Make Them Listen - #LoveSimon

Dear World,

There's a certain way of life, people like me live. There's a certain way you will look at me because of how I was born or who I was born to. My own family scorned my parents for being together. Yet, when I found out why, I was okay with it.

However, my parents always told me I couldn't tell anyone because if I did I would be shunned by society. They told me people would not be okay with it. When I asked them why, they replied, "it is what it is."

People like me hardly grow up with many friends. We aren't given a second glance unless we are rich or royal. People like me are looked down upon just because we are different. They fail to realize I could not help who I was. I could not help who my parents were and even if I could, why would I want to?

I accept their choices. I love them for who they are because they are my parents and they have raised me to be forgiving of others, no matter how many wrongs they have committed. Silly me, I thought everyone was as forgiving as I was.

People like me are the bullied. From the first day of Preschool to the day of my high school graduation. We are called disgusting, mistakes. My parents were always told by their own family and people around them, "If you have children, they will have mental issues, they will be deformed and sins by the eyes of God."

I came out fine. My two younger sisters came out fine. My two younger brothers came out fine. Yet, because of the title I was given, because by definition I am an inbred child and my parents are first cousins, there has to be something wrong with me.

I go through life just like everyone else, I have gone through loss, depression, the awkward stages of puberty.

To you, we are exactly the same, until I tell you that my parents are cousins, that I am an inbred. I have lost friends I thought I could trust. They tell me it doesn't bother them, but I see it does when they stop hanging around me the next day. Talk of how my parents are repulsive beings and how I am just as wrong.

Well listen to me! I accept my parents! In fact, I am proud of who they are because they deserve love. They deserve happiness because they are the kindest people I know. They gave me everything I could ask for. People like me, people like us, we deserve love.

Yes, we are different. Everyone is different in some way, but does that mean those who are different do not deserve to feel love or to be loved? No, it does not. Because I know in my heart and soul that I do deserve it.

Love,

@-_Heidi_-