I’ve been through quite an evolution as a person over the years. I started life out growing up in the very conservative rural state of Kansas. Don’t get me wrong politics aside I love the simple life the people in the Great Plains strive for. I miss it sometimes but not enough to go back.
Needless to say I grew up in America with a pretty limited world view. I never travelled outside of the Us once. I didn’t even start interacting with people from other places until high school when we had some foreign exchange students. But even that was nothing like getting online and meeting people from all over the world. This brings me to the newest chapter in my life.
I was in college at the age of 31 before I started to recognize despite living in poverty I still benefitted from White Privilege. Sure I forfeited some of that when I came out gay and trans but I still have it easier than my non white friends.
The first person who really opened my eyes is my multiracial girlfriend. I don’t go the “I’m color blind” route, I asked my girlfriend to enlighten me on her experiences and what people of color go through. I knew some growing up in a Hispanic majority town where I was the only white kid in my class but even that was limited.
Then I met my friend Rey. I wanna talk about how amazing of a person Rey is. I don’t wanna go into their personal struggles because that’s not my place. The first thing I learned about them was they live in the Philippines. Our earliest interactions were just tweeting at each other about PC gaming and things. Eventually we started talking daily via discord and even started playing video games online together.
I try to accommodate my friend by playing the games they wanna play but sometimes the time zone difference along with life’s complications get in the way. That doesn’t stop me from going out of my way to try to check in with my friend often.
Rey and I started getting into political discussions once the Palestinian genocide became the focal point of internet discussions. I must admit I was coming at it from the perspective of someone who absolutely benefitted from American Colonization. That was the first thing Rey helped me see. At first I’ll admit I unfairly pushed back because I was defensive. I didn’t wanna expand my world view because I knew there wasn’t a lot I could do so I preferred to just avoid it.
I can’t do that anymore. I deeply care about Rey. They’ve become one of the people I look forward to hearing from every day. Most days we just chat about music, video games or nerd things. But sometimes we get into heated political discussions. I want to take a moment to thank Rey for challenging me to re-evaluate everything I knew about colonization and how it affects those communities who have been on the boot end of it. It breaks my heart hearing my friend’s country is affected by my nation being a bully. They also really got me to think long and hard about the genocide in Gaza. I still have more to learn but I really want Rey, and everyone else, to know I am going to do some more thinking, learning and try to find a path forward towards being a better person. I don’t know where it will lead me nor do I know what I even can do about it but I am gonna try to do more.
But let’s also take a minute to give Rey mad props for not only being an unrelenting outspoken advocate for people who are suffering in ways beyond our limited scope, but also I wanna say Rey is a dope ass gamer. They know their PC gaming better than anyone I’ve ever met. I don’t get to play games with Rey often but when I do those are some of the best experiences for me. Rey if you read this I think you are a great person and I am eternally grateful I met you. I know I have hurt you before and we’ve reconciled but I still wanna learn more. I’m not perfect and I don’t strive to be but I do desire to try to make the world a better place in any way I can. Thank you Rey for everything you do.
Stephanie Bri 