A Basketball Player, a Marine, and a Transgender Woman walk into a bar…

“Lauren Hill isn’t a hero.”

WOW DOESN’T THAT FIVE WORD SENTENCE JUST TAKE THE AIR OUT OF YOUR CHEST BECAUSE OF HOW WRONG IT IS AND HOW IT MAKES THE AUTHOR SOUND LIKE A TOTAL ASSHOLE?

Lauren Hill, one of the people the public wanted to receive the award Caitlyn Jenner recently won from ESPN, was a wonderful girl who died too soon from her battle with cancer. It’s terrible, but through her pain and suffering she was able to spread awareness of her debilitating cancer to millions of people.

That sounds pretty damn heroic to me.

For obvious reasons, people are pretty transfixed on the idea that heroism needs to coincide with Military. I believe our troops are heroes. They are family and friends; veterans deserving so much more than an award from ESPN.

Who gives a shit about an award from ESPN?

You’re all so damn focused on the idea that there is a problem with Caitlyn Jenner winning this award to focus on the bigger picture here. Before we get to the bigger picture, let’s put this on the table: heroism comes in so many forms that you can’t possibly measure the difference in heroism. No, someone is heroic in a different way than someone else, and that’s okay.

Let’s look at some statistics here. Caitlyn Jenner came out as transsexual after winning a gold medal. Now, she is seen as a hero. “What’s so heroic about that?” I have seen a dozen of you say (and promptly removed some of you from my facebook because of the sheer ignorance and blatant transphobia).

You all know someone from the LGBT community. Some of you know how hard it is to come out, as a friend or as a member of the LGBT community yourself. Being gay / transgender has not been considered a mental illness by psychological professionals for quite some time, but simply as part of who someone is.

So now, we have a celebrity coming out, showing people it is ok to be yourself and be comfortable in your own skin, and to not be ashamed of who you are.

And instead of supporting another human being in their happiness, people are spitting in her face.

All while the LGBT suicide attempt rate is FOUR TIMES higher than that of a straight person, people are saying it isn’t heroic to stand up for this group of people.

All while the suicide attempt rate for LGBT people disowned by their families is EIGHT TIMES higher than that of a person whose family would accept them as straight, it isn’t heroic for someone to be themselves? It isn’t heroic for someone to say “this is who I am” and empower so many people who have been struggling with who they are?

This has nothing to do with heroism, but blatant transphobia from the general public. If this had to do with how people are trying to defend their views on heroism (AKA people in Military are heroes for their battles not Caitlyn Jenner for hers), then by that definition they are saying Lauren Hill was not a hero for her battles. Both are equally shitty.

Let that settle in for a second how awful that sounds. If it doesn’t sound awful, go back and read this whole thing again, and then you can continue.

You’re allowed to think other people deserved the award, that’s fine. But don’t for a second discredit Jenner and her heroism. What she did was heroic to so many people. What she did was empowering. What she did may have been different from how you picture heroism, but that doesn’t take away from her actions. Her heroism is different than that of an army vet, or of a young man standing up to a bully, or someone currently serving in the military, or someone fighting cancer, or someone dealing with the loss of a loved one.

My friend is my hero for being a nurse. My grandparents are my heroes for the life lessons they taught me. My teacher is my hero for instilling education in me. My friend is my hero for serving in the military. There are so many different types of heroes! It is so great that we can celebrate life and accomplishments in so many different ways!

And you are focused on someone winning an award for being a version of a hero you aren’t used to.

Let’s look at how else we can take that energy and use it positively. Have you done anything to help the people you see as your heroes? Maybe you posted a status on Memorial Day or veteran’s day to your Facebook and twitter. Have you written to your Senators and Representative about funding Veteran Hospitals? Have you sent care-packages overseas? Have you volunteered at a hospital or done anything productive?

If you have I sure haven’t seen it. I’ve only seen you bitch and moan about AN AWARD FROM ESPN.

If you think someone else deserved the award, good for you, I don’t care. If you’re just being transphobic you need to grow up, this is the 21st century.

If you think an award matters at all then you have even more thinking to do because this is the most petty, ridiculous shit I have seen on Facebook in years, and I have seen my fair share of petty, ridiculous shit.

And that’s the bigger picture, the fact that we could be doing so much more but would rather complain about the things that didn’t go the way we planned them to. We dislike the things we don’t understand and think that makes some people better or worse than others. And instead of dedicating time and effort to the things people care about, it is easier for people to complain. So they do.

We are so damn transfixed on a stupid award from a stupid television channel that we are getting worked up and damn it we should be ashamed.

I’m not telling you that Caitlyn Jenner has to be one of your heroes, but that doesn’t mean her actions aren’t heroic. Just like the actions of so many other people, big and small, whether I listed them or not, her actions are meaningful to a group of people and that should be celebrated, not slighted.

I hope that the next time you get worked up over someone you disagree with or something you don’t understand, you empower yourself. You allow that person their happiness; their heroism. And instead of becoming a belittling, vicious person, you can create something good yourself for something or someone you care about.