03-23-2021, 07:29 AM
@"Freija" -
Thank you. I read the post, I read the PDF, but I'm gonna ruminate for a while before I make any real response. I haven't watched the video yet, but to be honest I think there might be a possibility that it might freak me out a bit, so I'll have another beer before I fire it up. Nerve medicine, y'know?
A few lighter responses:
I had a tough childhood, too, but for entirely different reasons than yours. Still, I think I can identify just a little, but not all the way, of course. I sorted mine out when I went into the 8th grade, so it was not as prolonged as your tough childhood. I too was relentlessly picked on by other kids, and would never fight back, which did result in some degree of injury now and again. That changed in the 8th grade when one day I just decided I'd had about enough, DID fight back, and discovered I had what I reckon was an inborn talent for it. Life got a bit easier after that.
One result of that was that I never let any other kids get picked on thereafter if the miscreants were within arm's reach, or if I could get them within arm's reach. But that's a whole 'nother, unrelated, tale.
Later, I left home at 17 to make my mark on the world. I think it made more marks on me than I made on it, but sometimes life is just about being able to trade punches and remain standing. Still, I think 17 is probably old enough to start a transition if that is what is necessary for an individual. I made some harsh decisions at 17, and still managed to survive them, although not everyone around me did. I think by 17, your gender is pretty well sorted out, your mind is set, and everything is what it's always gonna be.
I started puberty at 9, but it was a long, dragged out affair. It wasn't all of the sudden like with most other kids. I had a mustache at 13, which has remained in place throughout my life and never been shaved, but I couldn't grow a full manly beard until after 30. So, yeah, it was a long dragged out affair. Because of that potential for early puberty, I'm not sure that delaying puberty for kids in crisis is necessarily a bad thing, but starting actual transition may be. Their minds are not always fully formed early on and there are misdiagnoses, which in this day and age I think may be of real concern, especially considering the drastic nature of a full transition. I believe that in some circles, it may be a "fad" that can go horribly wrong for the kids involved.
My mind keeps going back to the school counselors that insisted I put my son on Ritalin, because he fought too much. He did. He had some anger issues, particularly so after his ma died of cancer when he was 11 years old. His mom was all for it before she died, because it was the "in" thing I guess, but I was dead set against it, and fought tooth and nail to keep Ritalin from happening in his young world. I'd have taken him out of school and he'd have grown up speaking Spanish in Honduras if they had pushed it much harder. As it turned out, he wasn't fighting because he was a problem child...
... he just wasn't letting other kids get picked on, either, and that was probably my fault, rather than his.
.
Thank you. I read the post, I read the PDF, but I'm gonna ruminate for a while before I make any real response. I haven't watched the video yet, but to be honest I think there might be a possibility that it might freak me out a bit, so I'll have another beer before I fire it up. Nerve medicine, y'know?
A few lighter responses:
I had a tough childhood, too, but for entirely different reasons than yours. Still, I think I can identify just a little, but not all the way, of course. I sorted mine out when I went into the 8th grade, so it was not as prolonged as your tough childhood. I too was relentlessly picked on by other kids, and would never fight back, which did result in some degree of injury now and again. That changed in the 8th grade when one day I just decided I'd had about enough, DID fight back, and discovered I had what I reckon was an inborn talent for it. Life got a bit easier after that.
One result of that was that I never let any other kids get picked on thereafter if the miscreants were within arm's reach, or if I could get them within arm's reach. But that's a whole 'nother, unrelated, tale.
Later, I left home at 17 to make my mark on the world. I think it made more marks on me than I made on it, but sometimes life is just about being able to trade punches and remain standing. Still, I think 17 is probably old enough to start a transition if that is what is necessary for an individual. I made some harsh decisions at 17, and still managed to survive them, although not everyone around me did. I think by 17, your gender is pretty well sorted out, your mind is set, and everything is what it's always gonna be.
I started puberty at 9, but it was a long, dragged out affair. It wasn't all of the sudden like with most other kids. I had a mustache at 13, which has remained in place throughout my life and never been shaved, but I couldn't grow a full manly beard until after 30. So, yeah, it was a long dragged out affair. Because of that potential for early puberty, I'm not sure that delaying puberty for kids in crisis is necessarily a bad thing, but starting actual transition may be. Their minds are not always fully formed early on and there are misdiagnoses, which in this day and age I think may be of real concern, especially considering the drastic nature of a full transition. I believe that in some circles, it may be a "fad" that can go horribly wrong for the kids involved.
My mind keeps going back to the school counselors that insisted I put my son on Ritalin, because he fought too much. He did. He had some anger issues, particularly so after his ma died of cancer when he was 11 years old. His mom was all for it before she died, because it was the "in" thing I guess, but I was dead set against it, and fought tooth and nail to keep Ritalin from happening in his young world. I'd have taken him out of school and he'd have grown up speaking Spanish in Honduras if they had pushed it much harder. As it turned out, he wasn't fighting because he was a problem child...
... he just wasn't letting other kids get picked on, either, and that was probably my fault, rather than his.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’