Oh wow...brief encounter

I have new neighbors. THAT was quick.... Just saw them in the twilight. There is a French balcony outside their living room. The door was open. I'd heard them up and down all day on the staircase, 'possibly' moving in... and went out for my evening supply of snigarettes, you see... (I find that if I don't get more in the early morning, I smoke less and ration more...)

Coming back into the courtyard, this long, lean kid appeared out on the French balcony. A French balcony is a tiny little thing that you can put two chairs on at the most, and I know it well from a previous occupant. Spent much time there, talking about Gawwd and the World... two summers....

So, as above, long, lean, dark short hair, and I sort of stared... In that sort of light, I don't see well at all... And he caught me peering up there, which was embarrassing, in a way....

And I said, 'Excuse me for staring, I'm just your "across the way".'

First impressions are always very important whether to them or to me. He made the grade. Said, 'Oh, if you need anything from us, just ring the bell.' (uh-huh, naive, not from the city, good manners, THAT's gonna be ok...) 'We just moved in.'

'Yes, I assumed that,' (they'd been going up and down the stairs for days...)

'Listen, if we make too much noise, let us know.' (Compared to Sarah, they are gazelles on the staircase, light footed, not stomping cows....) Politeness again... definitely from the boonies... after all, am an oldie....

I said, 'Listen the previous neighbour had a drum kit in the attic which is right over my bed below. Used it at the oddest hours, and I mostly slept through it. So don't worry about it. If I get 'bothered', will say so.' (This is true...)

And THEN, new neighbor number two came out onto the French balcony, smiling, saying hello. It was a guy. Smaller, a bit more heavy-set, and smiling.

Soooo... I guess it is two university students splitting the cost for a place to share while they study.... It has three bedrooms and is costly...

Of course, the devious part of my mind was clicking away.... 'they look like Peter and I did decades ago, before things were different...' 'Nah, just kids getting away from home and going into student life', and 'Oh, get your mind out of the gutter...'

They are 'cute'.

From what I could see in the deep twilight....

But what I said was, 'Not to worry, I don't mess around in my neighbours' business. And hope you enjoy your new living quarters.... Nite.' And went in.

The past few days, I have been watching reports about young to very young kids in the US killing themselves because of bullying, and it's been horrific. The case of a gifted young man in NJ who got outed on the internet via his roommate was especially crass....

Because they thought a kid is gay, and they were struggling with the fact themselves, and got so overwhelmed they ended their lives. The statistics are so horrendous, it made me angry. And I was a victim of that sort of abuse in the Sixties before I even knew WHAT I wanted, and I know what it is like. I wanted to off myself when I was eighteen, hey, they made me so miserable.

(I hooked up a hose from the exhaust to the window of my '57 Chevy, turned on the engine... and promptly ran out of gas. Which made me laugh in the end..)

But it isn't funny. No, not at all. It's tragic.

But back then, I thought it was the end of the world, there were no internets, and I
thought I was very alone.

Luckily, nowadays, they DO have internets, and people who are so supportive, it's become a force. There is 'The Trevor Project' to help suicidal teens, Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God has been plugging all the clips coming out from a group called 'It Gets Better', with now famous open gay men talking to teens, it's a wonderful project.

But it didn't help that poor kid at Rutgers who jumped off the George Washington bridge and drown, after his roommate set him up and posted a live-feed of him kissing another guy in his dorm room.

I love how they are trying to play this off as a 'prank' in the right wing media. Not. That poor young man killed himself, because it was going to be on the internet forever.

And no one should blame the kids who did it. I have some blame to go around a long way... the parents. Who gave their kids false morals and values, and TAUGHT them to bully people who are 'different' from themselves.

They didn't just pull it out of their asses, after all...

Oh man, that society is so fucked up, it defies description....

So where are we going here?

I don't actually KNOW... I do know my gaydar went off big time this evening... and resolved to keep as much distance as I can from them. Because I might be wrong... and projecting... Or I might be right, and would want them to know that it DOES get better if people leave them alone... I don't know, nothing is black or white in this world. Shades of grey, hey... They should have time for themselves, in other words.

Yeah, it DOES get better, can be wonderful, and horrible, and that is LIFE.

So am gonna be quiet. It is their lives.

If there is anything you want to do, you can send a few dollars to The Trevor Project.

Here are some examples of what people do to feel they are a community.



Yeah it was mournful, and a mess of people on Washington Square Park in New York. And I hate that song.... but it was fitting this time...

And Cindi Lauper had a message....



I liked that she also went after the parents of bullies.

This stuff breaks my heart.

As much as the internets can connect people nowadays... there is a ways to go...