Lessons...I've got strong feelings today....

Settle in,

pay me mind.

All I request is your time,

a chance to make you think,

before your mouth sets into words,

before your apologies will be eternally too late.

There's this word I wish to explore...

HOMOPHOBIA,

at its roots its pretty simple,

sameness and fear,

the fear of being the same. 

To be honest,

at that meaning,

its a word I quite like to hear.

Everyone should know it and exercise it,

everyone should fear being completely the same,

everyone should seek to be different and their own person.

However, 

that is not the connotation it carries,

it carries that of a hateful nature,

it refers to a set of feelings about homosexuals. 

The word is used to spread hatred,

to induce fear,

to teach that treating someone wrongly is right.

It is not about one's own fear, 

it is about the fear that one spreads.

Lets be honest there is nothing to be feared,

not by those who attach themselves to groups that act on it.

There is fear to be felt by those on the receiving end,

the knowledge that someone else does not like and will mistreat them.

There is not fear on the giving end.

How can there be?!

What is there to fear?

You cannot "catch" it,

you cannot "get" it,

you've said yourself that it is a choice,

so you do not have the gene for it.

You've said it is something that must be chosen,

and you will never make that fateful mistake.

There is however fear on the receiving end.

How couldn't there be?!

There are so many acts committed against them,

all the hate crimes in the news just continue to prove.

From beatings to rapes,

from losing family to losing ones own life.

Before you open your mouth to tell me its a lie,

realize I'm not just speaking from the words of television,

I've seen the crimes,

with  my own eyes.

I may have evaded or escaped,

I may have seen and not felt,

but I was there and it was happening.

The threats were made,

and the fear was set into me. 

If your next thought is to tell me it was deserved,

you are wrong,

for believing there was any provocation,

for believing that any human deserves such treatment!

So, before you seek to "teach" me,

slow down a second and answer me this...

is it the greater sin to love,

or to hate, judge, belittle, condemn,

beat, batter, bruise,

and/or rape,

one of God's beloved children?! 

Do you still think you'll teach  me the error of my ways?

Because I think you've got more to learn,

I think your lesson to be learned from me,

is more important that the one you seek to teach me.

The lesson on love and caring I have to share seems to outweigh,

the lesson you want to teach  me because I "chose" the "wrong" mate.