on the eve of my departure from minneapolis, i find myself reflecting on what exactly has happened over the past three days.
each day brought with it a beauty i am sure i have never seen before.
and along with that beauty came an understanding of myself that i had not been aware of.
the parallels i have drawn between my own life and the lives of my fellow riders are great, even though we are all so different and have come from such different backgrounds and levels of acceptance.
throughout each day i find myself surrounded by passionate people who have hearts wider than any ocean.
tears flowing, arms embracing, laughter and smiles, everyday.
a speaker came to talk to our group the other day, honestly they have all blended together and i don't remember if it was yesterday or the day before, but this man, peterson, spent seventeen years of his life trying to become straight. the scariest part for me was the fact that each group he joined and each residence he lived in was a conscious choice of his own, made purely because he felt that his god could not love him if he were gay. now, my own beliefs about god are not definite, if there at all, but i do know that if there were a god, they would not create a human being just so that that person can spend the majority of their life suffering because of an identity they are so scared to stay true to.
following that presentation came a workshop in non-violence.
a role-playing activity where we were asked to scream, degrade, and hurt the others on our ride.
face to face one person screamed/spoke/stared while the other looked straight ahead, taking it in, trying not to cry--only to break down afterward when each pair stopped their hurtful, hateful words to embrace.
all of this to prepare us for what we may or may not be walking into as we begin conversations with those people who need to hear our voices most.
tomorrow is a new day, as each day ultimately is.
i wonder what it will bring.
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