Friday, April 15, 2011

It Gets Better

I love the company that I work for.  Is it perfect? No, but no company or person is and that’s okay.  But if you walked into a room of Apple employees and asked each of them what is their favorite part of working for Apple, I guarantee the majority of the room will say “our people.”  And that is exactly how I feel.  Some days are really difficult.  Some customers are very challenging.  Some days we may not all get along.  But when it comes down to it, we are like a family and try to support each other as much as we can, in all facets of our lives.  We are an extremely diverse group of people that come together and accept and embrace our diversity.  It’s a beautiful thing that is very difficult to find, especially in the workplace.
I’m sure you remember the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign launched several months ago to spread the word to LGBT kids that it truly does get better and your life is worth waiting for.  A few Apple employees came together to share their personal messages for the ‘It Gets Better Project.’  One of my coworkers told me about this video and 15 minutes later, one of my managers brought it up too and we watched it.  This video is beautifully simple and moving.  We were sitting in the office tearing up.
I have several LGBT coworkers and as one of them told me this afternoon, when she started one of the others came up to her when she first started at Apple and said “Apple is one of the best places to be yourself.”  I love my company.  And I love our people, regardless of whether you’re LGBT or straight.  And I love that they put this video together.
Please watch it.  Please share it.  Please be prepared with tissues as you may need it.


A few of my favorite quotes from the video:
“I had a fleeting moment, where I thought if it does get better and I’m gone, then I’ve really screwed up”
“Everyday is worth waking up for, you never know what is going to happen.”
“You need to open to people who even look like they might be your friends, they’re friends.  You’re not alone.”
“The bullies seem like the powerful people and success people.  But the secret of the real world is, they’re at the peak of their power at 15 and 16.  And there will come a time when the bullies are not successful and the people they bullied are.  You just have to out survive them.”

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