Cookies!!!

Men are like cookies...and here is the analogy. It is not my analogy, but one that was shared with me, by the dearest, caring, and most loyal and devoted of those close to me.

"Cookie Dough" = "Pre-Mi"

- These are the boys who are young, just out of high school, and pre-mission. They "taste" good, but nonetheless, they are raw because they have not been "baked" yet. Partaking of these cookies, can make you, and them 'sick'.

"Oven" = "Baking"

- These are those boys who are on the greatest journey's thus far in their life. They are learning, and becoming that of which men are hopefully made of. Thus they are "baking", or "in the oven" and are rising and expanding to what they should be upon completion. However, if they are eaten at this point it is severely damaging to both the partaking, and the partaken. For they are wrought in the fire the baker which put them there, and if are disturbed it causes terrible destruction to the cookie, and a devastating burn to the partaker.

"Fresh" = "RM"(Return Missionary)

- These are those who have completed their service and have returned home. Hence they become the "fresh" cookies. They are up for grabs, hot to the touch, and on every girls plate. But beware...if these cookies are taken off the plate TOO fast, they may very well break apart. Because of the awkward nature of their state, do not think that they are as sturdy as you would like them to be. They taste good as all cookies do, but they need time to cool, and become solid enough to move with hands. Some may need a little more time to adjust to that new world that they have come in to; not that the world itself is new, but that it is new to them who have just become a part of it in a different way.

"Stale" = "Menace to society"

- "Menace to society" as some have called it, being those who have reached a certain "age" and have not been married. The stale cookies are the ones that were once hot, but have had TOO much time to cool, for whatever reasons. They are the ones that are "old", or "past their prime" and therefore they just..."sit and do nothing". They are not hot. They don't "taste" good. They are just there on the plate.

And finally, there is apparently one more state in which the cookie may find himself.

"Beyond" = "Desperate"

- This is the cookie(according to perception of some), that is so far past stale, reaching a state of desperation. They are apparently so far gone, that in their state of desperation, they begin to think they are "fresh", or "hot". Doing everything they can to appear as such, and yet they are nothing. No one wants to eat a cookie that is like that, especially a lady, if they are deserving enough to be called such.

If you were told this analogy where it concluded at the "stale" section, and then told after, that there was one more section, how would you feel if it was inquired of you like this?

"Oh there is more! There is one more that goes past 'stale'". At which point, the person continues to explain the state of "beyond". It wouldn't be so bad right? Now, interpret this question for me:

"How old ARE you?"

The capitalized 'ARE', is not a mistake; it is an emphasis within the question. How does one justify a question like that? Is it just an open emphasis? Is it a genuine sincere inquiry for knowledge? Is it getting to know you? To anyone who might not know of the detailed situation, it might appear as such. But to you I answer, NO.

Actions described above, are actions in the story of one who has nothing more than the heart he offers in a magnitude of love that few in this world can even begin to comprehend. His hands, given in service, openly and honestly, without thought of return; if such service could be accumulated, it would surely build a world where those in this one, would not be worthy to stand in. Such is the man I speak of...and yet, someone has the audacity to incriminate the open hands of service, and the open heart beat of love, because she claims she is in service of her best friend.

How malevolent her actions became. How malicious her intent; to share such an analogy, only to say with real purpose, "you are old, and are in pursuit of this girl only because you are desperate. She is too good for you! Back off!"

If this be the true willed feelings of a dear friend, than what hesitations would she have to say to him openly, if she is indeed, a dear friend, that she harbors such ill will? The woman loved, is claimed by the man spoken of, to have known him better than any other woman outside of his family.

Do not be confused. The lady who told the analogy, is not the lady loved. For there are two present in the story. And the man....the man, is more deserving of the best woman this world could conjure at the height of its existance, and yet he chose her. She is everything to him, because she could offer what little he asked for, to be happy. A heart beat in return, and hands he could warm.

But such could not be so, because in the eyes of her best friend...he is "beyond". And so it is, that I am broken for him...