The Internet can inspire.  So can teenagers.

But first me.  I ask myself how I can be a whole person.  One answer that comes is to speak the truth with no antagonism, no desire to hurt another human being.

But what if my words make the other person feel uncomfortable?  Wait a minute, I didn’t express that well.  I don’t make the other one uncomfortable.  They feel the discomfort after I speak.  The source of the feeling is them. 

Hmm …  Should I play it safe in life, tiptoeing around people’s sensitivities?  Or do I go for it, simply expressing what is in my soul.  Having it be fine however they respond.  I know my answer.

Which brings me to the drama students at Santa Rosa High School in California.  No tiptoeing here …

Last November, after rehearsing for four months, the Santa Rosa students opened their fall play, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” by Bert V. Royal.  In its imagining of the characters from Peanuts grown up and in high school, Linus is a stoner.  Lucy is in a juvenile institution.  Pigpen is homophobic, which is a problem, because Charlie Brown is experimenting with his sexuality.

…

After opening night, citing “complaints” – without elaborating – the school district suddenly canceled the play’s remaining performances.

…

“This group refused to be silenced. They mobilized their community, pushed back against censorship driven by fear, and ultimately staged their production, selling out performances.  But that hurdle seems to be the beginning of a larger issue of silencing and oppression,” Cheena Moslen said.

The students created a one-act play they called “[Redacted]”.  Such an appropriate title.  Such a sad comment on our times.  Such courage.

***

Courage

Today I opened wide my eyes
And stared with wonder and surprise
To see beneath November skies
An apple blossom peer
Upon a branch as bleak as night
It gleamed exultant on my sight
A fairy beacon burning bright
Of hope and cheer

“Alas!” said I, “poor foolish thing
Have you mistaken this for Spring?
Behold, the thrush has taken wing
And Winter’s near”

Serene it seemed to lift its head
“The Winter’s wrath I do not dread
Because I am,” it proudly said
“A Pioneer”

“Some apple blossom must be first
With beauty’s urgency to burst
Into a world for joy athirst
And so I dare
And I shall see what none shall see
December skies gloom over me
And mock them with my April glee
And fearless fare”

“And I shall hear what none shall hear
The hardy robin piping clear
The Storm King gallop dark and drear
Across the sky
And I shall know what none shall know
The silent kisses of the snow
The Christmas candles’ silver glow
Before I die”

“Then from your frost-gemmed window pane
One morning you will look in vain
My smile of delicate disdain
No more to see
But though I pass before my time
And perish in the grale and grime
Maybe you’ll have a little rhyme
To spare for me”

(Robert Service)