Upstander
When I started out,
I thought I knew who I was.
I thought I was just
like
everyone else.
But I was introduced to a new people,
a new family,
a new community,
and I was amazed.
I didn’t know a community like theirs
even existed.
But I wanted to be one of them.
And so when the questions
started to flood in,
I didn’t know who to look to.
I searched
and I questioned
and I thought about it
for a long time.
Every day, I would ask myself
“Who are you?”
I never knew the answer.
I didn’t even know how to start to respond.
I was confused.
I was lost.
I was alone.
So alone.
I knew where I came from.
I knew who my family was.
I knew where I went to school
and how many friends I had.
I knew how I grew up
and why I was where I was.
I just didn’t know what I should be.
All I knew was that whatever I was then,
it wasn’t right.
But I finally found myself.
Even though I was scared.
So scared.
I didn’t want to be the way I was.
I wanted to conform,
to be like everyone else.
I wanted to pretend
like I wasn’t me.
I wanted,
no,
I needed society’s approval.
I just
wanted
to be
normal.
But I had finally discovered myself.
Who I truly was,
after years of suppression,
she was finally free.
And so I chose to be myself.
I did not obey anyone,
but my conscience.
I decided to stand out,
damn the consequences.
I was finally me.
I knew there would be hate.
I knew there would be protests.
I knew there would be refusals.
But I didn’t care.
I was me, and I was proud.
You know,
I didn’t believe that there should be hate.
I just knew that it was there.
Love is love,
and people just don’t want to accept that.
You should be able to love who you want to,
not who you “should”.
But despite the heartbreaking hate and prejudice,
there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
There is hope,
at least here, in this country,
for our community.
There are allies,
and supporters,
and friends,
who are out there,
actively standing up for our rights.
Even though there are more and more laws and policies being implemented
against us,
we will rise up.
We will earn our rights.
We are also human,
we are also equal
and it is time we are given respect.
And so,
while I may not be Muslim,
or Jewish,
or Palestinian,
or trans,
or black,
I am me.
I have my values,
and I do see what is happening.
I am not going to stand here
and do nothing.
I am not going to condemn them
to the same pain and loneliness I felt.
I am not going to ignore them
and pretend like everything is okay.
Because it’s not.
I am going to help.
I am going to stand up and fight.
I am an advocate for human rights
- and not just for the people in my own communities.
I am an advocate for all human rights.
So come join me,
and do what you are meant to do.
Add the oppressed and the minorities
to your university of obligations.
Come join me,
and become an upstander.
