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You have reached the Newsletter Archives of the Alpha
Omega Society. To browse through different years, click on button
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Omega Minutes – August 14, 1999 There was no meeting for the month of August so there were no minutes either. But the annual picnic at Gloria & Kathleen’s went wonderfully. A POINT TO PONDER AN EDITORIAL I'm
sure most of you have seen one of those bumper stickers saying "I'm the
Proud Parent of an honor student." Most
of you would also probably agree that being proud of your child's achievements
is something special, and even worthy bragging about -- at least a little.
I
grow concerned, however, when I see another bumper sticker that says, "My
kid can beat up your honor student."
Somehow, I miss the point of how a mindless act of violence should be
something to be proud of, or considered humorous, even in the slightest.
I
recently saw a copy of the "Job Requirements" for the job I hold in
my company. Those requirements
stated a candidate must have a Bachelor's degree in Business or a related
field, or at least seven years work experience in the Automotive industry.
The requirement6s also talked about some engineering background being
helpful, and, of course, you must have a neat appearance and above average
verbal and written communication skills. I
have an Associates degree in Agriculture that I received almost thirty years
ago. I sold cars, and was a
service manager at a car dealership for a total of five years.
I've been a mechanic on farm equipment, repaired electric motors, sold
water treatment equipment door-to-door, been an artificial inseminator of
diary and beef cattle, and even sold mineral supplements to farmers for a feed
additive, and was a herdsman on a dairy farm.
If you look at my job and educational experience and compare it to what
are now the "so called" requirements to do my job, it could sure
make you wonder how I got the job in the first place.
Luckily for me somebody decided to give me the chance to prove I could
do the job and do it well. What
does my job really require? For
starters, you need to truly enjoy selling, and putting up with the highs and
lows that are a part of the field. Next,
you need to enjoy talking and working with co-workers and customers.
Then you need a desire (self motivation) to promote your products.
And then you need to know your product in all its details, your
competitors' products in all their details, and why yours is a
"better" product and a better value. You
can have twelve degrees and 100 years of experience in the "Field",
but if you don't truly enjoy the challenge of selling and working with a vast
array of people, then it doesn't mean a thing.
Not everybody is cut out to be a Salesperson. And every Salesperson is not cut out to sell every product or
service. To
me, today's society, be it business or even personal life, moves far too fast
for anybody's good. We push, we
shove, we demand, we require, and everything needs to be done instantly.
And we do these things to ourselves, our spouses and partners, our
children, and the people we deal with in life. Let's
take pride in any student who makes the honor list, but not force them into an
education or life they may not want. Let's
take pride in and encourage any student who does the best they can to learn to
find a skill, and a way of life that suits them.
Let
us not encourage the use of a fist to solve any concern or problem.
Let us see the aspects that are really important in our lives, instead
of a lot of nonsense. And let us give each other a hand instead of a push or shove.
Let us ask rather than demand. Let
us give each other space and time to be the best we can be. This
philosophy can help us all in our personal lives, our jobs, our social lives,
and even in our "Community". At
least that's what I think. How
about you?
Respectfully submitted,
Gloria Sue Fenton FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Dear Sadie Lou, Look at your chapter as nothing more than "a place to go dressed." It doesn't take a lot of preparation. Just slip some lacey, flowery finery over that old macho attitude, and go! Whatever you do, don't get involved! Just
pay your dues (eventually), and wait for the publications, rights, and
programs to fall into your hands. After
all, everyone knows that the main worker in Alpha-Omega is "Someone Else."
She'll do it all while you sleep!"
No, I do not think there is anything "a mite unfair" about
this point. Nowhere do I suggest
that "relatively invisible members are a step away from forsaking God,
Country and Family." Nor am
I necessarily talking about "relatively
invisible members" at all.
Some of the most hardworking sisters I know
are some of the least visible.
Some of the worst "takers," on the other hand, are highly
visible at every meeting! I
have seen chapters fail when sisters who could well afford to contribute
loaded the whole weight of the chapter on the aching backs of one or two
members. I
have seen new sisters return sadly to secrecy for lack of a little genuine
caring from chapter sisters. There
is so much to do, and so few of us to do it!
If more of our sisters would serve as translators, Big Sisters,
writers, members of outreach teams, answerers of telephones, bringers Of
refreshments, envelope stuffers, members
of chapter orientation teams, creators of new program ideas, designers of
websites, or just bearers of a kind word, Alpha-Omega
would be a more effective and accomplished organization for bringing
crossdressers toward self-acceptance and effecting changes in society to make
the world a better place for all of us. We
members are the only resource Alpha-Omega has.
What it accomplishes depends on us!
"Everyone
has something to contribute, however great or small."
And it's true! If you believe that you have nothing to contribute, you are
selling yourself way short. You
have the capability of making this organization, and this world, a little
better for your presence. You just need to look into yourself and see how you
can best contribute of your God-given talents.
One of the loveliest sentences in the English language is,
"How can I help?" Love, Bonnie Sue
By
Cheryl Words
of wisdom sent email from my sister:
I had a dream, I had an interview with God. "Come in," God
said to me, "so, you would like to interview Me?"
“If you have the time," I said.
God smiled and said: "My time is called eternity
and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to
ask me?"
"None that are new to you. What's the one thing that surprises you
most about mankind?"
God answered: "That they get bored of being children are in a rush
to grow up, and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to
restore their health.
That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present,
such that they live neither for the present nor the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had
never lived..."
God's hands took mine and we were silent.
After a long period, I said, "May I ask you another question? As a
Parent, what would you ask your
children to do?"
God replied with a smile: "To learn that they cannot make anyone
love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved. To learn that it
takes years to build trust, and a few seconds to destroy it.
To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their
lives, but who they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare them-selves to others. There
will be others better or worse than they are.
To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who
needs the least.
To learn that they should control their attitudes, otherwise
their attitudes will control them. To
learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we
love, and that it takes many years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness,
To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do
not know how to show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.
To learn that while at times they may be entitled to be upset, that
does not give them the right to upset those around them.
To learn that great dreams do not require great wings, but a landing
gear to achieve.
To learn that true friends are scarce, he/she who has
found one has found a true treasure.
To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others,
but that they forgive themselves.
To learn that they are masters of what they keep to themselves and
slaves of what they say.
To learn that they shall reap what they plant; if they plant gossip
they will harvest intrigues, if they plant love they will harvest happiness.
To learn that true happiness is not to achieve their goals but to learn
to be satisfied with what they already achieved.
To learn that happiness is a decision. They decide to be happy with
what they are and have, or die from envy and jealousy of what they lack.
To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see something
totally different.
To learn that those who are honest with themselves without considering
the consequences go far in life.
To learn that even though they may think they have nothing to give,
when a friend cries with them, they
find the strength to appease the pain.
To learn that by trying to hold on to loved ones,
they very quickly push them away; and by letting go of those they love,
they will be side by side forever. Continued on Pg. 7 INTERGENDERED vs. TRANSGENDERED So what’s the difference? D. McKay
One
letter I received recently from a person on the other side of the country will
more easily put things into a more focused perspective.
It came from a person who is INTER-SEXED.
That means the person has the genital configuration of BOTH sexes.
Now taking that word “INTER” , it means having or retaining the
properties within the realm of both. Adversely, the word “TRANS” means to go across or
crossover from on e to the other. Thus,
rejecting on e for another. A
self SPLIT. Now if we replace the
last word, (which is sex), with the word GENDER, instead of INTERSEXED we now
have INTERGENDERED. Glen Midgley,
a well known Canadian “Dresser”, (who was once thought to be a life long
dormant Transsexual), actually came up with the term.
With it, we will now be addressing the conceived community idea of
TRANSGENDERED. In
an INTERGENDERED person, (which our organization promotes), we accept our
created being JUST AS GOD HAD INTENDED US TO BE. A mixed bag of
both Genders, refining the better parts and trying to live in harmony with our
fellow Human Beings. No
standards. However a
TRANSGENDERED person, as I read over and ove3r again in many publications,
wants to RJECT their true God given identity,
for a “Cross-over” or “Trans” identity,
They want to “Pass themselves off as”, or even go so far as to
completely reconstruct their body, …. But for what”
To fit into a MAAN MADE concept of either on of 2 understood SEXES. (Weren’t we supposed
to be talking about Gender here?) It
is stated constantly that Sex and Gender are 2 different areas. Yet this whole
equation comes in when these people, who have now rejected their given
identity, accept the man made identity, and are now wanting to be called
NEW-WOMEN of NEW-BOYZ. They are
NOT. They are TRANSEXUAL.
People that are no longer true males nor true females.
They are MAN MADE transexed people
through the means of body
alteration. This
article is NOT to get down on or harass those people who have gone through a
medical change to their bodies. For
some of them they simply didn’t want the body they were given, just as
people want nose jobs or need their legs
straightened. Mans science
can do many helpful things. But
what it can’t do is change a person’s mind.
We are all “wired” a certain way mentally and our upbringing has an
influence on our behavior. Even
still, many females behave more “manly”, as well as having some males
being inclined to be more of a “feminine type” of person.
But that doesn’t mean that the genitals must dictate over the mind. What
our organization promotes is to be self accepting THE WAY YOU ALREADY
ARE mentally wired., without the need for
drastic medical procedures, simply to try to fit into a man made
concept of what a “man” or “woman” should be like.
Because it is those concepts, (especially for women), that are ever
changing and overlapping toward that of men anyhow. In
a recent newsletter article that originated from the Buffalo News in New York,
April 9, 1999; an unidentified writer from Minneapolis
starts in the article: “The
transgender community includes everyone who feels as though their
true identity does not match their biological se.”
(Again mixing SEX with Gender). That
statement is inaccurate no matter who the person is or what their credentials
are. That would be like saying
Gold and croquet are the same because
both are outdoor games played on grass using a club and a ball.
The TRANSgendered person wants to cross—over, to pass themselves off
as an opposite. But the line of crossing over today has been blurred into a
gray area that people of both sexes can partake more and more.
The question should actually be; Does a person really need to
cross-over to anywhere, when a movement has already existed for decades now to
include equality among people in ALL areas.
The critical point is what confuses
people who merely want to be THEMSELVES.
However many professionals in this community, as well as most community
leaders, expect dramatic alterations of a person’s appearance, because that
is what is being SOLD by the professionals within it.
“Either Pass yourselves off as an opposite, or you better stay within
a closeted setting”, is the
distinct idea I read over and over and over again.
A change-over, Trans-over, or a SPLIT away from being fully integrated. INTERGENDERED
means to integrate of incorporate your full potential leaving nothing out that
can make you a positive and complete person.
No dividing or splitting of identities into 2 separate entities. The
only difference that will always remain between each sex
is that of sexual reproduction. Behaviors,
attitudes and jobs have already blurred
into the overlapping midground that both sexes can do.
Clothes are really only clothes, but society still tries to use them to signify
a difference in males only, because females have been overlapping in men’s clothes for a long time now. The
situation at hand is to own up to the fact that if you are Intergendered, you
CAN present yourself AS YOURSELF, and wear whatever YOU WANT, use any name YOU
wish to, with hair types and makeup being wide
open or not even used at all. Shocking?
Maybe so. But you must
remember that clothes are a man made concept,
and you can wear whatever right for YOU.
Present yourself as one sex, the other, or a mix bag of both.
You still going to be the same person inside, and you’re free to
ignore the expectations of others. Today’s
Transgender notion is to reject
one identity or go to ultimate means to “Pass” themselves off, and harbor
a deep shame if they are discovered. The
idea of being embarrassed they aren’t passing is a factor that REAL women
have overcome decades ago, in fact they never included “Passing” at all.
Real women never considered themselves NU-MEN in what they have been
able to accomplish. God
made no mistake when you were created.
Trying to use Biblical scripture to defend what you do, or to explain
away guilt feeling does not take away the fact that when you accept the “TRANS”
idea, you are rejecting what you were given.
When you accept yourself as INTERGENDERED, you have accepted ALL of
you, not just part of you.
You are expressing the complete totally integrated person you were
meant to be, irregardless of man’s selection
of only one or the other. They
want to link sex WITH Fender and want to limit
it to only a choice of 2. However
everyone knows that we are all a rainbow of diverse human beings with all
sorts of desires, personalities
and attributes, to name just a few. This
also HAS TO INCLUDE GENDER AS WELL. The
choice is up to you. Either you
want to lock yourself into a cross-over belief system as the “TRANS”-over
Gender community promotes; -OR-,
You accept you total being and refine you qualities as an INTERGENDERED
person, presenting yourself however YOU wish, without you genitals dictating
control over you mind. All we
have to do is get out there away from the closets and be visually out in order
to accelerate the process. The
more visible we are, the less of an oddity
we become. The less of an oddity
we become, the more we become treated and accepted as any other person. Hiding and pretending is NOT growth, and you only fooling
yourself if you think people are buying into the idea that you are now an
opposite because you changed clothe4s and are now wearing makeup, a wig and
high heels. If you to blend in
completely with the rest o society, the present yourself according to you sex.
I’m sure the majority of us want to get away from that type of
blending, so is it really worth all the bother to Trans-over to blend in a
gain? After
the distinction of Transgendered and Intergendered is solidly understood, I’m
quite sure that the vast majority of those within this Gender Community would
probably opt for the Intergendered association. Not only is it easier and less restrictive, but it’s also
more fun, leaving behind all of that serious mental conflict of trying to fit
yourself into a man made concept of rules.
Being Intergendered is actually a RE-DEFINING of ourselves as Uniquely different Human Beings.
Thai’s all. The choice
is yours. You can still support
the “Trannies”, (that is transvestites, transsexuals and Transgendered
types of people), if you wish.
But that doesn’t mean you’re also compelled to wear an incorrect
label, because the word and the association it includes simply doesn’t fit. Yes there IS a difference.
What the community is presently promoting is NOT personal integration,
but rather a “Change-over-to”, which is a “Transing” over self split.
And this promotion is
readily noticed in virtually everything it
prints or promotes.
The question to you is, Where do YOU really belong? THE AUGUST
COOKOUT
Kathy
and I would like to thank everyone who shared a jpart of their day and enjoyed
the hospitality of our home for the annual August cookout. The
grand total for attendance was 29 - a new record, and even though there was a
light drizzle most of the day, I think and hope that everyone had a wonderful
time. The
friendships we share at a meting can be shared outside of meeting days as a
part of our regular lives. And I
believe it is good for the wives and partners, and even us as CD's, to have a
chance to see and know the side the world sees most of the time. For
those of you unable to attend -- look forward to next year.
And for all the rest of you, thank you for the friendship you brought
to our home.
Take Care,
Martin
From
Pg. 4 To learn that even
though the word "love" has many different meanings, it loses value
when it is overstated.” (Can we
as SO’s and as CD’s learn anything?) ******************************************
The Rainbow Trail is flying high.
We have more than 1600 hits, 300+ in the last month.
These visits have resulted in approximately one positive email response
per day. How about some more info for the members pages,
please!!!!!!!! ****************************************** Wedding
plans are still in process. The
church is booked for both weddings. We’re
checking out sites for Matt/Cheryl’s reception. Lisa is eagerly searching the bridal books for gowns.
Any one knows of a decent DJ, let me know.
The bridal pages were online briefly but then they disappeared.
Lisa is still trying to figure out where they went. See
you soon………Cheryl
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