How about right now?

I am so grateful to Dan Savage and the It Gets Better Project. It's been sweet and sad and lovely to watch the videos mount up, providing myriad images of queer people who survived adolescence. I've watched and wept and giggled and blushed and put my hands over my heart in appreciation.

But I feel like there's something missing.

I don't know about you all, but when I was 13, 14, 15--right through high school--my ability to project myself into the future and imagine better times was pretty limited. It wasn't that I wasn't intellectually or emotionally capable, but developmentally I just wasn't there. In watching all of these videos, I wonder how many young people out there are like I was then: things that are bad now are BAD NOW. The light, however bright, sometimes didn't find its way into my tunnel.

I've been thinking about this a lot.

I asked some teacher friends of mine about it--smart folks I am lucky enough to be in graduate school alongside--and I've gotten a lot of agreement. Now, I don't have any studies to back these thoughts up with at this point--just the practical experience of some folks familiar with adolescent development.

So, how about we focus on some "here and now" messages alongside the (important and beautiful) messages that "it gets better"? Here's a humble start:

If you or a friend is experiencing harassment in school, you have the right to report it to someone you trust. Now. You may be helping out others by reporting it.

If you or a friend is feeling suicidal, call The Trevor Project. Get online. Reach out to someone you trust. Be a bridge to someone who has the skills and training to get someone out of danger. You don't have to handle it on your own.

It does get better, but it also doesn't have to get that bad in the first place. There are far-flung communities who want you to survive and thrive right now.

You have so much power to change your experience of school, and to make the world better, even if you don't think so.

Just being your true self is a gorgeous act of courage.