“I am gay,” Jonathan, my long time friend, whispered to me as I sat across from him eating my Chipotle burrito bowl. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I searched for the proper words to respond. I struggled not because his revelation changed my opinion towards him, but as the first person he confided in, I wanted to reassure him that this has not changed the love and the sense of belonging between us.
We live in the “Bible Belt” of America, which holds strong conservative cultural and religious views, so Jonathan was facing a daunting task of revealing his sexual orientation. Many formed a negative attitude toward him based on their religious beliefs. In fact, a swim teammate asked me one day “How can you still be friends with him?“ his tone implied that somehow I was betraying my faith. As a Christian, I …show more content…
Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has it.” All these experiences lead me to believe that prejudice hinders a society‘s ability to grow and make progress. We must not stand silent if and when these malicious events arise in our presence, for if we stay silent, we are accomplice to injustice.
Love is the answer to all seemingly unsolvable differences.
At this year’s USA Swimming convention, the rarity of a loving environment was made apparent as Schuyler Bailar, the first transgender NCAA D1 athlete, shared his journey. Out of hundreds of patients that had undergone Schuyler’s same procedure, Schuyler was the first in the hospital’s history to be accompanied by a parent in the lobby before the surgery. His story shows how vital love can be for a child’s future and for the advancement of our society.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, its essence is about love being the greatest of all things. Yes, I am my brother and sister’s keeper, for if one suffers, all of us
We live in the “Bible Belt” of America, which holds strong conservative cultural and religious views, so Jonathan was facing a daunting task of revealing his sexual orientation. Many formed a negative attitude toward him based on their religious beliefs. In fact, a swim teammate asked me one day “How can you still be friends with him?“ his tone implied that somehow I was betraying my faith. As a Christian, I …show more content…
Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has it.” All these experiences lead me to believe that prejudice hinders a society‘s ability to grow and make progress. We must not stand silent if and when these malicious events arise in our presence, for if we stay silent, we are accomplice to injustice.
Love is the answer to all seemingly unsolvable differences.
At this year’s USA Swimming convention, the rarity of a loving environment was made apparent as Schuyler Bailar, the first transgender NCAA D1 athlete, shared his journey. Out of hundreds of patients that had undergone Schuyler’s same procedure, Schuyler was the first in the hospital’s history to be accompanied by a parent in the lobby before the surgery. His story shows how vital love can be for a child’s future and for the advancement of our society.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, its essence is about love being the greatest of all things. Yes, I am my brother and sister’s keeper, for if one suffers, all of us