I am not going to get all sappy and preachy about last night's episode of Glee but I wanted to just say a couple of things about a very emotional hour. If you have not watched "SPOILER ALERT"
Dave Karofsky (of the making Kurt's life a living hell Dave Karofsky) had finally come out of the closet and after a week of bullying ( and the word Fag on his locker) he decided to take his own life. Now I know that this is a timely matter. I read enough blogs and admire enough Gay people to know that this is not a fictional life event.
However, I am going to admit my shortcomings here. I am straight...and white...and middle-class. I have never known anything like this in my life. Sure, I had bad skin and braces and was picked on in middle school (middle schoolers suck!) but even in my darkest hour, I knew that eventually life would get a little easier (or at least I hoped). So watching this boy, in pain, and knowing that this was something that could not go away (even though his mother thought it was a disease) was hard to watch. I know that what I was watching is fictional but reading the newspaper stories and seeing the news makes me realize that the bullying and non-acceptance happens on a daily, if not hourly, basis.
I watched a dumb movie called Soul Man years ago. I don't know if you saw it but the basic premise was a white boy took skin darkening pills to get a scholarship to Harvard as a minority. At the end of the movie Mufasa, no Darth Vader, OK you know who I mean was so impressed with what this boy had learned by being black and realizing the racial struggles in the world. And this boy, in all his infinite wisdom said that no he did not know what it was like to be black because at any time he could go back to being white.
I can empathize with my blogger friends who are gay as they discuss trying to get equal rights. I can be supportive and accept that being gay is how people are made and it is not a choice. But will I ever really understand the trials, tribulations and struggles this population of people go through on a day to day basis? Nope I will not. This does not mean that I will stop being supportive. It just means that I can never fully understand the depths of despairs that a child put in this position must get to, to take his or her own life. It also means that as a parent I will love and support my children always...
Oh and by the way, sucky ending Glee for a show that is supposed to be a dramedy. Is Quinn dead? Really? And now we will not know until April.
Dave Karofsky (of the making Kurt's life a living hell Dave Karofsky) had finally come out of the closet and after a week of bullying ( and the word Fag on his locker) he decided to take his own life. Now I know that this is a timely matter. I read enough blogs and admire enough Gay people to know that this is not a fictional life event.
However, I am going to admit my shortcomings here. I am straight...and white...and middle-class. I have never known anything like this in my life. Sure, I had bad skin and braces and was picked on in middle school (middle schoolers suck!) but even in my darkest hour, I knew that eventually life would get a little easier (or at least I hoped). So watching this boy, in pain, and knowing that this was something that could not go away (even though his mother thought it was a disease) was hard to watch. I know that what I was watching is fictional but reading the newspaper stories and seeing the news makes me realize that the bullying and non-acceptance happens on a daily, if not hourly, basis.
I watched a dumb movie called Soul Man years ago. I don't know if you saw it but the basic premise was a white boy took skin darkening pills to get a scholarship to Harvard as a minority. At the end of the movie Mufasa, no Darth Vader, OK you know who I mean was so impressed with what this boy had learned by being black and realizing the racial struggles in the world. And this boy, in all his infinite wisdom said that no he did not know what it was like to be black because at any time he could go back to being white.
I can empathize with my blogger friends who are gay as they discuss trying to get equal rights. I can be supportive and accept that being gay is how people are made and it is not a choice. But will I ever really understand the trials, tribulations and struggles this population of people go through on a day to day basis? Nope I will not. This does not mean that I will stop being supportive. It just means that I can never fully understand the depths of despairs that a child put in this position must get to, to take his or her own life. It also means that as a parent I will love and support my children always...
Oh and by the way, sucky ending Glee for a show that is supposed to be a dramedy. Is Quinn dead? Really? And now we will not know until April.
1 comment:
It's like that old saying about walking a mile in someone else's shoes.
No one can really no any person's struggles unless they've experienced them, themselves. But empathy and understanding can be given and felt and shared.
And that Glee ending was a shocker!
Post a Comment