about 10 years ago
Yesterday, I went over to my best friend's house. Her little sister had just joined Pottermore, and she kept deleting her account and restarting it because she wanted to take the Sorting quiz again... and again... and again. The three of us were laughing and predicting and teasing, and just generally having a lot of fun.
Since my friend's sister is only 12 and doesn't have an email yet, she was using her mother's to send the account confirmations to. After (I'm not exaggerating) about 25 account resets, the verification email wouldn't come in. The webpage with her mother's inbox on it froze, and I got a glimpse of one of her other emails as my best friend waved the mouse around frantically.
It wasn't addressed specifically to their mother; rather, it was to everyone at their church. The little tag line read, "To all the members of -----, I regret to inform you that we will soon be leaving the church, as ---- and I feel it just has not taken a strong enough stand against gay marriage. We will miss everyone here. ------- and ------- loved being a part of the youth group-"
And that was where it cut off.
I'll be the first one to admit it: I live in a sheltered world. A bubble, maybe, of acceptance and kindness and financial security. I've never had to deal with shootings in our neighborhood, or areas of town where you really shouldn't go, or the older kids selling drugs on the playground, or racism and bigotry (to a certain extent, anyway).
So, seeing that... it shocked me.
Friends were being pulled apart, families were breaking ties to each other, and over something as f***ing stupid as homophobia. I imagined their church getting smaller and smaller, as one by one, people left, not wanting their children to be “exposed” to such “horrible” messages..
Now, I realize what a fool I've been. Of course this is happening, and of course it's happening everywhere... you hear about all the attacks on the news, but after long enough, they start to blur together. But seeing that opened my eyes a bit, made me realize that it all does affect me, too, and everyone around me.
Still, I just can’t understand it. Why is everyone so against gay people? They can't help it; they can't change it; it's just the way they are. They can’t choose, so why hold that against them? It’s like how we were fifty years ago, with the colors of our skin. Doesn't God tell us that we're supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? As we love our own children? Because that love, it’s unconditional.
This isn’t the world that I want to grow up in. This isn’t the world I want my children to grow up in. This isn’t a world that anyone should have to deal with. But the only way we can fix it is by starting with ourselves, by choosing to be kind to each other, and helping each other, and just waiting until that starts to rub off on everyone else.
Is that easy for me to say, being white and straight, and living in such a good situation? Maybe. But I hope no one will hold that against me.
My friend’s little sister pressed the button restarting the computer, and the screen went black for a second.
I blinked. Blinked again.
And then it was over, and my friend was telling her sister that it was no good, she was just going to be put in Hufflepuff again, and her sister was arguing, “but I know I’m not a Hufflepuff!!” and then I joined in, laughing about her inner Slytherin finally being released. It was just like nothing had happened.
Because to them, it hadn’t.
- A 14-year-old girl in Northern Virginia, worrying for the future of her world
Since my friend's sister is only 12 and doesn't have an email yet, she was using her mother's to send the account confirmations to. After (I'm not exaggerating) about 25 account resets, the verification email wouldn't come in. The webpage with her mother's inbox on it froze, and I got a glimpse of one of her other emails as my best friend waved the mouse around frantically.
It wasn't addressed specifically to their mother; rather, it was to everyone at their church. The little tag line read, "To all the members of -----, I regret to inform you that we will soon be leaving the church, as ---- and I feel it just has not taken a strong enough stand against gay marriage. We will miss everyone here. ------- and ------- loved being a part of the youth group-"
And that was where it cut off.
I'll be the first one to admit it: I live in a sheltered world. A bubble, maybe, of acceptance and kindness and financial security. I've never had to deal with shootings in our neighborhood, or areas of town where you really shouldn't go, or the older kids selling drugs on the playground, or racism and bigotry (to a certain extent, anyway).
So, seeing that... it shocked me.
Friends were being pulled apart, families were breaking ties to each other, and over something as f***ing stupid as homophobia. I imagined their church getting smaller and smaller, as one by one, people left, not wanting their children to be “exposed” to such “horrible” messages..
Now, I realize what a fool I've been. Of course this is happening, and of course it's happening everywhere... you hear about all the attacks on the news, but after long enough, they start to blur together. But seeing that opened my eyes a bit, made me realize that it all does affect me, too, and everyone around me.
Still, I just can’t understand it. Why is everyone so against gay people? They can't help it; they can't change it; it's just the way they are. They can’t choose, so why hold that against them? It’s like how we were fifty years ago, with the colors of our skin. Doesn't God tell us that we're supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? As we love our own children? Because that love, it’s unconditional.
This isn’t the world that I want to grow up in. This isn’t the world I want my children to grow up in. This isn’t a world that anyone should have to deal with. But the only way we can fix it is by starting with ourselves, by choosing to be kind to each other, and helping each other, and just waiting until that starts to rub off on everyone else.
Is that easy for me to say, being white and straight, and living in such a good situation? Maybe. But I hope no one will hold that against me.
My friend’s little sister pressed the button restarting the computer, and the screen went black for a second.
I blinked. Blinked again.
And then it was over, and my friend was telling her sister that it was no good, she was just going to be put in Hufflepuff again, and her sister was arguing, “but I know I’m not a Hufflepuff!!” and then I joined in, laughing about her inner Slytherin finally being released. It was just like nothing had happened.
Because to them, it hadn’t.
- A 14-year-old girl in Northern Virginia, worrying for the future of her world
