Shocking hatred

Are we really still living in a world where someones beliefs and who someone chooses to love is a reason to put someone down? Apparently.

For the past few days I've been obsessed with this story. I can't get past the idea that I live in a world where people are capable of doing such an awful thing to someone else. What are the parents like who raised children thinking this is OK?

This is a hate crime, plain and simple. Friends of the accused are saying it wouldn't have been any different if it were a girl in the room and not another man. That still makes it an invasion of privacy, and I'm sure that if it were a girl and a boy those two would still be embarrassed and still have the urge to disappear for a while.

Just imagine being Tyler. You're young, quiet, kind, unsure of who are you as many 18 year old college students are. You are forced to trust your new roommate and it's a friendship that you make because you have to. And then less than a month into school, he betrays you with the worst kind of betrayal. He exposes an intimate moment between you and someone who means something to you. It's awful and I'm not sure there is a punishment that fits the crime.

What kind of soul is in a person who gets a kick out of hurting someone else like this? And to top it off there were two of them. Two people said that this was OK and that is so disappointing. It makes me sad that one of them didn't stand up to the other saying that what they were doing was wrong.

When I first heard about this story I was stunned into silence. Which is hard to do, I always have something to say. I was shocked and not so much sick to my stomach, but a pain much more deep and much more heart-wrenching creeped up from within. People who have the capacity to hurt someone else in ways like this don't deserve to be called a human being.

I'm so angry at the kids who did this. I want to give them a taste of their own medicine but that wouldn't solve the problem. It makes me sad to think that these two aren't the only ones who think this way. What do we have to do to live and let live? Why do people have to hurt someone to make themselves feel better? Why do people feel the need to push their beliefs on someone who is living their life and not bothering anyone else? I don't like that these are unanswerable questions.

Tyler, I'm sure you are missed by many. Know that your story will hopefully help others to reach out and to do the right thing and to stand up for the good of others. You join the ranks of Matthew Shepard and all the other kids who have died too soon because of bullying. May you be happy, unhurt, and loved wherever you are now.