I’ve always been a bit different from other people. Not in a necessarily bad or good way, mainly just different experiences. I was home-schooled most of my life until I decided to try out school a few times, finally sticking with it in high school since I’ll need to graduate that if I want to get into college. I never really fit in with social groups and preferred talking to others online, but recently last year (during 2020) of this same month, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which meant I had to go into a hospital full of people. I know you’re probably thinking “don’t you get diagnosed at a much younger age than that?”, and you can be, but it’s still possible to get it many years later. Type 1 is different from type 2 — it wasn’t caused by a ton of junk food intake, even though I am a bigger kid, it was actually because of an auto-immune disorder that attacked my pancreas which eventually caused it to cease to function which means my body can’t produce insulin on it’s own. I stick needles in myself daily, so I like to make jokes of things like “Don’t mess with me, I know how to use a needle!” or something similar. Some people laugh, some don’t, depends on your sense of humor. I don’t meet a ton of other diabetics, but when I do we like to share our similar complaints about life and it’s actually rather fun to socialize with people I can get along with.
Diabetes has changed my life in more way than one; I am a lot more respectful when I eat food (or at least I try to be) and I get irritated when people throw their food away, I love drinking water and it is very refreshing whether you believe it has a taste or not, I am a lot better at telling whether or not I feel weird now, etc. People are people, and I believe everyone should be treated with respect no matter their race, gender, self-identity, things they’re suffering with, etc. The reason I’m saying something like this is mainly because I have been bullied a lot and I don’t think anyone should go through something like that just because they’re seen as different. If they’re not hurting themself or anyone else, what’s the problem? Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA+ Matter, The Furry Fandom Matters. Men, Women, Non-binary people, and anything else you may identify with — you all matter. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise and keep living to be the best you that you can be. Try to stay positive if you can! If you have negativity in your life, and there’s a way to drown it out so that it doesn’t stop you from being you, then do so even if that means cutting the negative people out of your life. Even if they are important to you, they need help and you need some space from them until they start understanding better how they affect your life. Never give up on hoping, and follow your dreams.
Ari S., signing off.
