Am I Blue?

 No One Likes a Hypocrite

     The short story 'Am I Blue?' by Bruce Coville is about 16 year old boy Vincent, who can't decide whether he is gay or not. He finds out that he has a fairy godfather and three wishes to spend. When Melvin, the fairy godfather, turns everyone who is gay or has had a gay thought blue, Vincent discovers that more than one person he knows are hypocrites. And when Melvin lets everyone across America see who's blue, it creates a huge problem for them. They show that being a hypocrite is not good.

     One person he discovers blue is Butch Carrigan, the school bully. Just earlier that day, Butch beat him up and called him  a fruit. But when Melvin returns from Butch's house-- "Butch Carrigan was already blue as a summer sky"-- Vincent discovers that Butch was bluer than him. And he was probably teased for the rest of his school years for being a hypocrite. If he had admitted to everyone that he was gay in the beginning, there would have been less trouble for him when everyone turned blue.

     Another hypocrite, an even bigger one than Butch, was one Vincent saw on TV. The victim was a Republican congressman. That congressman happened to be talking about "the great crime of homosexuality" and "the gay threat to American youth". He was not only talking about gay people in a bad way, he was in a political party against what he was. I think that they became hypocrites after they realized they were gay. They probably didn't want anyone else finding out and ridiculing them. Butch didn't want to be teased, so he beat up other gays. The Republican Congressman didn't want to be found out, so he hated on gays.

     And maybe some people who are gay didn't realize it or didn't admit it to themselves until it was too late. For example, Mr Albert, "the fat guy who ran the grocery store, looked like a giant blueberry- which surprised me, because he was married and had 3 kids". When his wife and kids saw him, they would be confused and possibly mad that he never said anything. And vice versa. "Ms Thorndyke, the librarian, who everyone knew was a lesbian, didn't have a trace of blue on her". She might have not known it herself, as everyone assumed she was gay.
     Everyone seeing the blue was probably a lot easier on Vincent, who everyone knew was a bit gay. He wasn't hypocritical and it paid off.
     I think that being a hypocrite is bad, even though many people, including me, go against what they sad or thought. sometimes it is for the better- for example, you hate someone, but are nice to them- but most of the time it is wrong and will just end up hurting you. Say the person you were being nice to finds out you've hated them all along. they will hate you more than if you just admitted that you didn't like them from the beginning. And everyone hates a hypocrite, especially if it affects a lot of people or is about themselves.
     This story shows that being hypocritical doesn't pay off and usually ends up coming back and hurting you.