A Collection of Reflections

We lost power around 7:20 today, and I decided to write a post on something I actually cared about while it was off. That something is a charity called To Write Love on Her Arms, a fantastic organization whose goal is suicide prevention. It means a lot to me, because I almost committed suicide in the 9th grade, and I know how hard it is to go through those feelings alone. This charity provides support for those battling depression and runs a suicide prevention phone line, and has a solid message: what makes the biggest difference is showing love. You can read more about how this organization got its name by reading the story behind its origins-you won't regret it. It is something I am passionate about, because so many do not realize how careless they are with their words, how much they can hurt someone. It seems like people, especially young people, are downright cruelly clueless-not knowing that every day they make a snide comment about some girl's weight, she's vomiting up everything she's eaten. Not knowing that jokes about that goth guy have him cutting himself daily. Not knowing that little miss perfect actually hates everything about herself, and is breaking down under the pressure to maintain an image she's been assigned. We judge each other endlessly… on what others say, on what they wear, on how they do their hair and makeup or the movies or books they like. We have labels we apply as we compartmentalize everything: slut, gossip, emo, nerd, loser, whore, prep, goth, dumb blonde, jock… and then people turn around and conform to the labels that society has assigned them, because they don't know what else to do. And then we look, and we see a label, and we stop looking before we see that the jock has a love for art and poetry, that the gossip is talking about everyone else's lives because her parents are abusive and she doesn't want to talk about her own, that the whore is just looking for love in a world that has never shown her any. That they each have lives and interests and personalities BEYOND that single word, and that they're people with depth who deserve to be treated with basic human respect. And if you believe in God, then you should know to show His love to EVERYONE, regardless of how you feel about their life choices! God loves us all, and we would just learn to love like Him, to love without prerequisites or conditions, then there would be a lot fewer people in this world who cry themselves to sleep at night, who are utterly alone and judged and hurt. I guess the point of this whole rant is, people are SO MUCH MORE than meets the eye. And when we fail to see that, and fail to care, we fail them entirely.