You may or may not have noticed that on Friday, April 15th there were no social media messages from me. There wasn’t a peep from me on Twitter, Tumblr, my blog, or even Facebook. On Friday, I took a Vow of Silence as part of supporting the GLBT community and their goal to eliminate bullying and anti-GLBT harassment in school.
Vow of Silence for Day of Silence
Day of Silence encouraged students to remain silent in schools to bring attention to this problem, and since I work virtually most days, it made most sense for me to take a social media vow of silence.
Earlier last week my friend, Laurie Ruettiman wrote a very compelling article about being gay at work and some of you may also remember when I lost my cousin to suicide last year. My cousin was one of the smartest and most musically talented persons I know. He was gay, and like many others, he was verbally tortured and made to feel less than human due to something genetic and beyond his control.
So when I stumbled onto www.dayofsilence.org after seeing a Facebook message, I felt compelled to participate. So maybe you wondered where I was on Friday or maybe you didn’t. I took a vow of silence to honor the Day of Silence as well as my family.
And while my phone didn’t ring off the hook on Friday, I did receive a handful of calls inquiring on why I was taking a vow of social media silence. And maybe you did too. So now you know.
2 Comments
I can’t believe I just found about the Day of Silence while reading this post. My family would have been thrilled to participate and I’m so glad to see that you did. A week or so ago, my 11 year-old daughter posted a video on YouTube of her singing Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’. She (my daughter) is a vehement supporter of people being free to be who they are without reproach from others. It makes for some interesting dinner conversation some days, but I’m very proud of her impassioned stance on the subject.
It’s great that you participated in the Day of Silence, but I think it’s equally important that you posted about it here as a lasting reminder. Bullying is wrong no matter where it takes place. My hat’s off to you for doing your part to protest it.
Thanks Kara. I had intended on posting this on Saturday but the weekend got away from me. Hopefully, this post and my vow of silence will help make a difference. People should be who they want to be. We shouldn’t have to feel shameful or uncomfortable because we don’t think others will be accepting or welcoming of us.
Appreciate the comment!
Jessica
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