Top Essays USB Drive
This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.
One of the most influential things in my life would have to be the fact that I’m
gay. Growing up it set me apart from all the other kids. I was picked-on on a daily basis at
school, I had no friends, felt alienated from my family and everyone in general. Even at
church I was harrassed. I coped with this for a long time by just hating everyone in
general, since they apparently hated me. Later I joined the military, where I had to keep
being gay a secret or risk getting kicked out. When I look at my life from an outsider’s
perspective all I see is an angry person lashing out, but when I’m living it, I just feel
confused that anyone in this world would care what I do with my life. My being gay isn’t
even that big a deal to me, it’s only a big deal to other people it seems. I love playing
video games, I like to walk my dog around the neighborhood, I enjoy reading; being gay is
such a small part of who I am.
I’m often asked by my friends whether or not I would take a pill that would make me
heterosexual. I always say no. My entire life would be different. It’s not that I prefer
being gay, if anything my life would be much easier and “happier” if I was straight. But
would it have been as reflective? How would I have learned what it feels like to be excluded
from what everyone else takes for granted? I used to spend the majority of my time worrying
about what other people thought about me, but now I have a whole new way of thinking. It
took me being gay to realize that I can never appease everyone. Even if I was straight,
someone would hate me for being white, or for my being from the United States, or for not
believing in their god. People that I have never met hate me. I imagine everone has someone
that hates them, for whatever reason. I try to live my life now by the simple rule of “treat
others as you would like to be treated”. I believe that everyone is on a journey towards
spiritual enlightenment and that me returning hate for hate is just counter-productive and
hurts me more than it hurts them.
