms. Mr. Diller received the clothes, graciously, while Ronald tried to find an excuse to somehow see the beautiful girl again. Finally, he had an idea, telling Mr. Diller, “My aunt would be glad to help fix more clothes if you have the need.”
“That’s very kind of your aunt. Why don’t you come inside while I look?”
Feeling victorious, Ronald walked inside, closing the door behind him. He took off his shoes in the entrance room and looked around the living room while Mr. Diller went upstairs to look for more clothes. The living room was slightly dark; the only light it received was from the sun through the windows on the sides. Behind the living room, however, was a kitchen room lighted up and in the front of the kitchen room was a wooden table whereby the blonde girl was sitting, typing away on her laptop. She glanced up at him, with that beautiful mysterious smile, and then continued typing. It was clear to Ronald that her short glance, and occupation with the laptop, was not due to shyness; no, she seemed too independent a spirit for that to be the case. It was rather a firm commitment to the process of writing that propelled her to look up for just a brief amount of time.
“Are you family to Mr. Diller?” Ronald asked, attempting to start a conversation.
“Yes, I’m his granddaughter,” said the girl, without looking up.
“What is your name?” he asked, trying to start a conversation again.
“Just a moment, let me finish this up first,” she said. Her delayed answer to such a simple question seemed curious to Ronald. It seemed to reflect a firm independence of mind, an unrelenting commitment to finish first one’s own work before engaging with others.
Another quiet minute went by until the girl seemed done with her present work. “I’m Mazy. Mazy Diller,” she said matter-of-factly. “What’s your name?”
It turned into more conversation than Ronald had hoped for. He soon found out that Mazy did not live with her grandfather, but in an apartment at Wyview. She visited her grandfather in the weekend, however, apparently to fulfill a familiar duty and help him feel less lonely. She was originally from Virginia but had come to BYU for school. “I thought I’d try something different,” she said, with emphasis on he word ’different.’ She was majoring in accounting and preparing to apply to various business schools for graduate study. An economics major himself, Ronald found they shared some of the same interests and a discussion on the problems and solutions of the current financial crisis soon ensued—only to be interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Diller with a new stack of clothes for the fixing.
“Well, I hope to see you on campus, it would be fun to continue this discussion,” Ronald told the girl and then got up his courage as he was about to ask her out. But she pre-empted him. “Yes, why don’t we meet at Olive Garden?” she asked with that same mysterious smile on her lips, a smile Ronald couldn’t quite tell the meaning of. Though not expecting to be the one asked out, Ronald assented and Mazy and he exchanged their contact information and planned a time to meet.
Biding farewell to Mazy and Mr. Diller, Ronald went out with the new stack of clothes in his arms and said to himself that here was truly an independent girl.
His aunt, however, seemed less impressed. “The girl, yes,” said Mrs. Summer. “I have observed her. And kept out of her way.”
He immediately perceived, from her tone, that Mazy was not very highly considered by his aunt. “It seems you do not approve of her,” he said.
“She is not a member,” Mrs. Summer declared. “And she is hardly likely to ever become one.”
“Why is that so?” said the young man.
“She comes from a very politically progressive family,” she said, with a negative emphasis on the word ‘progressive.’ “Her parents never married; in fact they live like hippies. I hear she is very feminist and that her role model is Hillary Clinton. I don’t think she likes the Church either.”
“But she is a student at BYU. She has signed the Honor Code.”
“Perhaps so, but she does not seem like a person of honor to me.”
“She is very pretty.”
“She may be pretty, but mark my word, nothing good will come from a girl like her.”
Something good did come, however, in Ronald’s estimation. The first date with Mazy went well and it soon led to a second, which led to a third and then a fourth. He found that he liked her independent mind, her ability to speak and think for herself. He could listen to her for hours, looking into her bright blue eyes, admiring her beautiful blonde hair. He enjoyed her laughter when they watched funny movies together, her freshness and courage in trying all the tougher rides at the Lagoon, without pause; it was simply a thrill to experience life together with her.
He also found, however, that his aunt was at least partially right. She did not seem a huge fan of the Church and openly accused the Utah culture for being too patriarchal and male-dominant. It did not shake Ronald too much, though it did cause him to wonder at times. But then he remembered her better parts, her beauty, and her compellingly attractive and independent personality - in spite of potential disagreements there did not seem to be any major reasons for stopping the process of getting to know her more.
While Mrs. Summer was still suspicious, she seemed to reluctantly accept Ronald’s interest in Mazy. In fact, Ronald even had the two meet at his aunt’s house. True to form and to her faith, Mrs. Summer invited Mazy to come attend their local Mormon congregation. “If you want to know my nephew better, you should know more about our faith.” Mazy accepted without reluctance and they arranged for Ronald to accompany her to church the following Sunday.
“It’s called a testimony meeting. Anyone who wants to can get up and bear their testimony, or witness, of their faith,” Ronald explained to Mazy.
What he did not expect, however, was for Mazy to take that as a challenge to walk up herself and bear her own kind of testimony. As Mazy approached the stand, Mrs. Summer gave Ronald a reproving look as if to say, “What is she doing up there?”
Having arrived at the stand, Mazy started talking. “I am just a visitor but I would like to bear my witness of faith as well. I believe in Jesus Christ and in his love for us, especially in the example he has set for us to follow. Sometimes we do not follow that example very well, however.”
“So far, so good” said Mrs. Summer, as though expecting things to get worse.
“What many Christians tend to forget, however, is that Jesus spoke less about commandments and more about helping out the poor. Jesus Christ was ahead of his time, a true progressive. He set an example for us to follow in taking care of our poor and in his estimation of women. Women were equals among his disciples and…”
Mrs. Summer stood up and made her way to the stand while Mazy continued her speech. Ronald sensed a potential confrontation looming. It did not look good.
“Just as Jesus despised the male-dominant society of his day, putting Mary Magdalene and Martha in his inner circle of friends and disciples, so should we follow the teaching of love, compassion, tolerance and equality that Jesus exemplified—and work for a better world, a world of equality where women and men can stand as equals in the church and in our culture. As long as male dominance reigns in the churches and in the nation we are missing a very important part of the teachings of Jesus. ”
Almost as soon as Mazy had finished her speech, Mrs. Summer stood at the podium to bear her testimony. Ronald prayed she wouldn’t say anything too offensive to Mazy but alas, he knew his aunt too well.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I want to bear to you my testimony today of the importance of the Priesthood in my life. I have always appreciated the worthiness of my deceased husband and of all the other men in my family who have honorably held and exercised the Priesthood. I know that the Priesthood was restored from God through Joseph Smith and that we will be blessed as we submit ourselves to our Priesthood leadership. We live in a nation where morals are crumbling and the family is crumbling. What we need most of all today is a true understanding of the place of the family in society; of honor and respect to those whom honor and respect are due. A woman should never think herself superior to her husband for as Paul said, the head of the woman is the husband and the head of the husband is Christ. I know that when we keep sacred the order of the family we will be blessed and will prosper, but when we do not, we will experience the judgments of God upon this nation.”
By now, Mazy was sitting down next to Ronald again. She looked him into the eyes with a stare of reproof whispering, perhaps a bit too loud, “I hope you don’t believe that.”
“I wouldn’t say it quite the way my aunt put it, but I do believe in the Priesthood and in the traditional family,” Ronald said but wondered afterwards if it had been right of him to say that. Mazy seemed upset about the answer and turning her head away from Ronald she said “your aunt is a slave to your culture.”
“And you are a feminazi!” whispered the aunt confrontationally as she arrived to sit back down on the aisle together with Ronald and Mazy. At this, Mazy stood up and walked out of the room. Ronald was just about to follow her, but Mrs. Summer stopped him. “Forget about her, she’s too far out. Besides, testimony meeting isn’t done yet. You should be reverent and stay till it’s over.”
That Sunday turned out the last time Ronald had any kind of serious contact with Mazy. Mazy was dismissive of him every time he contacted her by phone or by the door, all she did was express disappointment of the “Mormon culture” and how Ronald was no different. “I should have known,” she said one time.
“Will you give me just one more chance?” asked Ronald.
“I can’t. I’m done with this repressive culture and I’m done with you. As long as you believe in that repressive ‘Priesthood’ of yours I have nothing to do with you.”
There was nothing to do. Disappointed and depressed, Ronald let her go. Nothing seemed to matter much anymore for a while. Instead of spending time with Mazy, Ronald now stayed more at home with his aunt, helping her sew Mr. Diller’s clothes. One day he spoke of her to his aunt—said it was on his conscience that he had done her injustice.
“I am sure I don’t know,” said Mrs. Summer. “What kind of injustice that could be?”
Ronald made no reply.
A few weeks afterwards, Mazy went back to Virginia for further graduate study while Ronald stayed in Provo, whence there continue to come the most contradictory accounts of his motives of sojourn: a report that he is “studying” hard—an intimation that he is much interested in a very clever theologically foreign lady.
No comments:
Post a Comment