I will admit.
I do not understand Bruce Jenner.
I do not understand what makes a person feel like they are not the gender they are supposed to be. I don’t understand the psychology of it. I don’t understand the biochemistry of it. I don’t understand a lot about transsexuality. Of course, there’s a lot about run of the mill sexuality in general that I don’t understand either.
I can not imagine what kind of mind hell a person must be living in to feel like they’re in a body that’s not theirs. I can not imagine being willing to go through the pain, the expense and the years of psychological and drug therapy one must undergo to change one’s physical gender.
Just as a person who is not left-handed can never understand what I’ve had to go through as a left-handed person, a person who is not transsexual will never fully understand or wrap their mind around transsexuality.
But…
I don’t have to understand it. I don’t have to understand any of it.
I am under no obligation as a decent human to fully understand what my fellow primates go through on a day to day basis.
So now that the burden of understanding is lifted, what now?
Well, I can be compassionate. I can be sympathetic. I can be sensitive.
And even if I can’t be those things.
I can at least not be an asshole.
