Why Do I Care?

In the previous posting I talk about what would my high school friends think about me when they find out I’m Trans and I ask myself, “Why do I care?” Well I think that I care because we all want to feel liked and when we find out that we are not liked it hurts us. We don’t want to be the back yard over the fence subject of the gossip, “Pssst......... Have heard about Don? He wants to be a woman!”
Why do I care what people I don’t see in twenty years think? I really don’t care about strangers talking about me, but it is people who I grew up with and that’s different. It hurts a little bit more. I think we are programmed to be social animals and when we get pushed away it is hard to handle. We were accepted into the tribe so to speak in high school and you are always marked with the brand of that tribe through out our lives. You meet someone from high school and it is, “Oh yeah, you use to hang out with Tom and Bill and that group.” You were known by your friends and I fear that once they found out I am Trans I would be ostracized from the group.
I think one thing you must learn about being Trans is how to handle rejection and on that thought I will leave it and head off to NH for the long weekend.