Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Santa Only Brings Gifts to Good Little Girls and Boys...

Teri's article “A Lifestyle Choice” and the comments it generated (so far) along with recent events in the world have brought an idea into high relief this morning for me. Allow me to sketch it out.

World-wide communication is not the same as world-wide understanding, or world-wide equality. A people living under dictatorship understands this difference. They suffer more because they can experience a daily dose of what it is like to live in freedom via the world wide media. You cannot yearn for something that does not, never did and as far as you know, never will exist. Once you know another way to live exists, and is possible for some, it is hard to think about anything else.

As far as we know, transgender conditions have existed throughout human history, whatever the causes. The availability of the surgeries to give us the alternatives we have now have not existed for most of human history. Even though available now, there are places in the world where those options are not available, and knowing of their availability for others on the planet may cause great hardship for those who know they might have been able to 'solve' their problem, but never will as a result of accident of geography, or financial status.

Having the freedom to choose is a wonderful gift for some.

This world-wide platform to pass along “what might be” is not a gift to all. We cannot censor our reality for others. We do need to be aware of who our audience might be however. 

Recently I added a globe to my page. It has made me think more about who my family is these days. Sadly, not all the members of my family will have choices to make today. Santa really does not exist.

1 comment:

  1. You're right. It's a very unequitable world. Some have more than they know what to do with. Many have much less than they need. And the choices for each are quite different.

    For a while, it seemed that much of the world was more interested in trade than in fighting. I hope we can get back to that.

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