jessie's girl

July 4, 2017 Dear diary, Today was the second day of our canoe trip. After we got to the campsite and lugged all of our canoes onto the beach, Bender insisted that we all follow him without question. We all love Bender, everyone thinks he's the best counselor, so of course we did.  After floating with our lifejackets downstream for more than ten minutes cluelessly, Bender motioned for us to follow him onto a beach. It was obviously private property, and there was a massive party going on in the secluded cabin on this random beach. We continued after Bender farther into the woods and we found a stream. He literally made us walk upstream even further  into the woods, and we were all looking at each other like, "Is he crazy?" as we walked. And then we all stopped.  Right in front of us was the most beautiful scene. A waterfall surrounded by trees, light creeping in between the leaves and illuminating the clear water. Cliffs on either side, and rocks perfect for sit

“We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place. And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity… I want you both to live…And to remember...You must choose love. Always choose love.” (from Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas, page 70) Choose love. In a world that some might say is fueled by hate, it is easy to toss that phrase aside and focus on what is becoming more and more prominent in all of our lives - intolerance and hatred.  Orlando and the other acts of hatred directed towards the LGBTQ+ community can make it easy to forget about love, and that it always wins. For almost everyone, the word "gay" is something we've heard thrown around as an insult on the daily. But why? Why is it fun for us to nonchalantly hate on someone for loving? Why can't we accept that love is love, and that just because someone else's definition of love doesn't fit y