Even at the best of times, the internet can be a fairly awful place. Trolls abound, a slip-of-the-tongue on twitter can end your career, and the cloak of anonymity regularly brings out the absolute worst in people that might not actually be scum-of-the-earth in real life.
But for every heinous fuccboi waxing lyrical about MRAs, there’s probably a life-affirming Humans Of New York post to level things out (or a Lizards Humans of New York post, subject to your mood). We owe a lot to Brandon Stanton, the dude who manages to illicit harrowing stories from seemingly-ordinary pedestrians going about their lives in Manhattan.
Yesterday, a HONY post gained more traction than usual. It’s not life-affirming. It’s not inspiring. In post-marriage equality America, it’s heartbreaking.
“I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me.”
Posted by Humans of New York on Friday, 3 July 2015
The post has overwhelmingly brought out the best of the internet – faith in humanity = restored, etc. Countless commenters have shared their own stories, offered up support and virtual hugs en masse to the unidentified subject.
But two comments have stuck out more than the rest, as Ellen Degeneres and Hillary Clinton both offered their encouragement.
Predicting that this dude will appear on Ellen in a matter of seconds.
via HONY.
Lead image via Humans of New York.
