I am harkened back to a time on my college campus where a freshman went behind a dorm and burned a gay pride flag. This person was then put on “social probation” and allowed to continue their education at the institution.

Naturally, there was significant outrage from the student body, myself included, as I wasn’t feeling safe, like, at all knowing someone on campus was allowed to make such a statement and be allowed to stay on campus.

So the college placates us “angry queers” by having a panel of professors and administrators come together in an open forum. I wanted to attend because I wanted to hear what the faculty felt about all of this.

My favorite moment was when my academic advisor and easily one of the top 3 smartest people on campus, an English professor, spoke up about what happened and what we do now.

I can’t pull direct quotes because I wasn’t taking notes, but one of her points sticks with me to this day: please for the love of god, keep reading. Do not stop reading. Read everything.

This made me feel better, and that was a good moment, because yes, this seems like a simple act, but in all honesty, it’s a great place to start when trying to absorb and practice empathy as a good first step.

The funny part was when this girl, a right leaning moderate who was in the public policy program, made a complaint about how there was no investigation when someone stole her “Humorous Republican Greeting Card” off of her door and “destroyed it.”

The chair of the religious studies department cut her off halfway through saying “are you equating your political affiliation with a marginalized group of people?” This tickled me to no end.

Was she reading literature? Was she learning history? I don’t know. I’m not her mom, her teacher, her circle of friends. But it’s easy to point out she lacked any base empathy for a group that felt very vulnerable at the moment.

Where I’m going with this? Again, idk, maybe I’m just rambling. But at the end of the day, maybe read a book, research a topic, pay attention, shit do fucking anything that takes you outside your bubble and into a world that is not wine and roses.

Shits really bad right now. And reading a novel won’t fix it. But maybe try? Maybe, just maybe, go outside your comfort zone that’s keeping you from seeing an ugly side of the world.

I don’t go into books, movies, art wanting to feel good about myself. I want to be shocked, appalled, moved in another direction that I wasn’t going before. Maybe try that.

But at this point. It might be too late. I don’t know. I know very little. I just want people to be nicer, and to try to understand something more than what their life is and has been.

End Note: I’m gay.