The Price of Freedom is Not Suicide by J.E. Freeman

An old friend from San Francisco, the tough-guy actor and outspoken gay activist J.E. Freeman, just sent this poem to me and asked if I could repost it for National Coming Out Day, which I am very glad to do, as the suicides of those young  people are also weighing heavily on my mind:

Unfortunately to be free requires sometimes that one fight back
The most expensive quality in life is freedom.
Freedom is never free.
Never without cost.
The price is not caring what the price is
The price is to dare to be unafraid.
Or if afraid to stand any way in fear
and to take what comes.
For what else makes courage?
How else are heroes made?


It is by facing that which we fear
and surviving.
It lies in requiring
in demnding
the haters to stand exposed
in the light of their hatred
which is only their own fear lashing out.


To kill one's self is to become one's own executioner.
It is to buy into the verdict of the hater.
If one must die for one's freedom
make the hater do the killing
do not accept that responsibility.
Don't do it to your self.
That is not your burden.
Do not accept the blame.


If one must die for freedom
then die in love with it
just as one should live.
In love and acceptance of the self.
What another says is not true unless we agree
in silence
or acquiesence

Do not agree.
Do not succumb.
Be a witness for your own freedom.
Stand up
Fight Back
Do not be a victim.
Be a hero for yourself!
What better sight to see in the morning
than a hero's face looking back at you
in the mirror laughing.


Ghandi stood up in a crowd.
Jesus stood up on the cross alone
King stood up on a balcony.
Matthew Shepard stood up tied to a fence.
They died yes
But they did not kill themselves
They did not accept the fear and hatefilled
judgement of others.


Surprisingly though if you stand up
strong with conviction
sometimes
the bully just might fade away,
Shamed in the glare of his own hate
and his own fear.
I know I came out in the Marines in 1967
I've never been afraid of being gay since.


Freedom isn't free.
It's our most expensive right.
It's priceless.
it requires every person in search of freedom
to ante up.
Even if it kills you
just don't kill yourself.


Love yourself instead.
Scream it from the roof tops
Scream your love of self in the face of the hater.
scream....
"LOVE IS ALL THERE IS!
Why are you afraid?"


That's the Cost of Freedom
All the love you've got.
Especially for your SELF!

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