It Gets Better

 

Ever searched for an illustration or photo to depict the words “different” or “unique?” Images of clone-like stick figures, unsharpened pencils and dull bulbs appear with one person or a sharpened pencil or a glowing bulb standing out in sharp contrast. Different is interesting, different is smarter, different is better.

Only we all know being different isn’t as easy as being the sharpened, red pencil in a line of dull yellow. Being different isn’t easy when you’re a kid, and others aren’t seeing the value in what makes you different — when they just think you’re weird or “messed up.” When fear replaces curiosity, and ostracism replaces inclusion, we don’t always want to be the obvious answer in the game of “Which one of these is not like the other?”

Kids don’t have a lifetime of experiences to remind them that, yes, this too shall pass. So, with all these “different” kids in mind, several employees from the Clorox PRIDE employee resource group made a video to support the It Gets Better Project, a worldwide movement to show LGBT youth, who are disproportionately impacted by bullying and suicide, that there is happiness and acceptance beyond their teenage years.