I would apologize for being who I am, then keeping part of it a secret, but gosh, that is what I have been doing all my life, so it really feels natural. Plus, it keeps all those people with torches from visiting our home.
Sadly, there are those who get really angry because Halle is "just a man" and they can't deal with that. After all, nobody else around here was born a man, were they?
I do wish that some folk would remember that being screwed up and confused and hurt is what brought quite a few of us to this place. Finding any way at all to become better than we were is important. There is more than one way to do that.
This gem was dropped by Jay today, and I couldn't agree more: "...maybe each of us does have our answer. But that doesn't mean that anyone else's answer isn't the answer, even if it isn't the same as our own. "
In my book, those who challenge us to really think are important, and I do not care if they are dogs or men or even women.
I need to be encouraged to think and dig deep into myself. Sadly, we seem to be slowly losing our best and brightest.
As long as you keep writing the last best and brightest has not been lost.
ReplyDeleteJ'aime te lire.
Ahh, you say the nicest things Ellena! (((_)))
ReplyDeleteJust be yourself!
ReplyDeleteThat's why everyone loves you. And, yes. It IS that easy!
+1 to what the other two have said. Don't worry about what others think. Just be you.
ReplyDeleteIf I had have worried about what others thought I would have been a car thief at 13, and still living on the council estate I grew up in, rather than having a career I have and living in a foreign land :)
Stace
Thanks LeAnne and Stace.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that a common thread among readers here is a somewhat independent streak that sets us apart from the crowd, and yes, has kept us from mindlessly following them too.
I suppose it just surprises me sometimes when any of those same people start making it sound as though there is only one 'real' path a T-G should be taking.
"Sadly, there are those who get really angry because Halle is "just a man" and they can't deal with that. After all, nobody else around here was born a man, were they?"
ReplyDeleteIf you were just a man I doubt that you would be here unless you had come home from the pub and were feeling like sending out a load of uninformed bigoted abuse to those of us trying to get a bit of sanity into our lives...
(I have been told not all men are like this)
Well Caroline, the words "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we call it a duck" ring in my virtual ears. "You shall know them from their fruits" is perhaps more to my liking.
ReplyDelete:)
That's the worst, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSomeone who helped you solve some piece of the puzzle, someone who might have helped you solve another piece of the puzzle, suddenly decides to take their leave. Not that I blame them. Those who DO have their answers have no real reason to stick around, except out of some altruistic duty to help those who don't, and usually at some personal cost.
I'm just thankful for the time I was able to spend with them and the thoughts they did choose to share.
-pp
Thankful indeed PP, and always happy when they choose to visit again! :)
ReplyDeleteI read Jay's blog before he deleted it. And yes, that phrase was in there. There were quite a few other "gems" in that piece. Some worthy of quoting, some worthy of relegation to the non-existent T-Central sin-bin; for example, I believe he indirectly misgendered Calie.
ReplyDeleteDespite some of the thoughts that Jay expressed towards women like me, I will miss his blog and I actually found that I liked him and had some respect for him. It was one of the few blogs around here that I found interesting.
Yes Teagan, there were quite a few 'gems' in that piece, and if the quote I chose had not been at the very end of it, the post might have left a very bad taste in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteIn a strange way, while my own experiences couldn't be farther from those described, that post of Jay's felt closer to the confusion I feel about our world than any other (s)he wrote, and it is gone.
The only path you should be following is your own. And I think you are doing that!
ReplyDelete:) Sometimes that path seems to be more like a labyrinth, but you are right Ariel.
ReplyDeleteit was once said that, "Allroads leadto ROme".. It that is true, then it follows that tere must ne lots of diffferent ways of getting there....like YOUR OWN.
ReplyDeleteAnd...If you don't want to GO toRome, then all yiu need to do is make YOUR OWN WAY.
As for some of us not sticking around "in the ghetto" and "moving on"...is that NOT, what it is all about?
Have you ever come out of the pub and encountered an aggressive drunk, wildly trying to find someone to fight, taking random drunken swings at all and sundry? Everyone just ignores him, not interested, not wanting to get involved in their pointless pugilism. Get on with their lives.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think that those among our circle who get the most exercised resemble aggressive drunks, making a lot of noise but nobody's interested enough to take them on. Sometimes the noise is entertaining to read, other times it's just a hissing geyser of bile. Sometimes, it's both.
Be who you are, if people don't understand then that's their problem not yours. As I observed not long ago, you gotta really love the girl you married to live the dream.
Halle, yes it is all a labyrinth but it is in the nature of labyrinths that they have structure. Even if we all have our own labyrinth once we understand it's structure we will find our way through it. And then it's path reveals itself.
ReplyDeleteAnne, I'll admit that if I was no longer in conflict, and was able to just 'get on with my life' then I would move on. I hope that it never occurs to me that 'this place' is some sort of ghetto however. Personally, sticking around here is a pain in some ways, because of the conflicts that seem to exist, but mostly it is about learning and sharing something; as I wrote above, the challenges others can offer that help me to grow as a person are worth the trouble. You should know friend, with all the help you gave me this past year. :)
ReplyDeleteAs to the 'all roads' comment, when going to Rome is the right thing to do, it is what I will do. Until then, sharing other roads, and chatting with the other travellers, no matter how foreign and sometimes even a bit bizarre they seem is what I will do.
Jenny, while you are right about the drunken pugilist, perhaps the situation here feels different for me. At a bar, it would never occur to me to intervene. Around here, I figure the fact they came by means something else is going on too. Even the one who told me how much I loved my penis must have learned something from stopping by, LOL.
I'd like to think that through the struggle I have learned to be more understanding and caring. If others cannot understand, maybe someday they will too.
Kathryn, I will keep walking until a clearer pattern is revealed. Thanks for stopping by. :)
Nice post, Halle. I have nothing to add to the already fab comments.
ReplyDelete@Jenny - I love the analogy. Might use it myself someday.