Reaction

    Labels and brands, something we do out of ease or convenience, can quickly become something else.  People far too often let these things define an individual, rather than just be what they are, a descriptor of one aspect of their life.  One word doesn’t make a person, but too often we allow it to in our minds.  
    No longer can a lack of understanding be an excuse.  No longer can disapproval of some small portion of a person condemn the whole.  The world is not so black and white, so two dimensional.  We are complex creatures of a complex realm.  We must seek to understand before we can even entertain the thought of us being able to judge.
    I drink alcohol, sometimes in large quantity.  I have had sex outside of marriage.  I am dear friends with many gay and lesbian people, and I celebrate them.  I’ve cut myself, just to feel the pain.  I’ve contemplated ending my own life.  I don’t have faith in a higher power, and sometimes feel a nihilist.
    These are facts about me.  Not one of these defines me as a person, they are each one small part of me.  Some people love some of these things, some hate them, but I’d like to think anyone reading this knows that regardless of your agreement with the above, I am more than that paragraph.  
    There is no malice in my message, only a plea.  I beg us, as a species, to find a way to look beyond these small lines and differences, and find what is lovable in all of us.  I truly feel that if you try to look into the heart of someone you consider wrong or undesirable, you will find a good in them that is not so different from your own.