My friend Kenneth is usually the subject of utmost ridicule in our classroom. You see, he's gay and isn't afraid to show it. Our male classmates humiliate him by copying his actions and the way he talks in front of everyone, or, in other words, by pretending they're gay.
Kenneth is unfazed by all of this though. With his chin up, he usually snaps, "You're a disgrace to my kind!"
Sometimes, he adds "bitches" at the end. This usually makes me laugh, but I got to thinking about it this afternoon, and I started admiring him for his courage. I don't mean courage in battle or that kind of "macho" crap. I'm talking about the courage to be yourself, to show who you really are. I envy him for his courage to be proud of who he is.
I mean, less than half of the people in my class know my real personality, and they're usually shocked when I say something hilarious. Most of them believe and judge, by the way I look, that I'm a naive girl who's always nice to everyone. One classmate of mine in the ninth grade even nicknamed me the "Virgin Mary of the Classroom."
They don't know that I could be really moody, that I love to write, and that I say a lot of stupid/silly things. In short, they don't know the real me. I don't blame them. I guess, the saying "what you see is what you get" doesn't apply to me. So, I'm ending this entry with a salute to my gay friend Kenneth who isn't afraid to show who he really is.