Link: Moxie’s Revenge.

I read this about D in the link above & I thought to myself “this is just so wrong, this didn’t have to happen”.  It didn’t.  The real issue here is discrimination based on someone being transgendered.  But D could have been Asian, Mexican, mentally ill or Islamic and the same thing may have happened.

A re-reading of The Parable of the Good Samaritan helps here I think:
The Good Samaritan

I was going to post a nice tech-weenine article on VoIP and how it is a nice tool to help you save some money.  Whatever your station in life, that can be a good thing.   But I have another topic I wanted to write on instead.  Look for the VoIP article in the upcoming week.

What’s really been rattling my brain is acceptance.  Self-acceptance, if your different.  And especially if your transgendered.  Self-acceptance is the number one issue.  I thought I had vanquished this dragon until I engaged in some very meaningful dialog with some trans-folk at an email group I’m a part of run by the very talented Lacey Leigh.

As Lacey states it, so rightly in words I cannot, she says “The greatest hurdle with being transgendered is self acceptance; once that is achieved, everything else falls into place”.   The equally gifted Andrea James, on her site TS Roadmap, states it as well.  “Self-acceptance and coming to terms with your feelings are the first order of business in transition. If you are not emotionally grounded from the onset, you are going to have a difficult transition. Transition is a minor issue in comparison to self-acceptance”.

As for me, I had thought that I’d have accepted or at least come to terms with being transgendered.  I would have thought by now that I’d be completely self-accepting.   But if the definition of self-accpeting is loving ourselves  & accepting ourselves the way we are, then, I don’t think I’m there yet.  I’ve got a ways to go it appears.  I’ve traveled all over the world and seen many things in life, but, it appears, I’ve not traveled to my own heart to see what’s there and the work I need to do in accepting who I am as a transgendered person. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but, I think it has to do with loving myself as much as I’d love someone else.  I think it means giving myself room to be me, and in that knowing and trusting that I won’t become this self-centered shrew hoarding what she has till the last day.   The funny thing is, in those moments when I’ve accepted myself the most, I’ve been freer to give away the most.

Resources
The journey to self-acceptance

Self Acceptance at TS Roadmap

The
Successful Crossdresser

Changing your self-image

Self-esteem what does the Bible Say?

6/13/2010 Update
Lacey Leigh’s sight, “The Successful Crossdresser” has been taken off the net

Link: mask.

It’s amazing how life works.  Tonight, I was having a "moment".  My moments generally come when I’m not doing anything.  Then, like a tidal wave of emotions, the reality of my GID crashes over me as an uninvited dilemma till I’m terribly sad, crying, or grabbing the LARGE bag of M&M’s.

Mask was nice to read…now where are my M&M’s.

It feels like a swirl this transgendered life

Filled with heartache, joy and strife

We struggle to grasp this “blessing we have”

While all the while praying that it’s not from the hand of
God

We stray, we fall, our lives fade away –

The birth
of a butterfly we so hope one day

Many it’s said don’t make it it’s true –
harsh realities of life invade

Make a coup

We fall, get back up, and stumble around

Some choose the soft darkness and never awake to sing again

I stumbled on a woman’s magazine, called Moxie,
a few months ago.   It is a very good e-zine, with excellent reviews
and wonderful writing.  Sadly, the site sits but the actual magazine
appears either dormant or gone.    The writing is very good,
particularly a series of short essays by women called "Real Life".    I
would urge you to just take 5 minutes, click to the essays and read a
few.  You’ll see into other women’s souls like you might not ever have
done before – you might cry, and you might laugh, but in every case
you’ll enjoy them.

Curl up with a cup of coffee, click here for the essays, open your heart and enjoy  "Real Life Essays at Moxie"