Performance piece under construction for National Coming Out Day.
You can view it if you want and even make comments, which may or may not affect the final project. Just don't tell me how to improve my writing, okay? I'm happy with my style. I am not shooting for the recommended list, so I don't need comments about how to get it there.
Of course, there are undoubtedly typos. I am not a touch typist: I am fast but inaccurate. I don't mind if anyone spots them and tells me about it.
I've been posting poetry both in my diaries and at Cheers and Jeers. Decisions about what goes where have not been made yet. Art to be added later.
All aboard!
Act 1: (digital art piece to be determined displays on the wall above me)
I am a human being.
When I was a child, I was what was and still is known as a crybaby. I was very sensitive to personal slights, perhaps overly so, but that depends on one's point of view. Did I deserve to be punished for that? Because punishment is what happens when adults stand by and let some kids pick on other kids because "it is for their own good," justifying their inaction by saying, "Boys will be boys." Some children enjoy the role of bully too much for us to stand by and do nothing. Surely the school-shootings in the past few years have taught us that. But more importantly, no child deserves to be picked on because they are emotional. The world needs sensitive people. Why do we allow that to be stomped out of children? Being sensitive is a good thing. For that matter, no child deserves to be picked on for any reason, like that they wear glasses or are large or small. Children should be safe from torture at the hands of bullies. The safety of our children should be everyone's concern. Safety is a basic human right.
<insert poem>
Act 2: (digital art piece to be determined displays on the wall above me)
I am a human being.
I am a teacher. I have chosen to spend my life trying to improve the minds of young adults. That task is made a lot more difficult when some of them are told that they aren't worth as much as the others, that their value to society is determined by the color of their skin or their cultural heritage or their gender or their sexual orientation or their size or their social or economic status or anything other than how they can develop their minds and their individual talents and how thoroughly they carry out their obligations. Judging them on any other basis is unfair. And I believe that fairness is a basic human value.
<insert poem>
Act 3: (digital art piece to be determined displays on the wall above me)
I am a human being.
I am a PFLAG parent. My daughter is 37 years old. When she was eighteen, she told us she was a lesbian. I can't for the life of me understand any brand of "family values" that would result in me discarding a child because that child is lesbian or gay or bisexual or transgender. I can't imagine anything that my daughter could do or say that would cause me to cease loving her, especially not that she loves someone. I will always want her to be happy. I will always want what is best for her. My kid was a good kid then and is a terrific person now. I feel very protective toward her. Anyone who has bad things to say about her for any reason needs to back off. Anyone who thinks that she deserves a lesser life than other people is going to have a battle on their hands. I stand up for my child. And that's what I call the true value of family.
<insert poem>
<to be continued>