Aren't We All Blue?

If blue means gay and gay means different and we're all different aren't we all blue?

   "Am I blue?" by Bruce Coville is a short story that I read that I find quite fascinating. It talks a lot about the prejudice towards gay people and focuses on how a boy named Vincent, who started from being ashamed/unhappy of who he might have been (that he might have been gay), to growing an understanding of why it didn't matter (or at least that's what I think he ended up understanding). This change in Vincent is what made me think about what this story really implied and that is what I want to share with you all today!

  
   In the story, Vincent's fairy godfather (yes, he met his/a fairy godfather who would help him) made all the people who were gay, blue for a day.  That way "...all the straights would have to stop imagining that they didn't know any gay people" (quoted from story). That quote is something that I find done too much - denial. People deny whatever truth they don't like everyday. Assumption- "You may be (gay), you may not. The point is, you're getting picked on because people think you are" (another quote from the story)- another thing that people do every day. Both these actions whether one is aware of it or not, can lead to serious consequences that one may regret only after they've done it.

   Prejudice is also a big part of this story.  People in this world have always had prejudice towards certain things that make some people so called "different". The topic of being gay or lesbian is one that pops up very often. Sometimes the prejudice can be very obvious, sometimes not. For example, when people say "oh its alright to be different" it sounds perfectly fine to the majority of us doesn't it? Well in my opinion, that phrase already has a prejudice and those who say it may not even understand why. What makes someone different? What gives us the right to label someone as dif-fer-ent? Truth is, you might as well label everyone you see as different. We are all different. Everything around us is different. If differences were not there, that, would be an issue. "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"-a quote by Dr. Seuss that I think is very true but is very much neglected in the world we live in. "Be yourself", a phrase commonly said, but is it really put into practice? Why do people still feel ashamed of who they are. No one should ever be unhappy with themselves as long as they have done their best,- and that includes their best of seeing the beauty of each and every one of us including their own. If they have done that then it shouldn't matter what others say. There will always be those who choose to see only the things that divide them from the rest (or others from the majority) but it doesn't matter, because no matter what reason it is that we were made the way we were, there is a reason, and that is all that counts.

   We should all be proud of what we have accomplished and what we are capable of. We should all see that we are all different and yet still the same. You don't see gold being turned to steel, or jewels turned into dust, so why is it that we make our self so plain to achieve this so called "happiness"? If this is what true happiness is then I don't want it. I don't need it. I've changed myself too much that I regret it but I have already forgotten how to find the true "me". Hopefully you will all realize that trying to "blend" gives one no joy for I definitely got none.

Be proud to be the reason some people smile each day. We are all worth a chance and we should all strive to get it but if that chance is not worth us, don't waste what we already have. Be proud to be you, and definitely be proud to be "blue".

Feel free to comment.