Peace

There is a story out about a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In my mind if you are to, in any way, not only strip people (let alone your own people) of their rights to be who they are, but also persecute them you are not in any way working for a world of peace.

I believe that peace equals freedom and acceptance. Freedom to be who you are, love who you want and believe what you want without anyone else telling you that you are less of a being.

As long as what you do is not hurtful to anyone else you deserve to have the fundamental right to support and acceptance of who you are.

Everyone has a past, everyone has done something they are not proud of and yet to pride yourself in being a leader of a country that dictates whether or not you are worthy of the same rights as anyone else depending on who you love...
That is exactly like priding yourself in being a leader of a country that dictates whether or not you have the right to live depending on what color your skin is or what beliefs you have.

It is also a direct violation of the human rights.

A person that can't see beyond their own hatred and loathing to find an understanding and acceptance shall never be my advocate for peace, no matter the actions they may have taken in other situations.

Until there are hard, cold facts that people of a certain sex, a different sexuality, origin, skin color or religion are ALL in their own "category" somehow going to end the world (as some people actually say they will) by existing, or are hurtful to others in a way that is damaging I will continue to believe that whatever heinous acts are committed around the globe are actually committed by individuals.
A person, one person, with a story that chooses to commit such a horrible thing.
NOT a sexuality, a skin color, a religion nor a gender.

And as we look upon it differently...
A person chose to enslave others, several people did, a person chose to persecute jews and a person chose to ban "homosexual propaganda" and decided that being LGBT makes you unfit to parent a child. A person chose to decide that being LGBT makes you so much less of a being that you have to die.

Tell me now, which one of these ideas do you prefer and how much of our time should we spend on blaming everyone else for our own mistakes, hatred, nonacceptance and mistrust?

I do not want to believe in hatred, I do not want to practice it, I want it erased. It can't be done, I know that, and I sometimes feel myself so consumed by this mistrust that I am angry with myself for letting people get to me. I can't stay quiet and that is my burden, my flaw.

It does not matter how old you are in your decision making, it matters how smart you are, how openminded and accepting you are. In order to build a functioning society and world that doesn't feel the need to claim others in their own misguided hatred.
I could never want a person dead simply for being who they are when who they are has done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve other people's hatred and cruelty.

And with that in mind I have found that the people we really should learn from are children. They just don't care.

Believe that you are strong enough to be who you are and I will be right there beside you, fighting for what is rightfully yours.