The Road to Hell

[what_larks]

Title: The Road to Hell
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: homophobia, a couple of instances of homophobic slurs, also, this is pretty heavy on the original characters
Spoilers: None.  In fact, it's best to read this without cannon in mind, Jacobellis v. Ohio was left at a fork miles and miles ago.
Summary: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Author’s

Comments

[what_larks]

Thanks love.

Sitting in this headspace might have been good for me. I have an oversensitive startle response when it comes to religion that I really need to get over.

[k_persephone]

I think this makes me cry. I'd like to say it's because of the part when Blaine offers Kurt his cardigan, or the people who glance up and then turn back to their papers or their conversations, or their coffee, like things like this happen every day. But that isn't true. In all honesty I don't even know why I'm basically sobbing right now. I don't know why I sympathize with Sarah when I'm not even close to being religious (haven't even had a proper introduction to Christianity *shrug*), I don't know why I understand her mother when it hurts so much to imagine that these good-nature, kind-hearted people must cut each other down from either side of the wall.

It is not difficult to imagine people like Fred Phelps to be full of hate, at least not for me. But my heart breaks because I know some of them, maybe a lot of them, mean differently than we perceive them to do. Some things in me break when I think I would be just another Sarah had I been born in a different family, in a different time. This is the feeling I get when I read about

[what_larks]

Getting you to sympathize with Sarah was kind of my goal, partly to get you to that very conclusion -- sometimes it hurts more when people think they have your best interests at heart.

Re: your comment about war -- go google "Christmas Truce" -- then come back and we can sob together forever.

[keenoled]

Very insightful, good job.

[what_larks]

Thank you so much!

[lesley_green]

This is seriously brilliant. So many thoughts, really. I've heard a lot of Sarah/mother's arguments before, which makes it worse because it's real. That the bully was a "well-intentioned" girl? That she was David's sister? Poor bloke. Goodness. My heart all the way through. The neighbors. And Quinn? And all the New Directions. It reminded me of a quote from E. L. Konigsburg, "Because deep down they know that decent people have to preserve rare birds." And Blaine, and sharing the cardigan because Kurt needed protection, and the arms thing is still there, and you're amazing and fantastic and I'm so happy you posted this and really, really flailing here. Brilliant.

[what_larks]

Thank you so much, my dear.

Yes, I've heard a lot of Sarah's arguments before too, enough to make me believe that they might be the most prevalent. It's hard to accept that people with those ideas do have good intentions -- it took me a long time to get there -- I go back and forth on whether I think this makes it better or so much worse.

Blaine sharing his cardigan is one of my favorite things in this. Partly because it's this little throwback to JvO and it's importance can only be understood in that context, but also because it is this sweet little thing in the middle of probably one of the saddest things I've ever written.

[what_larks]

Thank you so much! Turning people's expectations on their heads is one of my favorite things to do.