"Stand up to the bullies, use your voice! Say something!"
For most of our lives we're told to stand up to the bullies by using our voices. However on April 16, hundreds of thousands of kids stood up to the bullies by NOT using their voices. The Day of Silence rang loudly throughout the United States as LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students and their allies took up a day of silence in request for tolerance.
Every day thousands of these youth are brutally bullied in their schools and communities. Bullying is extremely prevalent in our society and a universal problem. Despite your personal views on LGBT issues, the truth is that we are all humans and everybody deserves respect.
Tolerance is in short supply these days when it comes to interacting with anybody who lives in a different manner than we do ourselves. However, without tolerance we cannot coexist, without tolerance we can only be a broken society.
In support of tolerance and anti-bullying everywhere I participated in the Day of Silence for the first time. It was more difficult than I expected simply because the more I didn't talk, the more I thought about talking. To communicate I used notes and to explain my silence I handed out cards with a message.
The cards said: "Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today."
Despite getting a few weird looks and reactions, the experience was great. Standing for tolerance is something everyone should experience in one way or another. No matter individual beliefs, practices or prejudices, all people are human beings and should be treated as such. To demean another is a disgrace because demeaning someone only shows ignorance.
Tolerance and education go hand in hand. Those who are educated about tolerance typically are more willing to act upon it. The Day of Silence is all about raising awareness and educating the masses in respect to the challenges that LGBT youth face every day. The silence of the participants is meant to represent the pain that LGBT youth must quietly endure.
No matter who a person is or how they live their lives, everybody deserves respect. Respect is the common thread that holds our society together; without it we begin to fall apart. Discrimination has always been wrong; it has torn our country apart in the past and we cannot allow that to happen again. If history has taught us anything it is that we do not learn from our mistakes.
Perhaps our generation will be different, perhaps our generation will move past personal prejudices and learn to love no matter the creed, race or sexual orientation.
Megan Leonardi is a senior at Fremont High School. She likes to write, read and spend time with family and friends. E-mail her at meleonardi@msn.com.
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