The Stand

All of the fingers point at you, destroying the shadows you cling to with white hot blazing words of hate.

Walk to an open area, trace a circle around where you stand. This is your space and you defined it. Now imagine that those around you have twisted and contorted this space. Imagine that they have turned that space into a label and have affixed it to your forehead for all to see, yet it remains invisible and unknown to you. Your space still has a membership of one, but this solitary exclusive club is an inverse and a negative. It is a belonging that is not known to exist because you were placed there by all those around you. You cannot be a part of the outside because you are specifically denied access. Why are you not the same as all the rest? What gave you membership? You did not define this label, this epithet, slur. Those who put you there in that notorius club, who refuse to join because they are too good or perfect to be members, are known by many names. It is they who belong to the hateful minority. When such a hate filled minority gains influence and prestige, that is when true evil manifests.

You know about all of the groups you belong to, whether membership is by default or by desire. Those aspects you control, the best are highlighted with your participation and the others are accepted with indifference. Of those qualities that you cannot control, you work hard to emphasize those you feel will be accepted and try to hide the rest. Choose one feature of yourself that you are particularly fond of, that helps to define who you really are and makes you unique. Imagine this facet of yourself that you have picked, is despised by everyone around you. Imagine that because of how fond you are of this part of yourself, that you are not always able to hide it. Imagine that you are an expert at hiding this aspect of yourself but everyone around you somehow knows the truth. Where do you go? How do you survive? How does it feel to stand in this small circle others have drawn around you?

“Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.”

Stephen King, in The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990), 3rd paragraph of Chapter 42, Glen Bateman speaking

Pride is about community and identity. It is shouting from the top of the mountain to proclaim "I am!"  It is a time of belonging without fear, an oasis of hope for the troubled. The most unfortunate thing, is that sometimes it is difficult or impossible to even privately feel pride in ones identity. When the hiding of self reaches this extreme, when there is only a slim chance for one's identity to surface around others, it is a very fragile time. Only this affected person knows exactly how precarious, the difficult balancing act on the edge of an abyss.

Suppose that one thing that defines you is the gender of who you love, would you let everyone around you deny you the ability to express your love? Would you let others decide whether the government, its laws, corporations, their policies, can exclude you because of the gender of who you love? Now replace the word gender with race or religion or status or class or creed or caste. Does switching it to something other than gender make it more acceptable or less acceptable? Why?

You bully, hate-filled political speaker, fire and brimstone bigot, non-acting bystander. Represent humanity. Extend a hand to draw someone from the edge, not to push them over. Words. Be inclusive, compassionate, empathize. Imagine yourself in their boat, their shoes. Honestly, how do YOU want to be treated?