You Deserve to be Loved!

I’ve decided to talk about what I see when I look at you. I see beauty. I see light. I see glory and graciousness and love. But most of all I see a person. A genuine human being. One capable of doing anything you put your mind to, one with the spirit and heart to melt even the most ignorant. Even though you may not see it, you are amazing in your own uniquely, lovely, majestically, authentic way. And you have a light in your heart that I see shining in the darkest of times. I put my faith, my life, my love in your hands, because I believe so fully that you are ultimately good. And the thing that brings me down the most is when people cannot see that. Because you deserve to be loved and respected and seen as the wonderful person you are. And when I see the pain that you’ve been through, the awful things that you may have endured throughout your life, I don’t choose to see that surface that so many define you by, but I choose to see who you deserve to be seen as. I see the person behind the title, the religion, the color, the sexual orientation, and the pain, or should I say, in front of all that stuff, continuing to bounce forward towards a new and glorious tomorrow. I see you in the eyes of love.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.”
--Dalai Lama

“Dum spiro, mereo amari!” (As long as I am breathing, I deserve to be loved)

I’m the sluts at the hospitals in shock,
I’m the friends sitting next to us in mismatched socks,
I’m the doctors giving the kits,
I’m the interns thinking we should quit,
I’m the couch potatoes wondering how she even made it.

I’m the niggers looking out the glass at the burning cross,
I’m the neighbors watching in fear from across,
I’m the mothers and the wives crying in our beds,
I’m the children perplexed at all the hatred,
I’m the guys that know deep down somewhere we were wrong.

I’m the emos curled in our beds wondering how we got here,
I’m wondering what would happen if we bled clear,
I’m writing in our journals, popping pills, drinking beer,
I’m feeling alone, I’m alone with our pain,
I’m the parents and friends crying in the rain.

I’m the fags not understanding the hate,
I’m the partners sometimes wishing we were born straight,
I’m the friends and family wondering why,
I’m the sisters sticking by their sides,
I’m the funeral attendees throwing up our insides.

I’m the vaginas with feelings; there’s something wrong with us,
I’m the homeless asking for money; no I don’t want drugs,
I’m the cripples in chairs; no I don’t want your pity,
I’m the bitches wanting respect; no I don’t want sex,
I’m the jews that just love God; why can’t you understand?!

Actually NO! I’m a fucking person; get it through your head!

Yes I’m a person and I have inherent worth and beauty,
I deserve to be loved and respected just because I’m breathing,
Yet I toss and turn in bed thinking about dying,
Because sometimes it seems better than living here trying,
Trying to rise above the hate and the pain,
Suffering because I’m breathing, now that’s insane.

Would you do this if you knew the cost?
What toll you’ve put on, what lives have been taken and lost?
Would you hate just the same? My heart tells me no.
I believe there’s a spark of light in your heart,
Something every soul is full of from the start,
And I have hope that you will someday learn to love,
Because I love you, you are still human after all.

-Starfish