I know you find me unsettling. I'm aware you interpret my presence as a threat. You see me, and the only thing you see is the harm I could cause, never being curious enough to explore my actual nature. No... The taste of ignorance is sweeter to you! I'm just standing here... With my memories... With my thoughts... With my hopes... Trying to reconcile my disappointments... In silence... With God... And yet, in mere seconds, you've concocted this entire story, in which I'm the antagonist and you're the protagonist, exacting your righteous wrath. You mistake what I can do, with what I want to do. In your mind, you've figured me out, without asking any questions at all... All that matters is that I'm gigantic, and you feel small around me. Hide your gaze from me. Deny me your smile. Exclude me. Don't hold space for me, assuming I'm not a creature that needs it like any other. Throw stones at the back of my head. All this because you think I'm the dangerous one... Yet, I've said nothing... Done nothing... I'm merely existing. Pursuing happiness, like you. Desiring acceptance, like you. Longing for community, like you. Craving love, like you... You look at my face, and say I look evil. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, "Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad." This skin I'm in, wasn't a choice I made. My eyes just happened... I didn't pick my design, but I'm working on accepting the punishment for it. They'll say they want beautiful. They'll say they want different, special, strong, more... Then they'll hate you for it. Small thing to a giant...

Jeremiah Allen

3/13/26