Shaycarl Butler and his beautiful wife Colettte along with their five idyllic children have become one of the fundamental cornerstones within the Youtube community. Shaycarl started his youtube journey with the channel "the Shaytards" five years ago last wednesday; so I thought it was only appropriate to write a post on him this week in particular. Anybody who has watched more than a handful of their videos will be clued into the fact that they are an extremely successful and happy mormon family. Their religion and Shaycarl's spirituality is a topic that not only appears in their videos from time to time but it also discussed at great lengths especially on their "one-take" Sundays where they record a one take video when they return from their church service.
Being a member of the Catholic Church in Ireland, it has become very easy to question one's faith and commitment to the gospel and the "good news" as they say. I started watching the Shaytards channel during its first year but one thing that really struck home to me was Shay's inspirational monologues. Whether it be on financial responsibility or on spirituality in general, Shay has always "preached" from experience, and it is definitely clear to the viewer that what he says comes from the heart rather than coming off condescending or as a "know-it-all". The viewer can see that he genuinely doesn't want people to make the same mistakes he did. His talks on spirituality really made me look at my own faith. Throughout my teen years, the monotony of attending mass weekly really discouraged me from actually looking at my own faith. Now at the age of twenty two I find a sense of peace in my mind when I attend mass and I hope to have a much greater understanding of the facets of my faith in the years to come.
Getting back to the main objective of this post, Shaycarls family show the epitome of the perfect family. You have a man and wife who are completely committed to each other for the rest of eternity, who spend all their time on the welfare and success of their family as one unit. And the reason they give for their success in life? Their faith in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Their core belief system works on the family unit, on gratitude and good will. That the short physical life they have on earth determines the rest of their eternal spirits after death, and that the effort given in this life will reap an abundance of reward in the next.
It's hard to forget the shocking footage of fundamental mormonism with FLDS and the actual realities of being a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, the commitment, and the scarifice. But with the Butlers as Poster Children for Mormonism, they paint a very enticing picture of what members of the faith enjoy. The happiness they radiate creates envy in spades amongst their viewers; which Shay tries to soothe with his personal philiosophies on happiness, for example; "Happiness is a Choice" and "You can't always be happy but, if you're always striving to choose happiness - everyday you wake up and say to yourself 'I am going to choose not to let the outside influences of the world affect my mood' - I promise you will live a happier life"
It's difficult for viewers not to buy into the perfect life or that perfection is attainable. That reason alone will be the reason why I will return to the Shaytards daily to watch their videos, and why to me, they are the best ambassadors the LDS church could have ever dreamed of.
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