Green Oasis

I’ve still been pondering my reluctance to share my secret name, turning my feelings over in my mind like an excavated artifact. Maybe I hesitate because I value this secret as something special to me alone, even though I know intellectually that I share it with others. When I received it, I assigned special meaning to it, making it a talisman signifying something special about me.

I also hesitate to share the name because once the secret is out there, my actions can’t be undone. I feel trepidation at the thought of irrevocable actions.

It’s been an interesting psychological case study. So be it.

On the fateful day I was clothed in the Garment of the Holy Priesthood and received my Endowment, I heard these words: “With this garment, I give you a new name, which you should always remember and which you must keep sacred and never reveal, except at a certain place that will be shown you hereafter. The name is White Cloud.”

Gotcha! That’s my secret Indian name from Webelos camp. You thought I was going to give up my true name so easily. You should have known better.

Better luck next time,

Peter

Whence my reluctance to divulge my secret temple name, the one I share with (almost?) every other male who went through that temple that day?

I find it increasingly disturbing that the U.S. government tries, convicts, and punishes people based on secrets which are withheld in the name of national security. This has been going on for too long.

I would like to see an amendment to the Constitution along the lines of the following:

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property on the basis of secret law, evidence, testimony, or process.

I would much rather some guilty people go free because we were unwilling to disclose the evidence against them than see all people at the mercy of unaccountable bureaucrats who epitomize the banality of evil.