Pick up as you go

So today I was buzzed on AIM by a fellow peer counselor Malane, and posted about the tragic death of 15 year-old Lawrence King, for us to discuss. If you hadn’t heard, his classmate Brandon Mclnerney, 14, shot Lawrence in the head during computer class because he was openly gay and had asked Brandon to be his valentine.

I have homosexual friends, students who come to me for this reason in particular, and most of the time I have the least to say about this issue. I get stomped with what to tell them. Because it isn’t their fault they have a differing sexual orientation than most of us. Why do they have to come to me for a consultation? They do not need it, the people who do this to them do, but don’t – and that’s the sad part.

At one point I almost made the mistake of pining down Mclnerney. What makes it a more pressing issue is that we are talking about children here. I know that the world is in shock and we need 2 to 3 generations forward to understand that this is something that exists and something that shouldn’t be feared. The problem here is that, if we fall behind what we should do and turn more children to this brand of ignorance, what then? I can only hope for the best, but I am just as human as most who care about this matter and the rate that we’re going isn’t good enough.