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(Hope this is the right board for this. . . it is history) I found this Dialogue Journal interview through The Exponent blog. I thought it was very interesting to get her perspective on Utah Mormon culture. She also talks about being on the general boards and some difficulties with having the women’s voices involved with decision making. I liked it so much, I wondered if anyone here would enjoy reading it as well. She certainly was not your typical Mormon!
http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V45N01_CO.pdf I loved Sister Okazaki. She is one of my all-time favorite General Authorities. If anyone wants to read stuff that is pure Gospel and transcends culture, I can’t recommend anything over her books – especially “Lighten Up!” She was the earlier, female equivalent of Pres. Uchtdorf.
I love this woman more and more any time I see or read anything she has said. I copied a few of my favorite quotes from this interview for the benefit of those that don’t have time to read all 29 pages.
Quote:“Why should I belong to this Church when I’m not accepted? But
itmust be for a reason that I’m here.” I gradually learned that part
of that reason was so people would learn how to accept…
[snip]
Greg Prince: Your generation, my generation, and earlier generations
all looked upon religion as a duty, that there was to be discomfort
as part of it. And we accepted that. In some cases, it was a
hair shirt that we wore, and that was just part of the deal. Not with
the generations now! They are not willing to do that.
Chieko Okazaki: That’s right.
[snip]
When we talk about retention, it’s not about being in the
Church; it’s about retaining the things of the Church that we need
to have to become a part of this kingdom!
[snip]
Chieko Okazaki: I have to say that, in my sixty-four years in the
Church, I sometimes see a little bit of a change that the women
themselves prompt, but most of the time, I haven’t seen women
who would make that change possible.Wherever I go, I think that
they already know their place. Maybe they’d be able to be more
open if there were open-minded bishops or stake presidents who
would listen to some of the feelings and the ideas of the women.
But when women get the message that their job is to be supportive
and just agree with the decisions of the bishop, they become
clams.
[snip]
In contrast, in 1995 when “The Family: A Proclamation to the
World” was written, the Relief Society presidency was asked to
come to a meeting. We did, and they read this proclamation. It
was all finished. The only question was whether they should present
it at the priesthood meeting or at the Relief Society meeting.
It didn’t matter to me where it was presented. What I wanted to
know was, “How come we weren’t consulted?”
Greg Prince: You didn’t even know it was in the works?
Chieko Okazaki: No. They just asked us which meeting to present it
in, and we said, “Whatever President Hinckley decides is fine with
us.” He decided to do it at the Relief Society meeting. The apostle
who was our liaison said, “Isn’t it wonderful that he made the
choice to present it at the Relief Society meeting?” Well, that was
fine, but as I read it I thought that we could have made a few
changes in it.
[snip]
Chieko Okazaki: That’s exactly right. And, you know, we need to
talk about this to the young women.
Greg Prince: And let them know that it’s okay for them to speak in
an honest voice.
That’s a good idea, Roy, it is pretty long. I’ll add a few too: Quote:What I understood as the gospel message didn’t match what we
encountered so often with the people. There was a big gap in so
many ways. Again, my mother’s wisdom helped. She said, “Know
that you know the truth”—she wasn’t a Mormon. She was a Buddhist
until she died—“and others haven’t learned it yet. So just
hold fast and let the rest go.” So that’s what we did. We just held
on and tried to look at the doctrines of the gospel rather than how
people behaved sometimes. . .
. . . When people ask, “How is it that you are able to speak the
way you do?”, I say, “I was given a blessing, that I would speak my
mind.” It was really interesting, because all of our talks had to go
through the First Presidency, and nothing was changed. Nothing
in my talks was changed.
. . . I brought Buddhism
with me. Buddhism teaches love for everybody. The Buddhist values
are not limited just to the people in the Buddhist faith. They
include the whole wide world. When you talk to the Dalai Lama,
you can feel a love that he has for all humankind. He doesn’t
preach, “You must belong to my church.” He preaches, “You must
become better people because of what I am telling you.” Christians,
Muslims, Buddhists go to listen to him, and they become
better Christians, better Muslims, and better Buddhists because
of the values and morals that he teaches. He makes you think, “I
can become a better Christian because of what I heard.” He is a
messenger or a disciple of God, in a different way.
I came to the Church having all these values. The Church didn’t
teach me that.
She also had some great ideas about new member retention and a better way to teach at church and new manuals.
It tickles me that the Proclamation on the Family is in some circles elevated to the status of revelation and Sister Okazaki says, “How come we weren’t consulted?….as I read it I thought that we could have made a few changes in it.” Makes me smile every time!
😆 I also believe, strongly, that Sister Okazaki was important in the process of changing things like Ward Council being made the top council in the ward, over PEC. She was gently out-spoken, and lots of male leaders were influenced by the things she said and the points she made – like her comment about the Proclamation to the World. I think she probably is one of the most under-appreciated but influential figures in modern Church history, and I don’t think that is hyperbole.
I will second Ray Ds comment. Next to Uchtdorf, Okazaki was one of the ones if not thee one I enjoyed listening to most. While everyone of my friends enjoyed Packard or Bruce mcConkie, I found her talks strengthening and uplifting. While I generally came away from GC feeling depressed when I was otherwise generally happy, I found her talks uplifting and that helped me to go even when I knew the tone sounded mostly negative and condescending, even if sometimes only to non traditional members or non members.
“I think she probably is one of the most under-appreciated but influential figures in modern Church history, and I don’t think that is hyperbole.” I second that I own three of her books, including Lighten Up. I often quote or refer to her in Relief Society. I always preface my comment with the words, “Chieko Okazaki, counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency said…” and every time I observe this look of doubt that she was anybody. It’s as if she never existed.
I am so desperately tempted to start a book club just to study her works. She really is a prophet to me.Her words are almost more true now in my life than they were when she originally spoke them.
mom3 wrote:“Chieko Okazaki, counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency said…” and every time I observe this look of doubt that she was anybody. It’s as if she never existed.
I feel like I am only on the tip of the iceberg on this issue. My kids are forced to learn the names and something about each of the big 15 in primary. I complained that I don’t think the information helps them and was told that if they later read a quote by one of these great men then they will know that it was from a church leader. (Could you imagine visiting a JW kingdom hall and having your kids memorize the names of their leading governing body?) Anyway – there is not equal treatment applied to the RS general presidency. Adult women in the RS do not recognize her name. Can you name the members of the RS general presisency right now? (Sheri Dew? maybe?) We jokingly say that when a woman speaks in GC that it is a good time to get ourselves a sandwich (Thank you LOL cats). But why should I care to know what these women are saying. They apparently were not even consulted on the upcomming RS manual change. I’m not sure they would ever be the source of new changes in the church even if those changes were exclusive to the YW and RS. Are they anything more than supportive window dressing?
Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for posting. Wow, I am haven’t been excited to read anything regarding LDS culture and ESPECIALLY anything written by a woman in the church in a long time. I remembering thinking that Sister Okazaki was the cutest, most loving sister ever and loved her talks, I don’t remember anything that she specifically said. A few years ago I would have been so offended by Roy’s comment
Quote:We jokingly say that when a woman speaks in GC that it is a good time to get ourselves a sandwich (Thank you LOL cats). But why should I care to know what these women are saying.
In fact, about 4 years ago my friends husband said “I change the channel when the women come on during GC. I was appauled and so offended. I felt like I have nothing to offer the men in this church other than a meal. It sickened me, esp since I concidered myself more “Spiritual” than 90% of the men I knew…esp this guy who said it.
Oh how karma hits me in the face…. recently I find myself wanting to pull my hair out and walking out when the women are speaking. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it has something to do with the fact that they are so “mousy” and submissive??? Fake? So not like Cheri Dew and Okazaki… I don’t know… it has really been bothering me lately. In our combined PH/RS meeting we watched this video about missionary work (which horrified me as I realized that it seemed very similar to a Aurbon Sale training meeting). Anyway, I found it so disturbing that they showed the men doing the teaching and then showed the women General authorities sitting in a circle discussing .. I didn’t even hear what they said.. I was just … annoyed? It is really weird and disturbing how separated we are. This is my vent for the day. I am hoping to come to peace with it…I must also say that I was pissed when some of the sisters suggested that we wear pants to church on Sunday in attempts to get equality and possibly even the priesthood. I mostly objected b/c I don’t want ANY more responsibility and I guess I wasn’t ready to admit that the church wasn’t perfect…. thank you Karma.
Wooooowowowowowoooooow!!!! (I’m excited, can you tell).
Those quotes are outstanding. I love the Buddhism one. How come I’ve never heard of her before?
Hey, for safe keeping, could some of you post some of your favourites in the quotes middle way quotes thread?
Good stuff. Why don’t they put some of this stuff in the teaching manuals?
jwald and i sat out by the fire and discussed Okazaki for hours last night….there is a lot of good stuff that should be/could be put in the teaching manuals.
cwald wrote:Good stuff.
Why don’t they put some of this stuff in the teaching manuals?
jwald and i sat out by the fire and discussed Okazaki for hours last night….there is a lot of good stuff that should be/could be put in the teaching manuals.
I know, can you imagine how things might be if she had been allowed to write her manuals?
I included the following in a church talk in 2011
Quote:The early saints were all converts and they brought many elements of their former faith traditions and diverse heritage with them. While some of these things later fell by the wayside, many elements were impactful and the effects of which continue to be felt today in music and meeting structure, as well as in other respects. These differences contribute to the vibrancy and harmony of the whole. What heritage do you bring? How has this coloured your perspective? How can the rest of us learn and grow from what you have to offer?
Sister Okazaki, the first non-Caucasian member of a church general board and also the first in a general presidency comes to us with a Buddhist heritage. She has such a gift for seeing beauty in the harmony. She had this to say, “Diversity is a strength. I attend a lot of meetings where I’m the only woman. And I attend many, many meetings where I’m the only Oriental woman. Have you ever had the feeling that you’re the odd one, the different one? Maybe even too odd or different for this church? The truth is that you’re not odd—you’re special. When white light falls on a wall, it makes a white wall. But when it passes through a prism, that same light makes a rainbow on the wall…[Like God during creation, I’d like to say]”Let there be light.” All kinds of light! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet light. We need our differences.” (Lighten up! 17)
In Hawaii, I was surrounded from babyhood by differences- in language, in physical appearance, in dress, in economic level, in religion, in traditional men’s and women’s roles, in education, in race, in life-styles, and in customs. I observed differences, but I did not learn to label them as “good” or “bad”… Being different, I internalized, is all right. Heavenly Father wants differences. He does not make two identical blossoms or two snowflakes that are the same” (ibid 122-3)
Thank you, Sister Okazaki for not giving up and thinking that you were too different for the Lord’s church. Thank you for being you and for choosing to be you while in our midst. May you continue to shine.
The full talk is found here:
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2542&hilit=+okazaki I begame acquanted with these Okazaki quotes because Eugene England quoted her in his essay – “No Respecter of Persons”: A Mormon Ethics of Diversity
http://eugeneengland.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/1994_e_001.pdf
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