First Person Narrative

Finally, the weekend had begun. My friends and I had arrived at Riverside Park. After having novelty pictures taken, we headed over to the newest attraction, the Hellavator, and took our places in the extremely long line. Looking up, we could see the dozen people in their seats, ready for the fall. "Should I let them go?" the operator questioned the crowd.

"Yes!" the line howled back.

An hour and a half had passed and after watching hundreds upon hundreds of people shriek their way down the 50 story drop, we were still waiting. The operator was still carrying on with his now boring banter, when his voice suddenly took a different tone.

"Is that a man, or a woman?" he snickered, "Is that a man, or a woman?"

The crowd stirred, a gay man that the operator knew had apparently gotten on the ride, and the operator was giving him a hard time. My friends and I looked at each other in disbelief. Why would the operator do this?

"Did I hear a woman scream? Was that a woman?" the operator continued his taunting as the people on the ride began their accent.

Now, a low murmur began to go through the crowd. My friends and I continued to stare quizzically at the operator, I asked myself: Who would hold that animosity toward a person that they would embarrass themselves and put their job on the line to express those feelings?

"Should I let them down?" the operator's question, that so many had responded to before, this time had no response at all.

"Ok...." he pressed the release button. As the ride came down, he once again began his barrage of childish insults. "Was that a woman's scream? Did I hear a woman scream?"

The man in question unbuckled his safety belt, got off the ride and faced the operator.

"I'm all the man you'll ever be!" he declared, then stalked off through the gate.

A cheer rose from the crowd. The operator remained silent, obviously outnumbered in opinion.

Later on, the operator's supervisor came over to chastise and warn him. Everything was clearly heard over the operator's microphone. My friends and I were the only ones who cheered.

Since then, I have replayed the situation over and over in my mind again and again. I had known that these happenings existed. I just hadn't been anywhere where I had witnessed one. The feelings of being a bystander were somewhat different. My beliefs had always been strong. To me, a person is a person, no matter what the sexual preference. This situation, didn't make me reevaluate my beliefs, only reaffirm them. I hear the words 'gay', 'fag' and 'homo' used in a derogatory manner in the school hallways all the time from the generation that is supposed to be the "open" generation. Now, when I heart people I know use the aforementioned words in derogatory ways, I step in, and ask if they might possibly want to rethink their choice of words.