Some people.. you ever have that thought? Some people are really great examples of a good person. The people that talk about the important issues, the people that lend a helping hand, the people that volunteer their time, the people that care. Then there are some people that really make you question reality and humanity. Do you know any examples of these types of people?
If not, let me explain by giving you a few examples of how NOT to be. For instance, one night while at the store, our van died and we needed a jump. The first person I asked said they couldn't it wasn't their vehicle. I can understand that completely. The second person I asked, said they had to get home quickly. I can see the point of being in a hurry. The third person I saw and decided to try to get a jump start from, stated "I don't have cables." To which I replied, " I do." Then they said, "Okay, where's your vehicle?" Once I pointed out our camper, they then recanted the offer to help and stated "I have my reasons." Then proceeded to drive away. Katherine had been charging her phone for the next day at work on the lifeline. We had the inverter running and it went too long without being cranked. I searched in the rain that night for 45 minutes and finally a person named Rod who came over with a truck and attempted to jumpstart the the van. The only thing it did was make the cables hot. After Rod's long winded story of how two "women" should defend themselves and arm ourselves with mace and a knife, he followed me to the next person I asked and convinced them they wouldn't be able to jump me either. After that happened, that person was then rude to me and took this stranger Rod's word that his van couldn't jumpstart our van. Three more folks I asked all said no, then finally a couple in a tiny, silver car said yes and successfully let us connect cables to their battery for a few seconds to give ours a boost. Now, I ask myself why it would take so many tries to help out a person in need? Is it because I'm visibly transgender? Is it because it was dark and raining? I think that would be an important time to help an individual asking for help. What would you do in a time like this? I could have tried to explain that we are transgender, we work volunteer jobs for the trans/queer/gnc community and spend our time teaching our children and surviving. But, I spend many hours a day doing just that already. It was late, I was tired and ready to get the children to bed, so us adults can have quiet time that doesn't involve finding the children digging through food, painting themselves and trying on all our clean clothes because they just "want to be like the drone ups". We are a family. We laugh, we cry, we love, we experience. We need friends to talk too, we need a helping hand once in a while and we lend one when we can and sometimes even when we can't. We push ourselves to do better, strive for better everyday. My dream is that all people will not settle for less than they want and deserve. That's what we are doing. We are doing what we love, me writing and reaching out to encourage others, Katherine helping people in crisis. We are putting our family and outreach first and have received scrutiny, judgement, even at times scorn and chastisement from strangers. What lies on the inside may not be what it appears to be on the outside. Another example of how not to be is as follows: a person appearing male and having male genitalia approached the living area of the camper today, exposed themselves and proceeded to void their bladder of urine while standing against our bumper. Why? Some people really leave me scratching my head. Yesterday, during Katherine's work shift, I needed to charge my phone. I went to crank the camper and plug in the inverter and charger to find it wouldn't start. It kept turning over trying to crank, but wouldn't. We began troubleshooting. I attempted jumpstarting it, I thought perhaps it was our frequent "no bus" indicator so disconnected and reconnected the CPU cables. Neither of those options worked. Knowing we have replaced the battery, thermostat and water pump in the last year, we've had the alternator checked recently, we could hear the fuel pump kicking on and the starter was obviously working; that left only one thing I knew to check. I took the dash apart, checked the carburetor, cleaned the air filter and casing, reassembled it, still nothing. Then, like I always do when something happens and we can't fix it ourselves, we turned to the people around us for help. I began inside. I asked a person playing an arcade game, four folks watching television, one doing laundry and two more at the dining area. One by one they either didn't claim to know how to work on vehicles or seemed disinterested in helping. Finally, I saw a fellow camper-van dweller, walked straight toward them and asked did they know how to troubleshoot or work on vans. They replied yes. Said their name was "Mannie", grabbed a can of starter fluid from their rig, and accompanied me to ours. They figured it was corrosion on the distributer and used wd-40 as a penetrating fluid to clean it. It started right up. The three of us chatted for a while and discovered we had traveled the same areas in Colorado, since their mom lived there. These experiences we carry with us through our lives, whether good or bad. This is the way I will always remember these people. First impressions really do last. Let's all be the better end of "some people". This world isn't getting better alone. We have a duty to one another. We have to band together, stand up and do the revolutionary acts of kindness. Together we must rise above the "some people" and live by a more advanced moral compass. Humanity needs more loving kindness shown to our meek, our poor, our minorities and down-trodden. Discord and derision is what our new leader of the United States is ushering in. WE have to get uncomfortable, push ourselves past our own safety nets. Sometimes, that includes not assuming the homeless person is "just some loser". Sometimes, it's letting our guard down by talking with strangers. Other examples of being revolutionary would include: buying a card for a sad friend, visiting the sick, donating goods to the needy, befriending folks of different backgrounds, stopping to help a person with car trouble. This is just to name a few. I've been that person stranded on the side of the road needing a $6 part to fix my vehicle, jumping up and down waving, yelling for help, on the side of a very busy interstate and one single person stopped out of thousands. But they said they were taking their wife to work and couldn't stay to help. Our only phone at the time had less than ten percent battery life. We hadn't been in Portland long and we knew no one. Then, I got the idea to put out a post on social media. A couple hours later, two fellow transgender folks came to the rescue, we had never met, but they had AAA tow our vehicle to their place. We stayed the night with them, they made us breakfast and drove Katherine to the parts store the next morning. They were a tremendous shining light, that came to our aid. Just because they had been in a position to need help before as well. I choose to live by accepting the blessings of others as well as being a blessing. We may not have much money, but the blessings are continually flowing. Get rid of your excuses, let your guard down, get out there in the world and get active! Start helping today!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors:James and Katherine are a transgender couple raising two kids. They were southerners when coming to understand themselves as trans. Ultimately it lead to a nearly three year road trip to find home. Now they are re-housed and still focused on outreach in the transgender community! Archives
October 2020
Categories |