Bruce Jenner

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.