Until It's Me...

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Protecting young people shouldn't be controversial. Most of us agree it is one of society's most important responsibilities. Yet mention transgender youth, and the consensus collapses. Suddenly, the message becomes that all children deserve protection except those who don't fit a particular worldview or political leaning.

Transgender youth are not alone. The same logic is applied to gay youth, to young people growing up in poverty, and to those who are sick, hungry, or in foster care. It extends to immigrant children whose families fled persecution, to kids with developmental or learning disabilities, and even to efforts to keep young women safe from sexual assault and abuse of every kind. Somehow, each is treated as less deserving. 

So it is accepted, even applauded, when gender-affirming care is outlawed, when anything bearing a rainbow is banned, and when safety-net programs are cut. It is accepted when children stand before immigration judges alone, facing deportation to dangerous places. It is accepted when pediatric cancer research funding is slashed, when scientific integrity is attacked, and vaccinations are discouraged, when food safety protocols are decimated, when educational services are gutted, and when young men and the institutions that shield them are not held accountable for horrific acts. The unspoken rationale is always the same: why should I be inconvenienced by protections that only benefit the other, whether the “ungodly," the "lazy," the "illegal," “unhealthy,” or the one who didn't do everything “right" to protect themselves? They are the “other," not "me.” 

Until suddenly it is "me." The policies that seemed intrusive, that were never fully understood, and that appeared to benefit only other people, and therefore didn't deserve funding, collide with personal reality. Consequences have a way of leveling the playing field.

The truth is, "the other" can very easily become "me." Life is a crapshoot. No one gets to control whether their child will come out, whether a devastating diagnosis will arrive, a pink slip will land, or a few missed payments will pile up. No one knows whether their daughter will be hurt, whether a school will eliminate the program that was helping their child make progress, or whether they will one day need the very protections and services they once denigrated. 
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A society that protects children only when the safeguards fit its narrow belief systems is not caring for children at all. It is entrenched in its own entitlement and privilege. Caring cannot come with stipulations, and understanding cannot be a prerequisite. We are all human, and we all deserve compassion and respect, whether or not people "get" our individual circumstances or life choices. Full stop. 

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DRC News

Weekly Wrap-up

Hudson, one of our Monday SLU CBL volunteers, facilitated the beginning of a Rube Goldberg machine in the shed. The crew gathered a few items and began brainstorming some ideas that quickly translated into the start of their machine. Experimentation and problem-solving were the drivers of the activity. Our other CBL volunteer, Raven, got a very old computer working by deleting background programs that kept popping up. She also spent the morning with K continuing to work on their cardboard gauntlets for cosplay. K has decided to leave his easel at the Center in the art studio/music room so he can paint whenever he wants. 

Thanks again to Pete for coming out to facilitate the Treehouse Project on Tuesday and Thursday. First, the DRC Crew cleaned up boards that had been part of an old picnic table by removing screws and sorting them into reusable pieces and firewood. They also saved all of the unbent screws for future use. Then they prepped and moved the treehouse to a flat area of the yard. There were plenty of problem-solving opportunities when figuring out what to remove so it could squeeze back through all of the trees that surrounded it. They started digging out holes for the posts to sit in, but encountered large tree roots before running out of time for the day.

​On Thursday, they tackled more stubborn tree roots. Once they got the dirt out, they put gravel in the holes and topped it with a board in each to distribute the load, making sure everything was level first. They squared up the legs of the tree house base, placed it on the holes, and screwed each post down. This is where the tree house project ends for now. Wishing Pete safe travels; we will see him again in mid-November.

On Tuesday, B made homemade dough and assembled our pizzas for lunch. And then made a loaf of bread to go with our spaghetti on Friday. Yum! 

Ryan, our Thursday volunteer, brought in his fancy electronic chess board again and taught H the fundamentals of the game.
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Friday, we fully embraced the rainy day vibe. We had the first of our effective writing classes. They decided to start with resumes and spent their time coming up with a bulleted list of their skills.  Our afternoon SLU CBLs came in and started a D&D campaign, and Journeih played a very silly game of chess with T.