Hello World,

Every person I know struggles or has struggled at times in their lives.  When I have chosen to be vulnerable with others, in turn they have been vulnerable with me.  In those moments, I’ve seen very successful and confident people talk about their personal or family challenges with addiction, their insecurity in the value they bring to others, their self-doubts with their body image, their fear holding them back, or some other challenge.

I can’t possibly imagine the depth of that struggle when someone is dealing with a deeply rooted personal identity challenge such as gender dysphoria, or the challenges and judgment they face when choosing to risk their entire life to flee to another country.  What I can say is that the LGBTQIA+ and immigrants I have met and become friends with have made the world a richer, more vibrant place.

I fully believe we need to embrace every person and reach out to them with love, regardless of the differences that exist.  Age, sex, gender identity, race, heritage, nationality, religion, sexual orientation – all of these labels that separate us are meaningless next to the vibrant values, personality, character and soul of human beings.

This was starkly shown to me recently when I explored a potential plot twist of one character finding comfort and love in the arms of another.  There is an age gap between them, and my test readers were fine with an older man / younger woman dynamic but not comfortable with an older woman / younger many dynamic. WHAT?

In the words of the Dutch proverb that originated the saying – “leven ende laeten leven,”.  Let’s just all Live and let live.

David.