fuckyeahthebookofmormon:I remember growing up in Cleveland, Ohio in a Catholic family and thinking
fuckyeahthebookofmormon: I remember growing up in Cleveland, Ohio in a Catholic family and thinking, “I’m completely alone. There’s no one else who’s like me. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know how to even be myself.” And I’m so amazed by kids and teens today who are so brave to be able to say who they are and walk through their high school and say, “This is who I am.” And that kind of courage is astounding to me and I’m blown away by it because, frankly, I didn’t have that kind of courage when I was a kid. I was too afraid to be myself when I was in high school. So I really want to first commend brave kids and teens today who are so aware of themselves and not afraid to be who they are. And I also want to say that it gets better, even with how awful that might be to wear your heart on your sleeve as you walk those halls and be who you are. As you start to get older and people start to realize that you have always known who you were, that you are proud of yourself and who you want to be, when people mature around you, they start to realize - “Wow. That guy or girl, they really had it figured out.” And a lot of times, people who are your age who are mistreating you, who feel that way, who are picking on you, they’re just jealous of how sure of yourself - of who you are. They’re so upset that they can’t know themselves in that way. And I know it’s not easy. I know it’s hard to tell somebody in high school that it gets better and to really see the end of the road or see any way out. But the truth is, it does. Because you may be mature, you may know who you are, and no one else in your school knows who they are, and they might want to attack other people because they don’t know who they are. But they’re going to start figuring it out. And one day they’re going to start figuring out that they don’t have to bring others down to be themselves and to be okay with themselves. And you’ll start to meet people who love you and accept you for who you are as you start to get into the bigger pool and sea of life. And you will make beautiful friendships with people who love and respect you for who you are, and who will have respected the fact that you’ve known who you are all along. I am very happy that I live in a city and a country where people are fighting to make sure that we can say who we are and be vocal about it, and that people are making videos all across the country, saying “It gets better.” Because that’s the truth. And when we’re all together and we stand together against hate and against violence and against bigotry, we can make it better. It doesn’t just get better on its own; we’re actually making it better. So, it gets better. -Rory O’Malley -- source link