Before you jump into the emotions I want to give you a visual I am a tall kid for my age 15 and standing 6’3 to go along with the height I am 150lbs. I get called the tall skinny kid; I like to define myself as a twig. I dress fairly well I am not the one to wear things stained or torn I like to look my best at all times. I am a music kid, I have partaken in many musicals for school and i am a decent singer and often get thrown into the clique choir fags. Now if you’re a bulky kid who can put up a fight the term is less and less common but for the kid who is scrawny and emotional it comes and comes. As all high school students attempt to is ignore them you’re told by the authority figures just brush it off its not that bad. PISH POSH! I try and try to brush it off them boom! Slammed against the nearest locker hearing the snickering of what a homo I bet her loves walking down this hallway looking at all the guys ass’. First of all the immaturity of the statements is often comical but at the same time I attempt to find there drive, why me and what would bring these young men the same age as myself brought up in a household much like the one I was brought up in to want to bring another human down. Oh what a wonderful world! I have a strong group of friends and they really are my rock but often you have yourself thinking what is the truth in what there telling me. They always tell you I am here for you, I will always tell you the truth, well then why won’t someone grow a pair and tell it as it is.

In the past year I have grown as a person starting high school put me in an environment I was not at all ready for, the new faces sitting next to your in French and those many faces some of which you have known for a good chunk of your life are in the Spanish room next door. I am a social person, some consider me a very funny person but i am often taken the wrong way. At the age I am at everyone is ready to jump on the first sight of different you go see a buddy in the hallway and you want to embrace for the few moments your together makes them your boyfriend. For those to be so ignorant when they themselves have hugged someone of the same sex, their father’s grandparent’s uncles and cousins and to judge you for what you did sends shivers down my spine and makes me feel ashamed I have been brought up with certain individuals.

When those around you are blinded by one fault, they often lose sight of the other diverse qualities that make us all special. I am not just a music kid in the past two years I have been a major part of two recreational league basketball teams both years reaching the finals and one year winning it all. But when I walk over to a group of boys during gym class asking if I can join their game no one hesitates to say f*** off faggot and watching over them as they play I am sure as hell better than half of them. I ran track for the school spring track team something I never see any of them do. I am a soccer player and I was the starting goalie for a 7-2 team and just today in a charity game I scored the game winning goal, will I get the respect I disserve, I don’t believe so will I be thought of differently by those around me I will not I will only be viewed as the kid who frolics around stage covered in make up. What is the difference between the athletes who suit up for the football games putting on their big padding and tight pants, applying the ever so thick layer of eye black but hide under that helmet. We on stage put ourselves out there and you can seem our emotions on stage nothing is hidden by the end you know who everyone is and how things are going to turn out for some they have made a connection and leave the theatre humming their favorite tune. I love performing I love the smile it brings to peoples faces and that anyone can do it. There are students who could never feel apart of something in the athletic program but find a place where they belong in the music department. As biased as I may seem the diversity I have seen in the musicals and choirs is much larger than on any sports teams, there is a girl in the general choir whom suffers from some issues I am not 100% sure what and don’t want to tell any of you false information. She doesn’t sing often but throughout the whole song she has the simile on her face and you just look at her and think this is great the teachers are allowing this girl to do something she loves and are giving her support throughout the whole thing and at the end of concerts I see her and friends hugging as she is about to leave the people she has been able to meet and the opportunities that have arisen are incredible and would not have been the same if she wanted to be an athlete. Oh what a wonderful world!

As I am writing this a rising 10th grader I realize the people I have around me some of them are pretty damn great and I have found a way to fall into my clique, though I can not change those who hate me for who I am I know there are many others feeling the stress of high school and many who are dealing the same things as me but the love and support we give each other that I would not get from other groups is enough to realize yes life is tough it can suck oh so much you can be bullied and harassed have others not even know you and hate you and some that want you dead but when you find others like yourself is when you feel the most at home. Oh what a wonderful world where you can be put down so much to the point of depression and be brought up music you have never heard in your life indeed what a wonderful world.