On the one hand, the thinly-veiled homophobic joke in front of a bunch of dudes who I had no idea were gay is something I’d like to take back, but on the other, if I hadn’t done that, I might not have taken steps to be a better person since then.
This does not mean I’m the best I could be, but because of that and a few other things, the fact I’m not bothers me a lot more.
(If you want to know how the initial scenario panned out, it was awkward. They didn’t explain why they weren’t laughing, and then later introduced me to one of their more flamboyant friends. I was polite and confused at what was going on, which lead them to understand that I was just ignorant, not actually hateful. It took me a lot longer than it should have to put it all together.)
On the one hand, the thinly-veiled homophobic joke in front of a bunch of dudes who I had no idea were gay is something I’d like to take back, but on the other, if I hadn’t done that, I might not have taken steps to be a better person since then.
This does not mean I’m the best I could be, but because of that and a few other things, the fact I’m not bothers me a lot more.
(If you want to know how the initial scenario panned out, it was awkward. They didn’t explain why they weren’t laughing, and then later introduced me to one of their more flamboyant friends. I was polite and confused at what was going on, which lead them to understand that I was just ignorant, not actually hateful. It took me a lot longer than it should have to put it all together.)