Today, at Careers Expo, I saw a high school student who appeared to be isolated from other students, anxious, and spending the Expo alone. The student started watching our students applying makeup at the far edge of our stand away from them.
I’ve been that kid and I’ve also not had the courage to help kids like that when I was that age due to the threat of being isolated when things seemed to be coming right for me in high school.
The student was wearing a male school uniform but appeared somewhat female physically. So I approached the student and started talking. Very very intelligent kid, and once the student started to get to be comfortable, soft spoken shyness blossomed into an emerging confidence.
The student came out as being diagnosed as having gender dysphoria, and I was honored they — the pronoun the student used to identify themself, which is an option for a person who has gender identity disorder — felt they trusted me to do that. We had a good conversation, we spoke about their personal life and the possibility to transition to one specific gender, and how supportive their school has been. And when they left, they seemed so much more confident and happy.
It just goes to show we can change others’ lives through our actions and words, and how we use them can make or break another’s day. I just hope that student learns they are just as important and special and amazing as everyone else, and their life should be full of happiness.
Life is short; be kind to one another and be happy.
This originally was posted to my Facebook page after feeling somewhat upset over this student’s isolation and I needed to vent. It wasn’t patting myself on the back or trying to prove how good of a person I was; it was showing how haunted I was by the experience.
Beam Me Up, Scotty 