Haylan from Texas

-

            Haylan from Texas

Bravery, to me, means not losing sight of yourself; your true passions, morals. It means using your personal compass to the fullest, always trusting yourself and not letting others chink your armor. It's hard to describe, but that is what it's always felt like in my case.
When I was little, the list of things people didn't like about me was lengthy. Going into my teen years it got even longer. You hear that it gets better as an adult, and as much as that's true, it's really because you have more opportunity to decide who you deal with rather than the forced social situations being underage gets you. I've learned over time that listening to yourself and, as cheesy as it sounds, believing in yourself and those who love you, is the only way to distinguish love in the world. Without getting it for yourself, from yourself, you can't offer it to anyone else. I was too skinny, I wasn't religious enough or I wasn't rich enough. Did I like boys? Did I like girls? It didn't matter, You and I, we will still be tormented for whatever the answer is.
The hate that is out there is never right, no matter the reason. If someone treats either of us like that, no matter our age and no matter what for, that person has lost their importance to us. We need to consider that if someone is going to treat us poorly or degrade us, bully us in any way, we do not need their attention; we do not need their friendship, their acquaintanceship, or anything at all from them.
Bravery means many things, but it all centers around You, because You are the most important to all of us. I was stuffed in trash cans (sound familiar?), dragged, beaten and degraded at school and at home, but having a trust in myself let me grow up and control my own destiny and who I have around me.
I am a social worker now, I've worked helping people quit drugs, I've held benefits for a local Equality charity and volunteer in my community for causes dear to me. You can take the hate that's sent your direction, remain strong and turn it into something that blossoms both yourself and the world around you. You are never alone and you can always be brave while we are all brave with you.

Star books store

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The power of forgiveness

-
         The power of forgiveness On June 8, 1972, during the Vietnam war, South Vietnamese forces dropped a napalm bomb onto the town of Trang Bang in North Vietnam. Photographer Nick Ut was there at the scene. He took a photo of a little girl, running away from her home village naked with a look of horror and pain on her face. Her clothes had been burned off. The photo became famous and won the Pulitzer Prize. The picture was a wake-up call to many about the horrifying reality of war and the damage done by the war in Vietnam.   The girl in the photo was Phan Thi Kim Phúc and she was 9 years old. She survived the incident, but with severe burn scars all over her body. The doctors doubted she would survive. Kim, only a little child, had to stay at the hospital for 14 months, going through many operations, and then had to go through years of therapy. But she survived, and eventually moved back to her home village to live a normal l...
Read more

The teen who saved his South

-
The teen who saved his South Dakota school from a Columbine-like tragedy Before Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Columbine, there almost could have been Rapid City, had it not been for the swift acts of senior Chris Ericks. On Sept. 11, 1991, 17-year-old Ryan Harris entered Stevens High School in Rapid City, S.D., walked into a math class, demanded that the teacher leave, and held 22 of his fellow students, including Ericks, hostage with a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun. For four hours, the students cowered, while the young man blared demands for pizza, cigarettes, $1 million, and a helicopter getaway over the public address system, accenting each order by firing his weapon into the classroom. He shot at the chalkboard, the ceiling, and the window, making it clear that he had plenty of ammo and that he would leave no survivors. But then, for one moment, Harris put his gun down and Ericks lunged for it. Harris, realizing his mistake, jumped at the shotgun too, and the pair struggled for con...
Read more

THE BLACKBERRY PARTY

-
        THE BLACKBERRY PARTY A PARTY of boys and girls went one afternoon to pick blackberries, which were very plenty about a mile from their homes. Each one had a basket, pail, or cup. Jemmy Thompson had the smallest vessel of all, and expected soon to fill it. He went in among the thickest of the vines, picking one or two of the largest here and there. He trampled many of the vines down, and seemed less disposed lo stop at a proper place, and go lo work industriously to fill his basket. He wandered all over the pasture, till he was quite tired, and began to think there were no blackberries. When he returned to the party, he found they had filled their baskets, while the bottom of his was scarcely covered. The children were very kind, and gladly gave him a full basket to carry home. Moral.—The way to acquire knowledge on anything that is worth seeking is, to set about it in good earnest where you are, and keep steadily at work till the end is...
Read more