Changed.

I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, where not being open to new ideas was good idea. On a daily basis you would here kids being called names that I would never hear tossed around, now. You would see girls laughing at another for what she wore that day. And you'd even hear the crap continue through each class hour. It all just seemed ridiculous to me. I didn't get it.

But it was the small town factor that made it the way it is. It breeds itself a disaster. No new ideas come in. No old ideas go out. Kids have to tear apart other kids in order to have friends and feel good. They bring others down to lift themselves up. To be honest, I can't even blame them.

I can't blame the kids who called me a "fag" on a daily basis. I can't blame them for longing for acceptance somewhere and ended up turning to negative actions to get there. I longed for belonging there, too, and never really found it. (I don't want a pity party, I just want to be real with you.) It's not their fault they were raised in a town where this crap was acceptable.

I can't sit here and point fingers at them, though. In return, I wrote these kids off as "stupid hicks" who will never go anywhere. "Stupid hicks" who would never understand me. These kids weren't outward believers. I thought I was better than them. I thought I was living a superior life. I built myself up...

too.

I can't blame the kids who made high school hard, in fact I forgive them.

It's better than that. Lately, my Facebook has been gathering likes from people who I wouldn't expect likes from. I have posted statuses about faith, and received likes from the unlikely (see what I did there?) I have seen statuses about faith posted from who I thought to be the unfaithful. Best of all, I have been proven wrong.

They have...

gone somewhere.

They have...

understood.

They have...

changed.

And if they haven't. We need to give them time. We need to give them forgiveness. We need to give them love.