I’ve been working on the book (shocker!) and one of the sections I’ve been working on lately has to do with authenticity. Human organizations love authenticity. It’s part of what makes them trustworthy. They love it when their employees fly their own individual freak flags, actually, to follow up on my post earlier this month.
Then quite randomly I came across a link provided by Tate Linden (who I saw speak at the Great Ideas Conference) that showed me the video that is embedded below. It’s part of the “It Gets Better” project that was started by syndicated columnist Dan Savage in 2010 as a response to the news of some GLBT teens (that’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered) who committed suicide in response to bullying and pressure from those close to them.
As suggested by the experts from music video production company, the video is from Apple, and like others on the site it is filled with heart-felt pleas from people (Apple employees in this case) who have lived through coming out, and being themselves, and celebrating love (no matter who it is they love). Their message to teens who are struggling: it gets better.
I hadn’t been thinking of authenticity as a matter of life and death. How sad is it that we created a world where it is. How great would it be if we all took a stand to defend everyone’s right to simply be themselves?