I agree. I think the minimum age to enlist should be much higher. I also think the minimum age to drive should be higher than the drinking age. I would much rather see my children learn to drink responsibly before they start driving.
Such a ponderous subject. One with as many opinions and outcomes as there are those around to discuss it. Discourse is a great and beautiful thing; for without it, how would we ever have reached the place we are on this planet. But even that can be fraught with many perils along the way. How to walk that fine line is not an easy subject. But of course, discourse helps us understand where that fine line is, and how to navigate it.
I can't speak for other countries and how they got started, but as a student of American history, I know there were many a heated debate, often times getting physical, in getting us to even become a country. And it is a shear miracle we even lasted a few short years. But imagine if they had not had the benefit of thoughtful and respectful discourse?
Religiously, I plant my flag where it goes from thoughtful and respectful, to praising one and demeaning another, or speaking specifically about one or a member of one being above, or below the rest. Similarly, I plant a flag where one person or party is praised or demeaned over another. We have learned much since Socrates and Plato and all the other great philosophers got us started on a path to greater learning and understanding of the human condition. Let us embrace those ideals and enjoy some good ole thought provoking and respectful intercourse. Heck, you all may teach this old bird something new.... Probably will anyway....
This should always be a private decision between a patient and their doctor and parents/guardian's. If a teenage boy says , "I am a boy and I like girls" No one would say "well, let's wait and see" Suicide at this age is a true health crisis and no one should be made to feel that something is wrong with them. Just my thoughts.
I have mixed emotions on this subject.
Had any of the treatments been available when I was pre-pubescent and that information been available to me I would certainly have wanted them. That being said I'm concerned that with all the press on the subject that many children now may not actually be trans but more a part of the "me too" that seems so common place. I'm afraid that many who do take hormones or have surgery at an early age will regret the choices later on.
We really have no way to determine, on an individual basis, whether there is actual need or just a sense that they don't fit in and choose this as a way to be part of something.
I just don't know. Thankfully I don't have a child in that age group and will never have to face the question head on. I pray for those that do and have to make such a choice that is life changing.
