Monday, October 4, 2010

"If Happy Little Bluebirds Fly Away Above the Rainbow, Then Why Oh Why Can't I?"

From a vigil here in New York in Washington Square held for the recent teen suicide victims:





Alas, I was not there. I was home grading papers.

Thanks to Joe.My.God


Kirkepiscatoid out in North East Missourah wrote this beautiful Litany:

A Litany for children who have died from bullying
--by Kirkepiscatoid

O God of justice and mercy, we pray that no more daughters and sons in this world die as the result of bullying simply because of who they are; be it race, religion, sexual orientation, or social awkwardness. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our schools become places of nurturing and hope rather than shame and derision. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our teachers instill values of charity and acceptance in all children so there is no need for one child to feel superior over another. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That parents can put aside what they were sometimes taught, in order to promote tolerance and diversity at home. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our communities support children who feel “different from the others” and show them lives that are theirs to claim, lives they cannot begin to imagine to see at home. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That all children can grow up feeling self-empowered and truly loved simply as themselves, and not suffer beatings and psychological abuse at home or school. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

O Lord, you understand this above all others, for your only Son hung among thieves on a rough wooden cross on a barren hill, just as Matthew Shepard hung from a rail fence on a lonely road. Be our light in the darkness, Lord; protect our children and fill them with the love of your Holy Spirit; hold them in your Son’s loving arms in their most fearful hours, and be with them always.
Amen.

6 comments:

Kirkepiscatoid said...

If it's any consolation, living out here in the sticks of NE Missouri, I have nothing TO attend, Doug...but I can write a litany to share.

http://kirkepiscatoid.blogspot.com/2010/10/litany-for-children-who-have-died-from.html

Leonard said...

Thank you Doug, that was powerful and reached the heavens (and now Central America too)...I´ll light candles tonight to the Virgin of Guadalupe who appeared before some of Gods rainbow children in Mexico.

Thank you Kirkepiscatoid, I posted your prayer at my blog...you expressed yourself with such sensitivity that I think you touched all, thank you

David said...

Thank you Doug

Thank you Kirkepiscatoid


David@Montreal

JCF said...

That video is heart-breaking.

Is that ALL we can offer our children? Jump off a bridge, string a noose around your neck, or blow your brains out---just to get Over the Rainbow from where life is a living Hell?

}-(..

[Just ranting/lamenting. Not at you, Doug. Nor at the people in the vid.]

Counterlight said...

I notice that these suicides have hit a real nerve among LGBTs, and for a perfectly obvious reason. We've all been through that trial by fire. Most of us live through it, but some of us don't, and each loss is irreplaceable and a victory for the haters.

Counterlight said...

JCF,

I think the answer is to do our best to make life better on this side of the rainbow. I'm confident that we can build something much better than Munchkin Land, and that we don't need Glinda the Good Witch to fight the legions of wicked witches out to kill us.

Things have already improved so much since I was a lonely suicidal gay teen. They've improved even in Texas. These deaths remind us that there is still so much to be done, that the battle is far from won.