Pride is a word with endless meanings that fits into many molds. For me, an openly gay man who heavily believes in glitter as a necessary accessory and ABBA Gold as their life soundtrack, pride is a five-letter word that gets lost in translation.

In a world with such diversity, pride gets attached to so many subjects and causes, from things like LGBTQ+ pride to political pride. But for a moment, let us create our own translation and look at it as not a four-letter word but as a way of living. When boiling down this word, several things come to mind but one more powerful than the rest: self-confidence. When I think of pride, I think of being proud of not only who you are but also what you bring to this world.

For myself, I am proud to be able to contribute to society through my associations. Whether it’s producing art for the world, being able to share my experiences with others or sharing a smile with someone, each is as valuable to this world as the last. And while individual contributions to this world may seem small, you can think of the ant. They are very small creatures but provide major contributions to this world. And if they could talk in our dialect, they may first bitch a bit, but if asked I’m sure they would say they’d be proud or prideful to be themselves.

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That is the big take-away. Even the smallest creatures should share their pride with the world! We celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride in Tucson in the fall, but why stop there? I listen to ABBA almost every day because I can, so let’s be proud of ourselves and every fiber that makes up that self — no matter what color of the rainbow we fit into.

At the end of every day we should feel like a “Dancing Queen” when it comes to self-confidence and inner pride. I am proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community as an openly gay man who can contribute to social conversations/changes with my diverse ideas and background. Humans get so caught up about the negatives of differences when the celebration of diversity is what makes the world colorful. The world is better with a rainbow of colors shining as bright as each other.

I’m not going to lie when I say the world can be a tough place to live in sometimes. Clouds of despair seem to be in our atmosphere sometimes, but I try to look at it from a different lens to help myself get through those days. The world is filled with bad days and that’s ok, many people go through them and come out the other side. Don’t get hung up on how bad things are, think of the small things that are great, be proud of your contributions to society, you are amazing. Not everyone is a giant that can move boulders, even the small ant contributes to society and that is amazing.

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A world where diversity can be celebrated from the smallest ant to the biggest mountain is a world where the future shines bright. As a young person the struggle with self-identity and self-confidence can be tough but know that we each are our own rainbows made up of many colors and that is beautiful! If we are all the same, the world would be boring. Just the fact that you are who you are is amazing and you should celebrate that and we should celebrate that as a world!

Now you know what pride means to me and I hope you can celebrate your individual pride with yourself and the world. In the words of ABBA I say “Thank you for the music,” and you are an amazing contribution to this world. Share your pride!

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