Change is good. It doesn't have to be scary. What is scary is hate filled speech by people who never learned that they can accept that people are different. It is as if some people are only able to feel good about themselves when everyone that surrounds them is just like them. As if different opinions, as if diversity in itself, is felt by them as a rejection of who they are - as if to their mind it affects how good they feel about themselves.Hey: if you need to look down on others so you can feel good about yourself - there's something wrong here. If you can't accept that others lead their lives on principles and values you don't approve of, if you have to disparage others - then your own morality is not moral. You give no-one the right to tell you how to lead your life, do not expect to take this right upon yourself: you are not your brother's keeper, you are not the keeper of others. You can only make judgements about yourself. Do you?
Whatever we are used to, it's comfy. It feels like it has to be right because it is familiar. When you realise that something doesn't work for you any longer, when it becomes clear that a change of some sort is needed, - it can feel very scary. So scary that many people would rather do anything except to change.
That's because all of us are not used to change. We all of us embrace what we know. We all of us cling to what makes sense to us. But that doesn't mean that we can't see what's beyond our realm of experience. That we can't open our eyes and see. We should be able to see that others have different points of view. We should be able to feel that that's okay.
The world can be a brighter place when we are not too scared about what divides us in terms of experience, knowledge, values and insights. Just like a homophobe is too scared of shining a light on their own prejudices we should look at our own prejudices and examine them.
Change is scary but it is not bad for us. Particularly when we allow ourselves to learn.
What kicked off this blog post is this site I found: http://www.whof.net/ - I am very impressed by the project: reporting homophobic hate speech on Facebook. Acting against hate is so important and I probably don't do enough of it myself because I only talk with people who already agree with me.
There are some terrific sections about LGBT issues - I particularly like the page on what to do when you are being bullied, whether that's homophobic bullying or bullying for other reasons. Well worth checking out.
