Pain
By George D. BrownThere are several definitions, but basically pain is when your body says something is not right. However, pain is a broad spectrum. Many people feel emotional pain…I mean, shit, that's why we have faith, go to conferences, rallies, General Assembly and special havens we make exclusively for ourselves, right? At some point in our life we experience some kind of emotional pain related to religion, race, gender, or sexuality, and we need a place to get away from that pain.
Just about every day I am in a constant state of physical pain. I feel pain because I have a defect in me, a pain that feels like hellfire, and the only thing that can cure it is a major surgery. Every day I am in a constant state of mental pain caused by having to explain myself to ignorant people. Every day. By "myself" I mean my physiology, my anatomy, my mentality, my culture…you name it. I have to explain an entire culture, people, and lifestyle based on my skin color. Every day.
Sometimes most of me wants to cave in, to laugh at all the "nigga" jokes, to take the threats, to be the toy that my school wants me to be. So I guess my confession is that I want to give into the oppression. But then I remember that my body is in a constant state of pain and my body is telling me something is not right…something is not right with my world, not with my thoughts. Something is not right with giving in.
George Brown is a youth from Azle, TX and is a member of Diverse & Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministies (DRUUMM), Youth and Young Adult Steering Committee, as well as the Anti-racism Trainer-Organizer Program
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
