Richard Bircher lives in Lebanon.
The markers used to distinguish traditionalists from cosmopolitans, shall now become easier to detect with the detailed characterizations offered by pronouning. Those persons most inclined to promote this entry of contemporary academic thinking into their social realityย are already comfortably on board, certainly in their professional environments.
Though they are still likely to be marginally uncomfortable expressing themselves as such in a crowd of more middling citizenry, the future has spoken, finally having freed the long-suffering truth from inside the clenched jaws of hierarchical gender phobism.
Simplistic โDick and Janeโ are long gone, dumped into the growing trash heap of dyslexic gender rigidity. Assuming our fellow mammals remain overwhelmingly: basic male and basic female, Spot may remain as Spot, girlย or boy.
The San Francisco Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program offers over 130 gender, sexuality options, including: zie, zim, zis, fae, faer, faers, tey, ter, ters, and many more. Understandably, to those of us of a mid-level intelligence, both the definitions and distinctions associated with these novel pronouns have entered the land of the bizarre. And yet, these gender specifics no doubt have a significant bearing on those individuals personally affiliated.
Is this a reasonable matter of emotional, biological, and societal precision, thatโs been largely kept off limits throughout the generations, until now? Or does it border more so on the high flying prevalence of inclusion to the absolute nth degree, noting how simplicity and its accompanying partner, acceptance, are lacking in glamour and high fashion, and the lure of complexity and individual distinction becomes a personal doctorate in self-enhancement.
That adolescents and developing teenagers are to be presented with a catalog of gender offerings and sexuality-associated modelsย is of questionable soundness. Surely, few adults can look back at their early years and not see the pervasive emotional drama and conflict that carried the day, even if it was largely invisible to the outer world and frequently misinterpreted by the governor of oneโs own inner world. Human emotions do not keep pace with either evolution or technology.
Will young parents become more the promoter of a cause, rather than the steadfast adults ensuring their childโs emotional security as is needed? Parental guidance, along with understanding, is crucial to a childโs development. Intellectual discernment and coping skills develop slowly over time. So does self acceptance. To eventually see oneself with a (relatively) clear eye of honesty and integrity is a crucial accomplishment. The impetuousness that so frequently accompanies the youngย is rarely an asset. Time is.
Conceivably, the day may come when the expression, โevery man, woman, and child,โ may be equated with that of the Old English vernacular. a simpler, comforting era where clarity of mind and body appeared less of a personal struggle. Where nature and nurture had worked in tandem, and the perils of childhood were already listed in the dictionary.
We are living in extraordinary, exciting times. Regardless of whether I am a He or a Zie, time is a constant, and patience a learned gift, granting us the luxury of a unique self-awakening that our children and grandchildren can not really understand.