Because six gay dudes killed themselves. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very sad and should not have happened, but it kind of ignores everyone else who got bullied into suicide. Why not have a day to remember all victims of suicide?
I just don’t buy into the sudden development of a bleeding heart because there was a couple of high profile cases. Seems kind of tacky and false to me.
I have to say that I agree with you here to some extent. But I think this is less about society’s sudden development of a bleeding heart, and more about society saying “Enough is Enough.”
I understand that this “wear purple” thing stemmed from the abuse, bullying, and eventual suicides of kids that were, or even just appeared to be, homosexual. However, I have to say, and I don’t speak for anyone else, that I wear purple today not JUST exclusively for these kids, but for any kid out there that may be different and subject to the same bullying and harassment as the six that have gained so much public attention. I don’t believe that the media attention that this issue is getting has anything to do with media as a whole giving a crap about anything other than the next big story, or the thing that is going to get the most attention (working around the media, I know that there is always an agenda). However, no one can deny that media issues often become “media issues” or “the next big story” because enough people felt strongly enough to make a big deal out of something. And this is a big deal. Kids killing themselves because other kids at school are verbally harassing them and/or physically abusing them for being different, in any way and not just limited to homosexuality, is a big deal. Kids terrorizing their own schools and killing other kids because they’ve been harassed and bullied to their breaking point is a big deal. And it has to stop.
It breaks my heart to think about these little kids, who are still just babies, being made to feel that their lives are not worth living, or that it’s just too hard to go alone - whether gay or straight. And honestly, for me, it’s not even limited to just raising awareness or coming together on a united front.
It’s for the kid, right now, that is thinking that no one cares or that it’s not OK to be who they are and enjoy the things they do. Right now, as I type this, there is some kid somewhere that is thinking about giving up and about how to kill themselves. Thinking that it won’t ever get better, and that where they are is where they’ll always be, or that getting out is too far away. So why not, on the chance that they might see it, offer any of these kids a little visual reassurance that we hear them? That we are with them and that we get it?
I’m not saying that everyone who cares should wear purple today, or that by wearing purple this will suddenly stop. Everyone should take a stand in their own way, and if purple isn’t yours, there isn’t anything wrong with that. But to label the whole thing as tacky and false, serves a hell of a lot less purpose than some dude or chick with purple on.
My purple today is my way of saying I hear you. I understand and I will not participate in the bullying and hate, and my kids will not grow up learning to hate those that are different. And maybe no one will see it or even notice. But the point is I’m here. I’m listening. I see you. And I am with you. And so is everyone else that you see wearing their purple proudly, and even some that aren’t.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. - MLK Jr.
And so do theirs, because this matters.
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