If You Don't Understand

If you don't understand transgender people, or don't understand the circumstances or situations of the lives of transgender people, then ask and learn. Don't speak up until you have not just some knowledge and maybe some experience, but some understanding, and more so, compassion. Otherwise, your words are simply showing how ignorant, how insensitive, or worse, how hateful you are.

Knowledge, as they say, is power, understanding is being human. Power doesn't make you better. Understanding does. And expressing your humanity makes you a human being.

Why the thought? An essay about late transistioners, found here. The writer who obviously transistioned early in life when she had the opportunity and support, doesn't seem to understand late transistioners and their families. So why is that reason to write something which is just "I don't understand" followed by a lot of bitching about them and their families?

And yes I don't understand why she even wrote it. It's one thing to write something to ask questions to understand, but it's another to write something with the intent of not understanding but complaining about them. Maybe should she consider what her transistion would have been like if she didn't have the support and opportunities she had.

She needs to imagine if she had to wait into her 50's or older to transistion and try to understand all the reasons someone would wait and all the issues someone would face making the decision to transistion and then transistion. She might find not just some understanding but some compassion and be less hateful toward others.

What's the old adage, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Why couldn't she have just kep quiet and kept her hate to herself? Or ask to first understand? I don't know, but as they say, I won't hold my breath waiting.