[TheSeamster]

Remember when you didn't know about the injustice of the world? When you were just a kid and all the big problems were within your own world. You didn't worry about other people.

And do you remember when the rose tinted lens was shattered? When your world view did a 180 and suddenly you could see the flaws in the system, in people? Yourself?

Do you remember losing the innocent and naive side of yourself? When the world suddenly became darker and less friendly? When the outside began to lose its colour? When people seemed crueler? When knowledge became a burden rather than a freedom?

I remember.

It was a long time ago. I was barely into middle school. And I met someone who helped me see. It was like they had taken off a blindfold. Like the scene in the Matrix where Neo could suddenly see the faults in the world's programming.

I saw the bugs, the glitches, the viruses. And I understood. The world was not the kind and welcoming place I had been brought up to believe in. It was a dark place where only those who had the power made the rules. Where a minority ruled over a majority. Where I had no power. Where knowledge made you dangerous, or radical.

But we know. We know how powerful that knowledge is. How strong it makes us. How we may be few and far between, but we are an army. An alliance. We're all different. We are individuals of different backgrounds. But our struggles are one.

Right now we are a gathering storm, the glass of the rose tinted lens digging into our heels as we press forward. But as the pressure builds, when our storm hits, it will hit hard.

[Grey Matter]

I think I was fourteen when I began discovering all the things that were very well hidden from my sight, if you will. It made functioning with others my age difficult, and for a while I resented it all quite a lot. How my parents managed to keep me young when I was out to them as NB since I was ten is beyond me, but they did. When I turned fourteen that all changed, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't do anything to me.

I became cold and distant with others. I don't feel safe in this reality otherwise. When I have let my guard down, I have been assaulted, beaten, and worse. All of these horrific things piled onto me learning that the world is far from just and that I may never be safe in my own skin did that to me. I didn't, however, know it would lead to an awakening of sorts.

There were some positives.

I learned how important self education is. I learned that to understand another persons struggles where you have privileges is direly important. And now by asking people just like me, but getting word from those who face injustice and systematized oppression. Word of mouth educated me and taught me that if we remain silent and hidden we can't ever be ourselves.

And now, with the internet being how it is, more people have the chance to venture into self education. My only hope is that people don't remain ignorant for comfort, but allow themselves to question the world in which they live. To battle societal 'norms', to see how people suffer, to know that we have it in our power to learn and apply that knowledge to something healthy and extremely important.

And I see this everyday. There are now 12 year olds that know more than I did when I was 16.

You're right, when our storm hits, it will be a bad storm for those who willingly thicken their skulls. They will know we exist, and they will know all they did wrong. And maybe we will finally have our voice.

[TheSeamster]

Silence is deadly, but our voices shall be deadlier. We will dismantle this oppressive system bit by bit until their precious restrictive binary is gone. They refuse to see what lies in front of them, so we'll make them see us. WE WILL NOT BE IGNORED.

WE WILL NOT BE PUSHED TO THE SIDE.

WE ARE NOT "GENDERSPECIALS"

WE ARE PEOPLE

AND THIS IS WHO WE ARE.

We will not disappear because you ignore us.

This systematic cruelty will end. It cannot last forever.

For me, the real world intruded many decades ago now when I was entering the 7th grade. I had no idea what was coming. It was like my own personal plague. It would persist straight through high school.

As soon as public education finally spit me out, Uncle Sam began chasing my sorry behind around. He had a one-way ticket to the rice paddies of Viet Nam with my name on it. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I managed to elude that old bugger. He was quick, but I had the devil on my side & so I was trickier!

Of course, this was the "hippie" generation; & we thought we were going to change the world too. But, in the end, it was the world that changed us. Consequently, the world still needs a bit of tinkering. I wish you great success in your quest!