I Will Wear Purple

Bullying has been all over the news lately. There have been six well-publicised, documented cases of kids committing suicide because of harassment in recent months.This is outrageous. How many cases are going unreported? How many kids are being harassed and belittled on a daily basis still? I think that until recently people have just brushed off this issue, saying that it's what kids do...they tease each other. But what will it take for every person to open their eyes to the damage that "teasing" can do? How many more kids and teens need to die?

Today, I wear purple in honour of those kids, and in expectation of change. This is unacceptable. I was teased when I was a kid, right up until I was in high school, and it was terrible. My brother was chased home by kids down the block, I was pushed to the ground by a girl that lived across the street. It was hell. I hated going to school, I didn't trust my friends, and I certainly don't miss those days now. I was never harassed to the horrible end that these students have been, but I do not look back on those days with fondness. Not in the slightest.

But the thing is this. Some groups of people are justifying the bullying. I was on facebook the other day, where I first learned of today's wear purple movement, and the hate comments made me sick. If you are not aware, the latest student to commit suicide was gay, and he died after he was outed in a most embarrassing way on the internet. He was so shamed, that his only way out of his life, once he had been outed as gay, was to kill himself. That is not right. I was on this facebook page, glad for the movement, and these people who called themselves 'christians' were writing hate comments towards the gay community. One went so far to say that everyone should get their shotguns and shoot everyone who is gay, and then quoted a verse in Leviticus that says that anyone who engages in homosexual activity should be put to death. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I call myself a Christian. I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and that He has given me grace and mercy beyond comprehension so that I may be with Him one day in heaven, and after seeing those comments I was ashamed to be associated with that person, with that group of people who say they are condemning in the name of Jesus. It disgusts me. Please don't get me wrong. I am not ashamed of my relationship with Christ. I am just ashamed of the name 'christian' and the negative connotations that it has.

I do not hate homosexuals, just like I don't hate Muslims, or murderers, or adulterers, or liars, or abusers. I have gone through an amazing, real transformation in my life and can honestly say that all is forgivable, and anyone can be changed by the Spirit of God. I believe that with everything in me. I do not accept or condone the sin, but I will never hate the sinner. Jesus' life was the greatest example of love. He sat with tax collectors and prostitutes and taught love, and held His followers to a high standard. I am grieved to my core that in this time of blatant crisis, 'christians' choose hate. That's not Christ like in the least.

What Christ is to one of my youth kids

Today, I wear purple in support of the families of those students who committed suicide. I wear purple as a declaration of the need for change. I wear purple to support the movement, not the means by which the last student met his end. I wear purple because I love, and am grieving the loss of those kids with the rest of the world. I wear purple because I think Jesus would.

-SP