Partially, it's a boredom project.
Partially, it's an experiment.
Partially, it's an attempt to reach people.
Searchers who need to know they are not alone.
For these people, and everyone around them, what I have to say is important.
Very important.
They were different.
There are many ways a person can be different. Perhaps they have a disease, AIDS, for example, which people misunderstand and fear. Perhaps they are of a different nationality. Perhaps they are more or less intelligent than average. Perhaps they speak with a different accent, dress in a different way. Perhaps they are of a religion outside the Big Three (Christianity, Judaism, Islam). Perhaps they are homo- or bisexual.
Perhaps they even dare to just be their own person, to defy the laws of conformity and live as they wish to live.
And they are different.
Mostly, the harassment comes from hate, which is bred by fear or misunderstanding. If we can learn to accept others' differences and embrace our own, then we can ease the load of pain we each have borne at some time due to intolerance.
Acceptance and tolerance does not mean you agree with their ideas or way of life. Because it is right for them does not mean it is right for you, and that's ok. You have the right to be different, too. It means that you allow them to be different in peace. No insults, no physical damage to them, their property, or their loved ones, no attempts to force them over to your way of life.
This does not mean don't bring it up. Peaceful discussion is good. How else can we learn? Much of the human population learns better or thinks harder about something they have heard from a person willing to say it in a friendly or non-threatening manner.
So please, think, learn, and listen.
You just might find an amazing friend along the way.
