Would you not try to prevent them from throwing the rocks at me by knocking them from their hands, jumping and using your hands to block rocks from being thrown across the street? If you had a walking stick would you not use it to hit the rock-throwers, or an umbrella, would you not offer it to me as a form of shelter amid the onslaught being hurled toward me? If that didn’t stop the rocks, would you not cross the street and help shield me with your hands and body?
Or would you just walk along with your friends, passively saying, “I’m sorry that they’re throwing rocks, Phil, but I don’t agree with them. I am not throwing rocks, so i am not to blame.”
Now imagine that I was just walking along, living my life, doing the best I could to be a member of our society. And imagine that instead of throwing rocks, your friends were yelling untrue things about me and cursing me. Hearing what was being said, you knew that it was all lies and hate. Would you not speak up for me and tell them to stop their lies? Or would you walk along side your friends silently thinking, “I’m sorry that they’re saying those things, Phil, but I don’t agree with them. I am not saying those things, so I am not to blame.”
This is the way I feel when people close to me attend churches where lies are told about gay people or who vote for candidates who peddle untrue things about me and my family. Don’t my friends and family understand that there are two sides of that street: mine and the attackers. It is painful to watch how often some of the people closest to me aren’t willing to defend me, instead remaining in institutions that bring pain into my life.
Where are you? Are you doing all you can to help or are you silently going along with the hurtful flow?
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