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Your cannot understand until your eyes are torn open, your ears are deafened, your words silenced, tears bitterly tasted, and cold shivers wrack your body and sweat slickens...

Then, you realize you are not the open-minded, stereo-type free person you thought you were. That person you thought was so amazing, so strong--is just like you. He wanted to commit suicide--to end his life before he graduated. So he stood up. In front of all of us. She was raped. Wronged and hurt by a man she trusted. So she stood up. In front of all of us. Forty of us. Each of us stood. Again and again. Revealing the pain no one knew about. "If this statement applies to you, please stand up." If, if, if, if, if.... And we stood. We were not judged. We were safe. White folks, black folks, Asian folks, Middle-eastern folks, Hispanic folks. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics. Heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. Rich, middle class, poor. Shy, talkative, afraid. We all stood.

Secrets no one else knows... those forty know. Of those forty, I intimately knew 4 yesterday. Less than 24 hours was all it took. Hugs after we stood... were generous. By people I didn't have a name to give to a face. By people I had never thought could be my friend.

We all stood.