For Ronnie.

We met outside the theatre at school while we were both waiting for a ride. He introduced himself, "I'm Ronnie", he said. I noticed his glasses and his perfect skin and goofy smile and thought, "we are going to be friends". We chatted away the afternoon until my mom arrived and offered to take him home. We exchanged numbers, and that night we stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning. He was the most interesting and beautiful person I had ever met. Our talks ranged from silly gossip to deep talks about the nature of reality and the presence of God. Before Ronnie became my best friend, I was deeply opposed to homosexual marriage. But when he told me the stories of his childhood and poured out his heart to me, it was clear that he just wanted to be loved like everyone else. How could everyone else be so blind to this simple fact? Ronnie listened to me cry and gave me words of encouragement and in a world where everyone chastised him and thought that his love was ugly, he had the courage to never stop seeing the beauty in the everything. He called me beautiful when I felt the most ugly. He built me up when the world was tearing him down. And even though his beautiful soul has departed from this earth, I will never stop standing up for him and all the other souls searching for love and acceptance. There is beauty behind the pain, and hope behind the fear. One day, no one will have to experience the hatred that Ronnie dealt with on a daily basis, and the world will be at peace.