Quote Originally Posted by Zooey View Post
Against my better judgement, I'm responding to this.



You need a lesson in reading comprehension. Let me make this very clear - I'm not in turmoil. I've been through a lot and i'm sure there's more to come, but I'm very happy with my life. Much happier than I ever was before. From what I can see, that makes one of us.

I've met a number of people who've transitioned at or near your age, just FYI. If it's who you are, you can and most likely will do it. Age is just another excuse.

I brought up the collateral damage of my transition because of your assertion that I (and others like me) "just don't know what you'd be giving up", which is why "you just couldn't possibly" and "have to get your priorities right". I know a lot about loss, and I know a lot about hurting (both myself and others). Don't lecture me on the difficulty of loss, and don't even get me started on dealing with the guilt of hurting others. I lied to people I loved for decades. I feel terribly guilty about that. What hurt them was me telling the truth. It was not malicious, and even though it hurt me to do, I feel zero guilt for finally being honest.

The reason you're not transitioning has nothing to do with your martyr-complex about saving everybody else in your life the pain. You don't transition because you're either not transexual (highly likely) or you haven't figured it out yet. If it helps, i don't think you're TS - I think you're a man with an obsession.
Just reading this thread and your replies (and moreover how people have responded to you), after reading your last message, and in particular your comment about reading comprehension, I couldn't help but think one thing.

Sometimes the words we use (the words anyone uses) are used in order to try and communicate what it is we are actually trying to say, but those words, when read by another person, lose the context in which the person who originally wrote them intended them to be read. I do think that too many people on the internet scan-read - that is, not really read or try to understand what is being said, but rather read a certain sentence, form an opinion in regards to that sentence, and then run with it. I think, on line, that the actual intent/meaning of the poster is lost all too quickly. I also think that our own mindset can manipulate how we interpret what we read. It's all too easy online to see the negative in what others say. It's actually incredibly tempting to see the negative in what others say.

I genuinely do not feel that there is a single person who is a member of this forum that would wish any negativity on another member of this forum. I genuinely do not think that any member here thinks badly about another member here. But we all have our issues. We all have our questions and insecurities. We all have our issues. And instead of trying to usurp others in regards to such issues, the best thing to do would be to acknowledge that their issues are important to them, regardless of how trivial such issues may seem to ourselves.

There does seem to be a disconnect within this community. A hierarchy of how serious the problems that any member may face based upon how they regard themselves to be. A cross-dresser ranking lower on the scale of significance, if not importance, in regards to the issues that are at hand.

I personally can not abide that. My problems are mine, and even if they do pale into insignificance to yours, that doesn't make my problems any easier to deal with. There is nothing worse than listening to a person get something of their chest, even explain something using words that may not be entirely appropriate, or even using words that may be misleading, only to have others focus on those words and meanings while at the same time losing sight of what it is that is actually trying to be said.