The marble is there

In the center

It is embedded

The clay has hardened

The kiln has done it's job

The shape is finalized

The marble is still there

Hard and round

It is silent

Words trigger it

Words like" trouble" and "punish"

Those words twist it

 within the globe shaped

Formation.

The marble is stuck.

It activates

As the round clay form travels

Around the sun.

There was a time

When the clay was still soft

That fingers could have gently

Reached inside

To remove the marble

But now the oven

Has baked the clay

And that can no longer happen.

So the marble exists there.

Sometimes it can be forgotten.

Until words penetrate the clay

And the marble is felt

 it does it's job

The only job it knows.

It trembles.

The whole globe of clay trembles also.

And that is the womb in which fear is formed

That is the channel where fear is born.

An open letter to the LBGTQA community

 I am not LGBTQA.  I have never experienced what those who are have experienced. I've never been condemned in public or private for my sexual preferences or my desire to either change genders or to not identify as either. I have never been called the names that people choose to call people with a different sexual preference than their own.  I have never been mocked beaten or bullied due to the aforementioned descriptions. I have been fortunate.

 I have been marginalized. I have been made to appear lesser due to things about me that I have absolutely no control over. I have been bullied mocked and threatened. I have been excluded. I understand being different. I understand fighting to be understood. I understand the demoralizing way people often treat one another for one reason or another. 

All I can say is this. And I can include myself in this apology. I am SO SORRY if you have ever been made to feel like you don't belong. I am so sorry that a religious group may have excluded you based on your lifestyle or anything else that they may not aprove of.  I am so sorry if you have ever been discriminated against based on things about you that deserve to be celebrated and not condemned.

I have a request for those who are not part of the LGBTQA community and even those who are. Dare to be kinder. Challenge yourself to not judge people you don't know or even those you do. Celebrate the uniqueness in others. Strive to understand a person by listening to their story and where they are coming from. We are all coming from somewhere and we are all going somewhere. On that journey let's encourage one another and get to know one another.

Love is love and when we allow it to prevail amazing things will happen 🌈