Transpirational
So there was an awards ceremony at my old job the other day. It sounded like fun, I was told all about it multiple times by many different people and I felt extremely flattered. See they do this goodbye video were they bring up pictures of all the people who have left/leave for whatever reason. Apparently when my face came up, there was a massive cheer. The biggest. So thanks for that.
One other thing I took away was from someone who said there was a “most inspirational” award. They wanted to nominate me but couldn’t because I don’t work there anymore. Half my mind was like “oh that’s awesome, I didn’t know I was very inspiring” and the other half was like “I know why you think I’m inspiring, but that doesn’t automatically make me qualify”.
So I asked. She said, in no uncertain terms, that she was inspired by my bravery in regards to living in a world and fighting a system where trans people aren’t the norm.
Again, very flattering, but I’ve been mulling it over for a few days. I think it takes bravery to fight for what you believe in. I think it takes bravery to welcome the battles and chase HR and push for every handhold in this world.
It doesn’t take bravery to be trans. Sometimes it takes bravery to tell people. To show people, to confide in others. But simply being? That’s not brave. That’s just me. And a thousand others too.
It’s such a tricky field to navigate. We want to be accepted, be the same. But keep our freedom as a community, be different.
I’m just a little gay who wants his own place in the system. If that’s inspiring to you, then thank you. But if I ever have a film made about my life, it won’t be about how my “transness” inspired people. It will be about a man who was a little different, who wanted to inspire a bigger change.
Let that inspire you, and then I can be brave.
-Rx
Anybody got any similar stories? I’d love to hear them. Tag them #transpirational or submit to @thepromcommitteeuk