Wouldn't it be nice. . .

Wouldn't it be nice to be. . . 
just as you are. . .
who you are. . 
no masks. . . 
no closets. . .
no pretending

Wouldn't it be nice to be. . .
tall
short
thin
thick
blond
brunette
red or gray
brown-eyed
hazel
green or blue
homosexual
heterosexual
bisexual
transgender
black
white
brown
female
male
physically challenged
or not
mentally challenged
or not

without question, without explanation, without ridicule, without shame, without judgment, without guilt, without . . .

fear

fear is an ugly, ugly thing













we are not born afraid
fear is taught
and learned
passed down
generation to
generation

look for anyone
different
and
fear
the difference

black
or
gay
or
wheelchair bound

different
in any way

I recently asked my friend what one thing she wanted people to know about her that they likely didn't.  Her from-the-heart-response was, "I most want people to know that I am gay.  But when I say that, I mean like you know someone is black or tall.  Just an every day fact of life that leaves no guessing, no fear, no nothin'!  Wouldn't it be nice to just be?"

My beautiful, kind, lover-of-life, and funny-as-they-come friend, Julie, is a white woman of average height and build.  She has brown hair and browner eyes.  She is not physically or mentally challenged.  Sounds like I just described 50% of suburbia, huh?  She'd likely rate average on the average scale.  Wait, that doesn't sound right.  Julie is NOT average.  What I really mean is this. . . if you consider the physical description I just gave and closed your eyes, Julie would be difficult to imagine in the mind's eye.  Except for the gay, one could conclude that I just described Anita Bryant!  (Sorry, Julie, I mean no offense to you, just trying to prove a point.)

In answering the question I posed, Julie also wrote, "I'm 50 years old and still tend to generalize statements about myself when they might "out" me.  It's not that I consider myself "in" anymore, I feel like I'm out, but I still do it.  It's not even a conscious thing.  I think it is so ingrained in me that it has become 2nd nature.  And it just sucks.  I just want to be."  

see what fear did

Julie wasn't born afraid
she was taught fear
she learned fear
and now that fear
robs her

of her freedom

to be

who she is

openly

honestly

fear robs her
of that
which she most wants others
to  know 
about her
about who she is

Will the day come when folks can be who they are . . . just as they are. . . without fear. . . without explanation. . . without judgment?  In my lifetime, I have seen change.  Some.  Slow change, perhaps, but change all the same.  I am convinced that change happened because some really wise adults stopped teaching fear to their little ones.  So there is hope.  Hope that more and more adults will stop teaching fear.  Hope that more and more little ones will stop learning fear.  And hope that the day will eventually come when all folks, regardless of who they are, will be accepted. . . not feared.  

Yes, Julie, it would be nice to just be.  The day is coming when people - all people - refuse to live in fear.  And when they do?  Wow!  What a wonderful world it will be.  Folks will start switching it up. . . converting that negative energy of their ancestors to positive. . . for the good.  Can you even imagine?

I can.  Remember. . . ask, believe, receive.

Can you find Julie?

How 'bout now?

She's in this one too!

I'll give you a hint, she's not the one with full facial hair

So tell me (you know the drill. . . down in the comments section), what do you fear?  Were you taught that fear?  If not, where do you believe it came from?  Can you imagine a world without fear?  If so, what might it look like?  Talk to me people!

Thanks for stopping by the porch today.  I hope you enjoyed your time here. . . enough so that you'll come back soon.  And, hey, bring a friend or two, won't you please?  There's always room on the porch for a few more.

                                                                           ~Quinn