This is an incident that happened to me last week. It really has nothing to do with being TG, or being different, but it has everything to do with it. I was driving home from Missouri, on the highway, going along with traffic at the speed limit. I was in the far left lane. From out of nowhere, a car speeds up behind me, doing well over the speed limit, and starts turning into my car.
I blew the horn, and this person just kept turning right into my car. I had no choice to go to the only place open to me on the very crowded highway- the left shoulder. The shoulder was very narrow, so I ended up going right off into the U shaped ditch next to me. By nothing but the sheerest of margins and the narrowest of good luck, I managed to steer my car out of the ditch and keep the car from flipping over and killing me.
When I say the narrowest of margins, I mean the narrowest of margins. Taking into account the speed I was going, if there had of been a bush in my path, a hole in the ditch, a large branch in my path, if I had steered one degree in the wrong direction, there is no doubt I would have been severely injured or killed right then.
The other driver couldn't even be bothered to slow down, let alone stop and see if they had just killed someone. No one on the extremely crowded highway could be bothered to see if a person had just been injured or killed on that highway. Everyone acted like it was completely normal that one car would drive another car into a ditch. My humanity was basically ignored because it would have required someone to take a few seconds out of their trip to see if someone was hurt by an obvious reckless accident that someone on the highway had just caused.
I see this as a perfect metaphor for being trans, or in any way different. People are so invested in their own path, that they completely ignore the extreme harm they do to others when they try imposing that path on others. Like that driver who couldn't be bothered to even slow down to see the harm they had just caused to another human being, there are those in society who want to push those they don't agree with out of their way, and disregard any negative consequences that may cause.
I have very little faith in humanity today.
Cynthia, that is horrible. I am so glad you are okay. That other driver will get their just comeuppance some day. This does remind me of watching nature videos where all of the animals are by the river band drinking water. the alligator pops up and grabs their prey. The other animals scatter, and when they notice the predator has what they came for, the other animals go back to the shore to continue drinking. All the while, the alligator is devouring it's prey. 'I am safe, it's the other one that got it today'. Sad though to be reminded how little changed we are sometimes from the rest of the animal kingdom.
But thankfully you are here to write this. Stay safe out there. Hugs, Michelle