Try me

How does it feel to live in the wrong body? Perhaps I wouldn’t know. I’ve never felt that way.

We might have had childhood friends and schoolmates who we know identify as someone different from what we think they are. While some secretly keep it to themselves, some have openly admitted that they have come to terms with who and what they are.

Back then, it is easy to laugh or roll eyes at them as people are naive to the gigantic realm of possible things. People think they’re crazy and that whatever it is they’re going through, is temporary. 

True enough for some people, things are either black or white and they won’t have it any other way. But things change, new perspectives come up and we learn to defy our own preconceived ideas. All the while, what people think are wrong and outrageous are in fact, okay and sometimes, even beautiful. 

17-year old Leelah Alcorn posing in front of the mirror. photo taken from Buzzfeed.com

Leelah Alcorn killed herself last month. Before signing off from the world she left a scheduled note on her Tumblr account, an outcry to fix society.  It wasn’t because she was born male at birth that she decided to end her life.  It was because at some point, being transgender made her feel she was a mistake; or most probably, people around her made her feel she was.

Even though she lived from the other side of the world, I have brewing questions in my head why people like Leelah kill themselves. How hard must it be to be them and how is it enough to end their lives? All the more, I wonder how young people like her here in the Philippines cope up with such a situation. But then again I wouldn’t understand just yet. But I want to. Try me.

Photo taken from acelebrationofwomen.org

So there goes what my blog will have to cover (for the most part): snippets of uncertainties of everyday life, different stories of different people, things that seem impossible but actually are, unconventional ideas, social issues and a feature of almost anything that could stir its way in my head.

To who reads this, you should know by now that this is generally a safe space; enough for you to be rid of whatever form of bigotry. The world is a giant (or so we think) rock floating in space. Who says what’s ultimately right and wrong? 

How does it feel to live in the wrong body? Perhaps I wouldn’t know. I’ve never felt that way. But I would give anything to understand why. Try me.

Photo taken from cargocollective.com