Too Difficult To Try

The problem is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but rather that it’s been found difficult and never tried.
—  G. K. Chesterton
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On This Day In:
2018	Hold Fast
2017	The Only Real Security
2016	Time Said
2015	If Only Common Sense Were More Common
2014	PTI
2013	What Now, Then?
2012	Big C, Little B
	Duty, Honor, Country

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Fighting With Oneself

Amateur (2018©)  —  book review
Over Christmas, my daughter gave me a couple of books as prezzies.  One of them was “Amateur“, written by Thomas Page McBee.  The premise of the book is that the author has gone from being a woman to a man and is seeking to become the first transgender person to box in Madison Square Garden in New Your City.  He is fighting in a charity event against a non-professional fighter (like himself), who is presumably non-trans – at least there is no mention of the male opponent being transgender as well.  Anyway, the book is autobiographical and describes the training and preparation leading up to the match.  The book also relates background information about the authors parents and siblings.  It also has a small amount about the stages of being / becoming transgender.
I asked my daughter why she got me this particular book and if she had read it.  She replied she had not read it and she just wanted to expose me to different perspectives.  The other book she gave me was the Michelle Obama bio, which I have not read yet.
Anyway, I found the book difficult to “get into” because I didn’t (and don’t) care for the author’s writing style.  I found the ideas being expressed unclear and the sentences “stilted”.  Several times I had to re-read a sentence or a paragraph because I wasn’t sure I understood what the author was saying or how it added to or followed on with whatever else was being said.  Eventually, I got the hang of the writing and had fewer problems reading along.
Although the book is “about” boxing and preparing for a fight, it is also about aggression and “being male” – or at least what the author believes is being male in modern society.  I found much of this to be “interesting” even if I don’t necessarily agree with everything the author was trying to relate.  That is, much of it makes sense / rings true, but I’m not sure it (the points being made) are uniquely “male” or modern.  I also don’t know if they are unique to western / American society.  “Interesting” because I am not transgender, did not grow up as a “tom-boy”, and have not spent a great deal of time thinking about being a “straight” “male” as opposed to being “gay” or “trans”.  To this extent, my daughter was successful in getting me to think outside the box.
Final recommendation: moderate to strong.  It is difficult for me to know who the target audience for this book is, so it is equally hard to recommend it to anyone stumbling on this post / review.  I don’t know that LGBQ folks would want to read about someone who is “trans” or about boxing and preparing for a fight.  I (personally) did find the writing about the training and preparation for the fight to be pretty interesting, enjoyable and well described.  In one way, the book made me chuckle.  Although I personally participated in a boxing tournament as a teen, I went into it completely unprepared, untrained and unfit.  LOL – and the results showed.  I guess, my question is would another trans person (female to male) find this book interesting.  I am not sure they would, except maybe to know there are others (like themselves) out there and they are adjusting to being their “new” selves.  And, maybe that’s enough…
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On This Day In:
2018	Feeling Both
2017	Just Start
2016	Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall
2015	Restraint At The Inn
2014	To Not Discovering
2013	I Have Less To Say
2012	Not The Best Prediction I’ve Ever Read

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Patient Understanding

A Letter From A Mother To A Daughter
My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.  If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”…  Just listen, please.
Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep.
When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me.
Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl?
When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way…
Remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day…  the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.
If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant.  Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you.
And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked.  When those days come, don’t feel sad…  just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love.  I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared.  With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you…  my darling daughter.
— available on the web at multiple locations
I found it at: http://kindnessblog.com
The specific link is:  http://kindnessblog.com/2019/01/01/letter-from-a-mother-to-a-daughter-2/
[Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Form
2017	Fashionista
2016	A Faulty Model Of God
2015	Non Sequitur
2014	No Flags League
	I Ain’t Who Am
2013	Spoiling For Fame?
2012	How Many?
2011	Too Tired To Chat Much
2010	I Must Be Crazy!!

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Another Prayer

God grant me a vacation
to make bearable
what I can’t change.
A friend
to make it funny,
And the wisdom
to never get my knickers in a knot
Because it solves nothing
and makes me walk funny.
—  Anonymous
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On This Day In:
2018	After Silence
2017	Are You Looking Forward To A Trump Presidency?
2016	Three Errors From Eureka
2015	Limiting Choices
2014	Praise The Lord And Pass The Hypocrisy
	That Sound
2013	Still Waiting For Answers
2012	Informal Leadership
2011	A Little More Progress
2010	Bec’s Gone Again…

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Watering The Trees And Seeds

Gratefulness waters old friendships and makes new ones sprout.
—  Russian Proverb
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On This Day In:
2018	Take Care Of Me…
2017	Make Some Difference
2016	Still 99%
2015	Adolescent Opinion
2014	In A Big World
2013	Vacancy For God
2012	Sweat Equity
	Try It… You’ll Like It
2011	Still Incomplete
2010	Happy New Year – 2010

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Cursive In The News

God writes straight with crooked lines.
—  Portuguese Proverb
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On This Day In:
2017	Coffee Crunch
2016	Preparation
2015	Scarcely Asked
2014	They Resemble Us
2013	Both
2012	That’s Success!
2011	Losing At Dominos
2010	1,001

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Looking Forward to Tomorrow

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day.  Don’t clean it up too quickly.
—  Andy Rooney
[With our own children all grown up and no grand-children to bless us (yet), our living room is much less messy than in past years.  As we host the family for Christmas dinner, the same cannot be said for our kitchen and dining room table come the evening.  But we love it so and would not have it any other way…
Merry Christmas to all!!  Be safe!  And, if you are so inclined, say a prayer of thanks for those in harm’s way (and their families) who keep us safe.
—  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2017	Make Glad The Heart Of Childhood
2016	Sincerest Flattery
	The President-elect: Making Spirits Bright
2015	What Are You Looking At?
2014	Ite, Missa Est
2013	I Hear Voices
2012	Positive Thoughts
	Hope Works
2011	Look! Up In The Sky…
	Humility Before The Unknowable

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