Stand Up

[colinian]

Grant Bentley posted this link on Codey's World:

This video says it all. :D

This is an excerpt from what I posted in response to the thread following Grant's post:

This video made me happy. I wanted to stand up and shout "RIGHT ON" and that's exactly what I did. Doug, Chris, and Steve came into our computer room and wanted to know what was going on. I showed them the video, and their reaction was the same as mine. This is a better production than most of the "It Gets Better" series because it shows things getting better, instead of just telling about them. One of the first things we are taught about writing is "Show, don't tell!" We need more "Show, don't tell!" as a follow on to "It Gets Better."

Colin

[TracyMN]

:wave: Hello Colin and Hello All:

This video pleased me on a number of levels, and encouraged me on each of them as well.

We all hope for a better world for our children and their children; that they will find the best of the good things we found, and a measure of what we hoped for them. We want our children to be better than we are, and for all the trouble that causes them and us, they, as individuals and as a group, are always better at something significant. The world may never be what we imagine it could or should be, but the significant improvements lend hope from one generation to the next -and from the next, backward also, bestowing the satisfaction of realized hope upon our passing.

I don't know about other folks, but being a parent of one child made me a parent of all children, and my hope is encouraged and satisfied by any who manifest the essence of what is hoped for.

This video realizes my hope in a general sense, and more specifically, it demonstrates my hope that the next generation will have the courage to stand up, as some of us did, but to greater effect; that they will reach out to each other, as some of us did, but to an extent that approaches the inclusion of all that is the full desire of reaching out; and that will utilize the resources, regardless of the nature of the struggle, available in the sheer number of them that stand up for any given thing.

The look on the face of the bully said it all, his confidence dissolved with each new pair who stood up, and who was gay and who was straight mattered not a bit to the outcome.

Thank you Colin. As much as I regard you as an adult, and appreciate you as a voice that affirms the past, confronts the present, and argues for change for the future, you continue to be a child of my hope and a source of its satisfaction.

:hug: :hug:

Tracy

p.s. what parent doesn't get just a little kick from embarrassing their kids in public?

[colinian]

Tracy,

Thank you for your comments. I want to assure you that I'm not (very) embarrassed by what you wrote. It is beautifully written, it is a wonderful thought, and it is greatly appreciated.

Colin

[The Pecman]

Beautifully done -- brought tears to my eyes. I only wish life were like this more often.

[TracyMN]

Thank you Colin, I'm glad most of all, but there is an unavoidable bit of relief whenever one sides against caution.

I was able to witness firsthand the further impact of this video when describing it to Rick brought out aspects that were absorbed below the level of conscious attention that accompanies visual experience. It's illustration of isolation, imposed secrecy and subsequent fear of exposure, and the very real consequences of the realization of those fears made their own individual impressions that are a full partner to the need for and act of Standing Up, for ourselves and especially for each other; defining differences gives the illusion of separation and by alienating others, we isolate ourselves. The idea that we are

alone in anything is perhaps the biggest lie of all.

That it was all done without words brought me to once again to tears, because as much as I regard the ability of language to bridge the gaps in our understanding of each other, it is what we are that binds us and there are no words for that.

Thanks again, DearHeart, there is so much more than talk happening here.

Tracy