LGBT
Related: About this forumMan in crisis calls gay bookstore, and manager and patrons answer
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While working at the bookstore one night, he said he received a call from a man who said he might be gay and was considering self-harm.
We were not a crisis center! But as long as were talking, hes safe, right? @TweetChizone continued in a tweet that has received more than 30,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
The man said he kept the caller on the phone by answering his questions, even though there were several customers in his store. @TweetChizone said that a few minutes later, this angel of a woman puts her hand on my shoulder and asks for the phone. 'My turn,' she says.
"And SHE, this 50-something lesbian talks to this stranger on the phone. And a LINE FORMS BEHIND HER. Every customer in that store knows that call, knows that feeling, and every person takes a turn talking to that man, he continued. That story comforts me so much to this day.
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Bernardo de La Paz
(49,045 posts)At least in that moment, it was essential.
FM123
(10,054 posts)badhair77
(4,221 posts)Thanks for posting.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)A re-affirmation that humanity and kindness actually do exist in our increasingly polarized country.
THANK YOU for sharing this post.
demigoddess
(6,645 posts)JustFiveMoreMinutes
(2,133 posts)... and DAMN the people who spout the hate and lies that put the poor soul into that state of mind.
PatSeg
(47,613 posts)Nice to hear an uplifting story these days.
littlemissmartypants
(22,819 posts)❤
Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)We are our brothers/sisters keepers. Fantastic story! Thanks for posting.
George II
(67,782 posts)...on weekends as the admitting clerk. One night I got a call from a guy who said he was going to commit suicide. We talked about a half hour, me telling him that if he killed himself he couldn't make things better, etc., etc. It was a long call.
He thanked me and hung up.
Then I took my "sleep" break (3-4 AM). When I went back to work I learned we had a new patient - he came to the hospital and checked in for observation. DAMN, I felt good. Who knows what ultimately happened after that, but at least he decided to do something about his problem.
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)Odoreida
(1,549 posts)Beacool
(30,253 posts)These people took time to help a stranger on the phone who was under distress. I'm sure that they left him feeling much better than when he made the call. It does take a village...
SWBTATTReg
(22,171 posts)despairing and not knowing where to get 'true and realistic' help (not the help the bible thumpers offer). A lot of what young kids hear is a constant barrage of how wrong this lifestyle is, the hate, the bigotry, etc.
Of course most of us know our lifestyle is not the evil that others seem to make it (all fake and distorted and far from reality and the truth). It's not. It's families, spouses, children (fostered or from prior straight marriages, etc.), with homes, with jobs, with friends, in short, what everyone else has in the 'normal' straight world. If you put both worlds side by side, oftentimes you would have difficulty in picking which world it was you were picking, should you attempt to pick which world was what.
Those coming out face a whole world of bigotry and hate, in full view and I've known too many 18 year olds getting kicked out of their homes because they came out. Some have reconciled, others have not. The community does extend its hand out in comfort and aid all across the country on a daily basis...you just don't hear about it. Maybe that's why the bookstore story is so real to people, for we have all seen this story already.
brandnewday2009
(287 posts)While I never called the bookstore to seek help because I had reached the end of hope, I did, as a confused and frightened gay boy of 14, find my community when I found the Amazon Bookstore (the FIRST and the BEST) while on a trip to Minneapolis one summer. It was what I needed right then and there, just like the story. Thank you for sharing this article!
Hekate
(90,829 posts)Just everything you want humanity to be in a crisis, and in this dark time it makes me want to cry.
mahannah
(893 posts)mahannah
(893 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Thanks for sharing.
pazzyanne
(6,558 posts)People can be so wonderful and caring. Sometimes we forget this in our everyday lives, especially for the past 2 years. Blessings on these wonderful people!
cp
(6,664 posts)Wonderful story.