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You don't hear from every single person whose day you make better, whose life you change, whose life you save.
You don't hear it, but I'm telling you, it happens, and that's why we do what we do.
So, you know, when you stay at school one day longer, when you stand up for your friends, the stuff we're doing actually matters.
So it was great, and people liked it. And so then I'm going kind-of throughout the day to different classrooms and seminars and stuff,
and then one kid grabs me in the hallway and it was a kid who was transitioning, female to male, and he was about 15 years old.
And so he says, "Can I talk to you for a second?"
and usually that was, like, "Hey can I take a selfie with my iPhone and/or will you sign the program?"
And I was like, "Yeah, sure, what's up?" and he's like, "Well, you know, I saw your slide in there and I just want you to know that you saved my life, too."
And I was like, "Oh, okay," and then he starts to cry. And it's just the two of us in this school hallway on a Saturday.
Nobody else was around, and he was like, I saw your video on my friend's Facebook page on Thursday night and I watched it,
and I can tell you that if I hadn't seen it that night, I wouldn't have been around to see it Friday morning.
What do you even say to something like that?
So I just kind-of hugged the kid and said, you're so brave, and you're so great
and thank you so much for telling me, and that means so much.
And no doubt that you're inspiring other people by living life the way you are.
I know that it's hard, but I am someone that sees you as courageous and brave
and then he kind-of dried his eyes and kind-of went back into his classroom and was just like, thank you.
I then I proceeded to go into the bathroom and just like sit in a stall and just sob.
Because it was, I mean, I feel like one of the most touching things that had ever happened.
And I've gotten thousands of emails and Facebook messages and all that stuff
and people have said oh you made it easier or you made this simpler or any of those things, and even though they're Facebook,
you know, nothing is as real as that kid walking up to me and saying that
and yeah, the video was good, I don't deny that the video is good,
and yeah, the video was good, I don't deny that the video was good,
but the sharing and the getting it out there
and this kid feeling like he had a community of support and knowing that his friend, on whatever level,
they got the same thing out of it.
This online community that feels so much safer than your actual community that you live in.
Because of these things that we share and these kind-of common goals and these common wants for humanity
and this need and want and desire to feel part of something just really blew my mind.
That this kid felt safer coming up to me and saying that than he probably did anybody else that was actually in his community,
folks that he had known for his whole life,
that wasn't a conversation that he could have but he could have it with me.
That blew my mind.
So then I got it back together and finished it up and that evening went to the,
and hadn't really told anybody, texted my sister and wrote that email to Adam
and then went to a fundraiser that night and explained to people I just, I want you to know that the work that we do matters as well
and told the story and obviously there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
When all of us that are promoting, you know, good and love and equality and fairness,
and that there is this greater sense of love conquering hate,
you need a reminder of those victories and that actually what we do and what we try to do, it matters and it saves lives.
And if we break it down to the most basic component,
that's why we do what we do, to change the world.
The fact that that kid lived one day longer
is the world changing.
So, that was kind-of the story.