I ran into a guy who currently sits on the high council, who was the EQP when I was the dude in charge; a clear ladder climber, who married into local Mormon royalty. At this stage, it's pretty clear to everyone in the stake that a former bishop is an apostate, without calling or status, and (I guess??
) people are going to start and reactivate the lost spark? If so, this is a really piss-poor way of going about it.
He asked about a prior job (lost it due to job cuts and a closed campus) and my current job (which I like and have a defined pension, so there's that) and this doofus starts pontificating that since I'm not teaching anymore, I'm "wasting my potential." Now as a backstory, not only did this guy marry into royalty, he also works for Daddy-in-law. I would ROUTINELY tell him to have more compassion for the less fortunate, and near the end of my tenure told him point-blank that not everyone has the benefit of marrying into a job, for others it's difficult to find one. So I just laughed, and told him academe jobs are not easy to get, especially in Canadian history, and I'm happy where I'm at.
Then, the famous "but the light has gone out of your eyes." I was a) happy I kept my temper and b) in a good mood, so I just laughed this off, and told him I was having the time of my life. No stupid meetings to go to, lots of time with the wife and family, and just living the high life. To me, living well is the best revenge, so keep thinking I'm miserable, when I'm literally the most relaxed and happy I've ever been, and my level of participation in church is exactly where I want it to be.
The only downside, as experienced by everybody, is that I thought of the best line when he left. That sure, the light has gone out of my eyes, because now my brain has been turned on, seen the church for what it is, a real estate conglomerate/collection agency, and I'll keep the lights out and the brain activated.
