What are they afraid of? Themselves.

I’ve been following posts on Facebook about a heartbreaking fire out in Ohio. It is labeled as not only arson but also a hate crime. Someone sprayed anti-gay phrases: ‘fags are freaks’ ‘burn in hell fag‘on a barn and set it on fire. There were eight horses in the barn, one a week-old foal, one a mare due to foal any day. When the owner saw the fire he tried to get into the barn to save his horses, his pets, his friends, but could not. They all died. The owner is understandably heartbroken, the neighborhood is in shock, and all are wondering who would do this and why.
One report mentioned that a group called Ohio FAIR was posting a %5000 reward towards finding the arsonist(s). I called them to see if I could donate (no, it’s that company’s reward but the guy I talked to is going to let me know if any other funds are started) and while talking about the fire I said ‘You wonder what people like that are afraid of to make them do something like that?’. He answered ‘themselves’.
Themselves. Because they don’t know how to accept, to deal with someone who is different and so their answer is to strike out, to hurt, to hide behind the dark of night. This, instead of finding out more about why this person is different, finding out that he might be a perfectly normal, acceptable person except for this one difference. This is where cowards and bullies come from, because this is a cowardly act, an ultimate bullying act.
People, individuals, schools, society that condones (and by not stopping it they are condoning) bullying all have encouraged acts such as this. There are many, we heard about this one, there are so many others that we do not hear of. All because one person is different, and others cannot accept that. People’s lives are lost because of this, at other’s hands and sadly at their own.
What are they afraid of? Themselves.
Don’t be afraid. Learn. Accept. You don’t have to like them, you don’t have to agree with them. You just have to accept that some people are not like you and accept that. You go your way, they go theirs. Meanwhile, we can try to teach, to show that their fears are unfounded, to help prevent. If it works just one time, we’ve accomplished something.
PS, I did mention to the guy at FAIR that I’d like about 10 minutes in a small room with the person(s) who did this, just me and my tire stick, to educate them. No, that’s not what I mean by teach, but damn it would feel good.