Now for sure, LOTS of things are happening in this passage, like Tabitha being raised from the dead for example.  Talk about a kind act!!  But when you consider Tabitha on her own you get a real sense for her impact on people.   She, “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor”.   How do we know it impacted people?  Because when she became ill and died these same people, “sent two men to beg him [Peter], ‘Please come as soon as possible!’”  Why?  To heal her, to raise her from the dead.  To give them hope their friend, Tabitha, would be returned to them.

Those people wouldn’t have bothered if Tabitha had no impact on them.

And that got me to thinking about my Christmas Season and what simple, single act of kindness I could do that might make a small difference.   I can’t change the whole world, but, I can each positively influence a little piece of it. And that is true for each of us. And that adds up to alot.  Sometimes its hard to think of something to do though.  A couple of ideas might help to prime our thoughts.

One is checkout the Random Acts of Kindness web site for some ideas.  Another simple idea is Toys For Tots.  Their drop offs end around Wednesday, 12/14 I think.  A simple, new, unwrapped toy, is all they need.

Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Soltice/Kwanzaa everyone

Links:
http://toysfortots.org/donate/toys-city-county.asp?txtState=Massachusetts

http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A36-43&version=NLT

This particular Messiah Sing is special for three reasons.  First, it’s a site reading orchestra, meaning, “Sight-reading is the reading and performing of a piece of written music, specifically when the performer has not seen it before.”    Second, one of my closest friends will be in the orchestra, and I know his musical standards are high so the music is bound to be good.  Third, you get the blessing of giving to a great cause, since there is a $10 ticket cost and all the proceeds go to Project Bread.

So, I hope we see all my readers in the Boston area at Messiah Sing at All Saints Parish, Brookline, MA on Friday, 12/2 at 7:30PM.   For easy directions, click this link:  Directions to All Saints Parish via Google Maps

So what does this mean?  A few things, all of them important.  Most of these are just rights that disappeared when many transgender people, both men and women, started dealing with who they are so they live “normal” lives.  But, these protections include:

• Employment
• Housing
• Education
• Credit
• Expands the state’s hate crimes protections to now include transgender people

Having been someone who has experienced this kind of discrimination first hand, I can tell you, this is very welcome news!    The bill is imperfect, and it does not include public accomodation, which means any public venue may decide that transgender men or women are not “welcome”.   Let’s hope that society is actually beyond that kind of behavior.

Many thanks to my friends who, along with me (see our article, “Trans Civil rights Lobby Day: Roundtable” for just one example out of hundreds), worked to see passage of this bill.   “BIG” thanks to Gunner Scott and the MTPC Team.  They kept our community moving forward when it seemed like we’d never see our normal rights returned to us!

What’s next? Well, the MA Senate vote is today!  The Senate bill is S764 “An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights”  So please CALL or EMAIL your senator and let him or her know your desire for them to vote in favor of our bill.  Here are the steps to help you:

(1) Find your MA legislator

(2) Once you do that, here are some helpful instructions on what to say, including a script, at MTPC Calling Help   And for some help on what to write if you choose to email, click to the MTPC Newsletter page.

Here’s a statement from the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coaltion on H 502/S764 “An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights”

In the days ahead, you may hear confusing things about this bill.  To be clear, this bill provides vital protections in employment, education, housing, credit, and hate crimes which transgender residents of the Commonwealth desperately need.  The bill is not perfect as it does not include public accommodations protections, but it is a solid civil rights bill that represents an historic step forward in supporting full civil rights protections for the transgender community.

Updated information will be coming from MTPC later today or you can follow them on Twitter @MassTPC   or check in on their newsletter page

So what to do next?  Either call or write your house of representative member today.   They really must hear from us today if at all possible.  You can find yours at this handy link: Find your MA legislator

Once you do that, here are some helpful instructions on what to say, including a script, at MTPC Calling Help   And for some help on what to write if you choose to email, click to the MTPC Newsletter page.

The protocol was developed with the following goals in mind:

This protocol was created within the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. It remains a work in progress, and will be annotated and/or updated when new data is available and validated. This protocol is intended to serve two purposes:

(1) Provide accurate, peer-reviewed medical guidance. This protocol was developed under the supervision of eight physicians with extensive experience in treating transgender patients.

(2) Provide a resource. This protocol contains references to additional materials that may be accessed for further study and shared with other provider colleagues and support staff to improve treatment capabilities as well as access to care for transgender patients.

Clicking on some of the links revealed useful information I found refreshing in many cases.  They cover topics such as Hormone Therapy, Musculoskeletal Health, Silicone Injections, Thyroid Screenings and much more.  Many listings appear to be things that frankly don’t come onto most health care providers or their patients radar.

It’s well worth a visit then a bookmark for your own health needs, reach it yourself by clicking to, “Primary Care Protocol for Transgender Patient Care“

(smiles to author and blogger Joanne Herman for originally pointing this great resource out to us)

Many studies have shown that few events in life have a lasting impact on subjective well-being because of people’s tendency to adapt quickly; worse, those events that do have a lasting impact tend to be negative. We suggest that while major events may not provide lasting increases in well-being, certain seemingly minor events – such as attending religious services or exercising – may do so by providing small but frequent boosts: if people engage in such behaviors with sufficient frequency, they may cumulatively experience enough boosts to attain higher well-being. In Study 1, we surveyed places of worship for 12 religions and found that people did receive positive boosts for attending service, and that these boosts appeared to be cumulative: the more they reported attending, the happier they were. In Study 2, we generalized these effects to other regular activities, demonstrating that people received boosts for exercise and yoga, and that these boosts too had a cumulative positive impact on well-being. We suggest that shifting focus from the impact of major life changes on well-being to the impact of seemingly minor repeated behaviors is crucial for understanding how best to improve well-being.

Here’s the full article, as published in The Journal of Economic Psychol0gy, “Getting off the hedonic treadmill, one step at a time: The impact of regular religious practice and exercise on well-being“