Fear and ignorance make bad laws, while courage and openness can open doors

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THINGS I KNOW: Val loves me. I can write. I love teaching in the community about writing. I enjoy walking and riding my bike in the sunshine. It is restorative to just sit and enjoy the view across the lake at the cottage. Not all issues can be solved by politicians. It is pure joy (on several levels) to see Manitoba’s Premier Wab Kinew read books to children during I LOVE TO READ month. Freedom is complicated and requires both an open mind and a courageous heart. Finding our way in this world involves both pain and joy; both confident strides and tentative steps; both absolute assuredness and awkward fumblings — these are the ways of fragile fallible humans. Having loving parents, supportive friends and non-judgemental teachers and counsellors in schools is vital to a child’s healthy development. Asking questions is key to learning. Talking about difficult subjects is taxing and absolutely vital for knowing who we are and how we can best live day to day and over the longer term. Conversation begets understanding if not acceptance, or maybe acceptance if not understanding. Either way, conversation is key to living well.

THINGS I DON'T KNOW: What Holly, the cat, is thinking. When our world will know peace. What we’ll have for supper tonight. How my days will end. Why crumbs appear in the cutlery drawer. Why some politicians, including most recently Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, think regressive laws will protect trans kids. How scary it must be for a young person to be experiencing gender dysphoria in a home where it is not safe to explore their sense of self openly and honestly. What it must feel like to know that school is no longer a safe place for them, either. Where these young people will turn to talk, to find answers, to know themselves…

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In these terrifying times, let us look fear in the face and open ourselves to uncomfortable conversations — not even, necessarily, for answers but, rather, for the connection that comes from exploring difficult questions together. Being open with each other is more valuable, more helpful to the human cause than being categorically right, than drawing lines and bringing in laws that disempower and divide.

Being open, truly open and generous, is not easy. But it is necessary.

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Reading widely is always helpful. These books have opened my mind to the lives, loves, challenges and joys of transgendered people —

Jan Morris Conundrum (1974)
About her life 
About Conundrum, her book 

Rowan Jette Knox Love Lives Here (2019)
About Rowan 

Lara Rae Dragonfly (2020)
A CBC review 

Finnian Burnett The Clothes Make the Man (2022)
About Finnian

Comments

  1. Ann sans eFebruary 6, 2024 at 4:18 AM

    Excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnahitaFebruary 6, 2024 at 7:19 AM

    Inspiring and kind....❤

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2024 at 10:10 AM

    Thanks Amanda, you're helpful and kind. Here is another great book by and about a transgender person https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Trauma_Cleaner.html?id=V3s4DwAAQBAJ

    ReplyDelete
  4. DianaFebruary 7, 2024 at 4:08 AM

    Yes, Amanda. Very well said. Fear, especially when imposed by "authorities", cripples the spirit. Fear is our enemy not human beings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barbara Hull ChanFebruary 8, 2024 at 9:59 AM

    You're right. Premier Smith knows the new laws don't protect children, she is playing to her base to keep her position as leader. This problem cannot be solved by politicians because politicians created the problem.

    ReplyDelete

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