The Ultimate Silence

[romyra]

THE ULTIMATE SILENCE
October 12, 1998



Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
The impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me ...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.

~ Shel Silverstein

Eleven years ago, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.

What will you do to end the silence?

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Comments

[wicked-liz.livejournal.com]

It so weird that you posted this. This name has been resounding in my head these last 2 weeks.

(Been in a state of fucked'upedness)

This person changed my life, it was the first time I was affected by the news enough to feel it in my bones, to question myself and my values, to face the sad truth that brutality exists.

I went to a catholic school, I grew up on their rhetoric, including that homosexuality was a sin. Even though I had broken off my relationship with the Church, their values were still in me. After what happened to Matthew Shepard I blamed myself a lot for having supported (for many years) an institution that promoted such hateful rhetoric. And I began to take a more progressive stance with my family, that homophobia was not okay.

I remember Matthew Shepard, I remember Tina Brendan.

[romyra]

I know. That news report was just a hateful reminder of how far we have fallen as a race due to perceptions. I hate that we cannot evolve beyond the colour of our skin, our gender and our sexual orientation. There is so much more at stake than those things that to dwell on them seems so foolish. I wish the word would grow up.