moral dilemma?

In our ward I am one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers (there are two of us and we switch off teaching each week - but that isn't really relevant to this post). My next lesson is on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Because I teach every other Sunday that gives me two weeks to prepare each lesson. As it has gone in the past, I usually read the lesson on the Sunday evening after I have given a lesson and then spend the next several days just thinking about it and where I think we ought to go with it. So this week I have been thinking about this topic of keeping the Sabbath Day. A couple days ago an idea hit me that sort of made me wonder. It is sort of a moral dilemma; I think.

I grew up with newspaper reading parents - since the dawn of my earliest recollection I can recall them reading it every morning. We aren't TV watchers and we really never have been, so I am sure this was the way they got the news each day (although, now I know my mom couldn't live without Fox news each night - she really likes it and it is on at 9 instead of 10). Well, Scott and I subscribe to the paper. I should actually say that I subscribe because I receive a lot more enjoyment out of it than he does. Lest you think I am totally up on current events, let me correct you now; I am not. I am more of a scanner and I only read what looks interesting or relevant to me. But I do have a basic knowledge of what is going on it the world.

Okay, so let me switch gears - we are taught (in our church and I am sure others teach a similar doctrine) that one of the ways in which to keep the Sabbath Day holy is to abstain from work and abstain from making others work for us on this day. Obviously this would exclude people in medical professions (which is good since I went into labor with Lily on a Sunday) and a handful of other professions in which limited Sunday work is necessary. But on the whole we can live without most everyday services for one day a week.

So here is the dilemma that struck me the other day. Is the Sunday paper a necessity? Especially in light of the fact that we live in a world where basically everyone has Internet access where the news can be found for free. This idea struck me early last Sunday morning - our paper boy (or girl, I am not sure because I've never actually seen him/her) who usually arrives in the four o'clock hour must have been running late. This particular morning I heard his car (it has a very distinct rattle to it) around 5:30 and it sounded like someone had egged my house; it was just the newspaper hitting the pavement really hard and fast. He had thrown the paper with such force it actually ripped the bag and then he sped off much faster than normal. Obviously he was in a rush. Plus he had this awesome late 80's song blasting on the radio (he never has music playing), it was the one that goes, "if we can build this dream together...nothin' gonna stop us..." Basically I am getting to the point in my pregnancy that the slightest noise wakes me up because I not really all that comfortable. So I hear him every morning, which isn't a big deal.

All this got me thinking that for the past couple years I have been making this poor person get up at the crack of dawn each Sunday morning to just deliver me some news that I not even really going to appreciate. I felt really bad about it. Especially because if everyone came to this realization then newspapers really would all go out of business, and that wouldn't be great, especially in this economy. I am pretty sure the Sunday paper is any paper's best seller. Also, it occurred to me that my parents have been getting the newspaper since paper was invented - had they ever thought about this? They are the last people in the world to intentionally break a commandment. I think people have been getting the Sunday paper for so many generations now that it has slipped into some kind of category making it exempt from the whole "no working on the Sabbath Day" thing. It is more of a cultural thing at this point. So then I started wondering if maybe I was over thinking this (which is always possible) - maybe I am looking too closely at the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. I don't think anyone who receives the Sunday paper is intentionally trying to break the Sabbath Day - they probably just haven't ever thought about it. And now I am sort of feeling guilty that I have even brought this up - because now you all who do receive the paper will have to think about it and make the same moral decision that I trying to make.

Actually I am not "trying" to make the decision anymore. I have actually come the realization that this question came into my head as an answer to a minor issue that Scott and I were having. I should really emphasize the word minor here - we have only discussed this issue a couple of times and it was never anything major or upsetting; but it has been on my mind since he mentioned it. We eat breakfast as a family every morning and I bet you can guess what I do during breakfast - yes you are correct, I read the paper, thus totally ignoring my family. Scott has mentioned that maybe this wasn't a great way to spend the time together (and he was so nice about it saying that it was just as much a problem with him as it was with me. But in reality it really is more me than him - he is usually the one who helps the kids with breakfast and stuff). It has been brought up a couple times, but I could never see a great reason to cancel the subscription - I know, call me wicked that I don't think ignoring my kids is a great reason, but we also have dinner together and I spend all day with them, so I sort of figured they could live without my complete attention for 15 minutes while I read. Plus in my mind I was also teaching them the benefits of staying informed; okay this was a total "make myself feel better about the situation" excuse - like I am really only reading the paper so that my children can see how important it is. Okay, now I am rambling. So I have decided that maybe I have had this question on my mind because maybe someone is trying to tell me something; like go look online for current events while the kids are napping and save the ten bucks a month from the subscription. And now I won't have to feel bad for the paper boy working on Sunday - even though I know he still is. At least I can feel better that it isn't for me.

So what do you think? Is this silly? Am I totally neurotic for even wondering about this (okay, I already know I am totally neurotic)? I should tell you I won't think any less of you if you still get the Sunday paper. I am sure my parents will once they get back from Guam and I think they are pretty much the Best! So if you were able to get through this novel I actually would love to hear your thoughts on the subject....

I just hope the Deseret News doesn't go out of business - then I might feel kind of guilty about cancelling my subscription (although because of its affiliation with the Church I don't really worry about it going out of business).