Log #2

        

Last week, my main point was about that love should not include discrimination and hatred; on the other hand, we need to learn to embrace diversity. As one thing that impressed me in class last week, we should not use our knowledge as weapons to hurt others that are different from us. Not to mention that a lot of criticism are not based on knowledge but on personal viewpoints and stereotypes.

        Speaking of diversity, previous blog talked about an ad supporting for homosexual orientation. This week, I am going to share a different story, a story about unconditional love, respect and understanding. A mother wrote about her son. When this little boy was six years old, his parents bought a puppet theater and a chest of dress-up clothes for him. Within those clothes, there is a sparkly green halter dress which caught the boy’s attention. In the beginning, the parents also prepared girl’s costume because they didn’t want to limit his creativity. However, from the moment the little boy put on that beautiful green dress, he or maybe she never really took it off.

I think this situation was definitely out of their surprise. Instead of “correcting” this behavior, the parents chose to be open-minded, and chose to respect. Whenever the boy asked to put on a dress, they never say no and never saw him as a weird kid. Even though I am not a mother yet, I know this is really really difficult for the parents. Parents are always worried about their children being different, afraid of kids getting hurt and being bullied. For them, this is definitely not an easy issue only about showing support. Of course, family’s supports are important. Nonetheless, from the moment they say “yes” to kids, they have to see their sweethearts going on a different path with more obstacles. They have to become so far stronger to face those worries coming right up, to protect their babies from hurt. This is not easy. In the article, the mother said” My husband and I were never of the opinion that girls should not wear pants or climb trees or get dirty, or that boys should not have long hair or play with dolls or like pink, so the dress did not cause us undue alarm or worry. But school was about to start, and we found ourselves at a crossroads.” In the end, still chose to support and taught the boy how to protect himself when parents are not around. I can understand and deeply felt their struggle. I can see the efforts they made for him. I was so touched when reading this story. I still remember the mother said” And we, as a family, decided to be open and honest about it, too, celebrating her story instead of hiding it.” I really recommend you all to read this article. Both as a mother and as a child would be so touched as I was.

Reference: https://cn.nytstyle.com/style/20160920/modern-love-transgender-child-identity-parenting/en-us/