Alexandra Bogdanovic's Blog: That's life... - Posts Tagged "tolerance"

I've never been the type of person who just goes along with the crowd. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'll conform -- but only on my terms.
So it shouldn't come as surprise that my life -- and my book -- defy the politically correct narrative.
For those of you who don't know what that is, consider the following: The general public and mass media have embraced Caitlyn Jenner, who is is reportedly making a reality TV show chronicling her experience. The Learning Channel (TLC) is airing a program about a young transgender girl and her family. In the promos, the girl and her family cheerfully discusses their experience.
So there you have it: instant acceptance... and the politically correct narrative.
Well, I hate to break it to everybody, but there is reality TV and there is real life.
Real life is complicated. Real life is ugly. Real life is tedious. Real life is boring. Real life can't be edited or chopped up into neat, tidy little segments for the sake of entertainment.
In the real world, acceptance, tolerance and understanding aren't always easy to come by. Forgiveness doesn't always happen overnight. Sometimes letting go of the past takes time. Sometimes finding peace does, too.
In my book, I share my story... or more accurately my journey. I tell how I met the man of my dreams; how we fell in love and got married. I share how I learned the painful truth he struggled with and hid from the world for years. I share what happened after I learned the truth.
I told Audrey (who was still Adam at the time) that I would never hate her because she is transgender. I didn't then. I never have and I never will.
Still, my journey wasn't easy. It wasn't pleasant. In my book I was brutally honest about all of that -- and with good reason. After all, the book is called, Truth be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey.
That being stated, I am not sharing a universal truth. I am simply sharing my own.
Until next time, "That's life..."

I would like to think that my parents raised me well. I would like to think that being an only child and a first-generation American raised in a multicultural household helped make me the person I am today. I would like to think that being exposed to people from different countries, religions and socioeconomic strata at a young age taught me tolerance.
But there are some things that I simply cannot and will not tolerate. I have no patience for stupidity, hypocrisy, arrogance, ignorance, bullies or cowards of any kind -- especially those of you who engage in hateful behavior and shameless vitriol while hiding behind a computer screen.
So imagine my disgust when I read one of my favorite blogs this morning. In today's post, the author said that she'd gotten a lot of negative responses to her last entry -- one in which she expressed reservations about voting in U.S. elections. From what she told us, some people called her a "retard." Some even said that that they hoped she would die.
So now I am talking directly to those of you who engage in that kind of behavior. Yeah, you know who you are. Please don't pretend otherwise. It insults my intelligence -- and it makes me mad.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am the sweetest, nicest, most wonderful person on the face of the earth -- until you make me mad. And then I am a nasty bitch -- so you probably don't want to do that.
But I digress. The bottom line is that it's easy to think you're all big and tough when you're sitting at a computer. Yeah, you're such a big talker -- such a know-it-all. You probably think you're the smartest person in the room, which is pretty pathetic considering you're probably sitting by yourself with no friends, no social life, a dead end job and a dead end life. Does calling someone names and putting them down make you feel better?
Let me tell you something: If someone says something you disagree with or you don't like and your first reaction is to call them names or use foul language or put them down, it speaks volumes about your lack of intelligence, among other things. Ordinarily, I wouldn't even waste my time or my breath on anyone like you -- but as a wise man once said, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
If you don't know who said it, look it up. It's on the Internet.
Until next time, "That's life..."