There are a million things to talk about, from the weather to new recipes, if exquisite food sends chills down your spine, but today I want to talk about Sara Hegazy, not because she found the cure for some deadly illness but because her story made me question when we stopped being human. When did we start considering societal standards above human life? So if you haven’t heard about Sara, I’ll let you in. Hegazy was arrested in October 2017 for raising the LGBT rainbow flag at a concert in Egypt and was imprisoned for three months before seeking asylum in Canada. While in prison, Sara was humiliated and abused that she suffered post traumatic depression (PTSD). While in exile in Canada, Sara Hegazy committed suicide and this is what she wrote in her suicide note:
“To my siblings – I tried to find redemption and failed, forgive me. To my friends – the journey was harsh and I am too weak to resist it, forgive me. To the world – you were cruel, to a great extent, but I forgive you.”
Those words crushed my heart because it didn’t have to end like this. People are always going big on mental health campaigns, with the talk to someone speech, take care of yourself but when it comes to the LGBT community, we draw the line. So much for double standards?. You go on and on about how the world should be a safe space for everyone but give judgmental looks to that girl who said she’s more comfortable being around girls. What the hell happened to safe space? We forget that they have just as much right to be here as we do, yet we treat them like outcasts. We are always ignorant about such issues till your lose your daughter or son to the cruel universe, because you shut her out when she told you she liked girls, the one place where she should have felt loved and supported, she was received with hate and disgust. You left her in the hands of the unforgiving universe that devoured her whole. You were supposed to be her safe space, you failed her and no amount of tears could bring her back.
Life is not black and white, there are a lot of gray areas so before you cast a stone let me feed you on some facts. I am not a gene expert but studies show that genes are responsible for between 8 and 25% of same sex preference and homosexuality behavior has been linked to a gene called SLITRK6 which is active in a region in the brain called diencephalon that differs in size between people who are homosexual or heterosexual. I won’t bore you with tones of scientific facts because they are thousands of articles out there that you could read if you are interested but my point is you don’t even need science to teach you how to be human.
The debate on whether homosexuality is a choice has been going on for decades and with all honesty, we are nowhere near the end but what we can do is make the world a better place for everyone, treat people with kindness, they need it more than you could ever imagine. Life is already hard enough so how about you make it a little easier for the next person. And I’m not even asking you to drop a bag full of vegetables at their doorstep, I’m just asking you to be kind, it’s the least you could do. Don’t wait till a life is lost. One of the most powerful things I read today is “We may not agree with someone or understand their journey but we cannot allow hatred and homophobia to masquerade as an acceptable response”.
Rest In Peace Sara?. I hope you find more peace than you ever did on earth. I hope you feel the comfort that you seek and I am sorry that the world was cruel.
About the Author
