Tom Guarriello reassures his friend Mike about sharing Teresa and Martin's life stories, then argues that real accountability means owning hateful statements openly instead of hiding behind anonymous accounts online.
Hey Mike, man, it's Tom. I watched your video and it bothered me. It bothered me to see you upset and apologizing for doing something good. You didn't do anything wrong. To apologize for. You were trying to help Theresa's story get out there and Martin's story get out there, and it's a great story. It's a great story. I mean, it's one of those moments that, you know, I think defines a new way of living in public when someone Lives the last couple of weeks of his life telling stories of his life. And, you know, got plenty of great reactions from people. But he and also Teresa also got what else is out there in our world, you know. Got to experience The kind of hate that we know exists. We shouldn't kid ourselves. There's plenty of people out there who hate. And there's always going to be people who hate. I think all we can do is to try to Hold them accountable for hating. Anonymous hating is easy hating. Hating with your name on it, really taking responsibility for what you say and what you do and what you believe, that's another story. That's harder hating. You know, that's the kind of hating that, you know, you wake up in the morning and you look at yourself in the mirror And you gotta own that hating. You gotta own saying horrible things to that woman who just obviously lost the man that she loved. You gotta own that. You can't hide behind some phony name that you make up and put on a website on the internet. Own that hate. You hate that? You hate the fact that this man was some anonymous guy who just died? And you didn't like having to watch him, and you didn't like having to listen to his wife talk about what it was like, own it. Tell her, "Here, my name is so-and-so, and I hate the fact that you're—" Say it. Go ahead. Say it. We're saying what we believe. Why don't you say what you believe? And put your face on it, put your name on it, and just own it. That's Van Morrison, uh, I'm playing in the background. The name of the song is Listen to the Lion. Listen to the lion. And Mike, stay strong, brother. Stay strong.
