Support Your Unicorns

BonnieBellez is not, in fact, talking about unicorns. At least, not the mythical ones. —Sparkitors

WARNING: This is serious spaghetti, so if you want a laugh click on something else, but I hope you read this.

Suicide. Homosexuality.

What do those two words have in common? A lot. And they seem to be in the headline news together more and more often. I got 49,700,000 results in just .19 seconds on Google. Every time I hear of a suicide, my heart aches for that person. I wonder if it would have helped if they had someone there with them, or if they were too far isolated to trust anymore. But when I hear about gay suicide, it wrenches my heart like none other. Because as a partly open gay person, I've been there. I'm sometimes still there. And it's hard. So this message goes out to all my unicorns, to all my colorful people!

This article is a shoutout. I want everyone to hear me. Hear me? This will only take a moment.
A person is a valuable soul.
Simple? Not really. Because while everyone seems to agree that murderers are evil and should be put away, nobody does anything about gay bullying. I was in a play when I was in middle school about how words can kill. It's true. But just putting that message in a play, on a poster, on a bracelet, or on our facebook statuses doesn't do anything. Because that's not where it matters. It matters in the way we talk, the way we act, and the way we influence those around us. How do you talk to your friends? Do you tease all the time and never act serious? Not that teasing is bad, but on a bad day, sometimes friendly teasing is the thing that pushes someone over the edge. When was the last time you told the people you talk to most that you care about them? I know I don't do it enough.

But this isn't about jumping all over you guys, because I know from experience that Sparklers ROCK! Y'all are accepting and some of the greatest unicorn lovers around.  I wanted to write this because I know that all of us here at SparkLife can make a difference. Just take that name apart and what do you get? Spark-Life. A spark of life. A spark to life. A spark for life. Every time you get on here, I want you to think about it. What do you stand for? If you don't know, then find something! I stand for life. I stand for hope. And I stand for reaching out. If I think a friend needs me, then I try to open up first. Sometimes others just need to know they aren't alone. And yeah, sometimes we don't hit the nail on the head and we get mocked for our efforts. So what? I've been on the phone with a friend, crying as I begged him to throw the pills up or go to a hospital. And let me tell you, getting him help and seeing him smile and hug me the next time I saw him was THE BEST feeling! I can't describe it; I'll never forget it.

We all know stereotypes. The emos will be cutters, punks will be mad at everyone, preps will be abnormally happy, hippies will be potheads, hipsters will be stuck up, and awkward people will be... awkward. But I vote we step out of the stereotype! Because I'm part emo, punk, prep, hippie, hipster, and definitely awkward! Everyone is a mutt. So why do we have to try and be a cookie cutter? If we Sparkers of Life stand up in our towns all over the world for the recognition and prevention of gay bullying, I know we can make a difference! This was my shoutout for today. Yesterday I covered a Starbucks bathroom with “You're beautiful” post-its. Tomorrow I'll try another way. What have you tried so far?

And if any of you are struggling with gay bullying, or bullying of any kind, please call for help! Don't let it wear you down; you're worth more than your weight in gold! And if any of you is struggling with depression, bipolarity, suicide, or self harm, GET HELP! Go to suicide.org or any other of the millions of help sites for these kinds of things. And don't just blow them off as ineffective; they do help. I myself have struggled with depression for 5 years. You aren't alone! If you ever need to talk, I'm here for any of you, whether you're a longtime Sparkler, or a random person who stumbled across the site. (Even though it's advised I don't do this, I made a special email for this kind of thing) So if you need to talk, email me at unicorns4hope@aol.com

What can you do for your local unicorns?

Related Post: Confessions of a Former Bully

Wanna write for Sparklife? Read this first!