And This is My Other Wife, Nelda….

This story about The Lost Boys is a great example of what doesn’t work about polygamy. I grew up about 40 miles away from what we called ‘Plyg City’ which is really Colorado City. I heard stories about those boys growing up and I heard stories about what happened to the girls. I think in my head, I didn’t really believe that it all could be happening, since there were so many people living there and so many of them were ‘grown-ups’, which in my head meant ‘the grown-ups are taking care of the kids, right? – so it can’t really be true.’ I was about 14 when I realized that the stories were true and that just because someone was an adult, it didn’t mean they were nice or did the right thing, even if there were so many of them all together. There could be 50-100+ adults and they could all still be doing the wrong thing. They just did it together and covered each other’s backs.

Mainstream Mormon people kind of joke and laugh about polygamy together. That’s because no one really understands what will happen in the ‘afterlife’ in regards to multiple wives, except they presume that they will practice polygamy since it’s been stated in the scriptures that it is the divine order of things. And when you ask a question about it to someone in authority, you’re told to not worry your pretty little head about it, since it will all just work out for the best when we’re in heaven.

I’m so glad to not worry about that anymore. Not because they told me not to but because I don’t believe it to be true.