AnarchoSnowPlow

All states are bad, but if we're talking about which ones are arguably better or worse on the world stage...

"USA USA USA, WE'RE NUMBER 1!"

Proudly colonizing for 250 years?

"descent"

"middle class" is a meaningless distinction at best applied in ignorance and at worst an intentional effort at fragmenting the non-ownership class further.

Pretty much every job but "cop" is excusable in the western world if you have to work to survive.

The way things are sucks, so maybe we should roll the dice then.

Post 10

When people are like "nobody would want to sweep the floors!!!1!1!1!1" all I can think of is this dude on YouTube that just goes around clearing drains and culverts cause he likes it.

There's a particular flavor of person for everything and even if it's not something you love to do, it's something people would be willing to do if it's not something you have to do 40 hours a week or your family starves.

I did learn how to do first aid for a sucking chest wound in JROTC. The more you know^tm

I feel like that's just not fair to anyone. Either the onion rings have to be painfully hot or I have to know that those poor gentleman are now disappointed in two things!

I'm the parent of a trans kid, I am not trans myself. We moved from a deep red state to Minnesota a few years ago, for reasons like yours, my sister and her wife made the move as well.

I can't tell you what the experience has been like for my son. I can tell you what it felt like from my perspective. The state we lived in is where our friends and family lived and mostly all still live. The state government was constantly coming up with new threats. Attempting to criminalize medical treatment for our kid. The school was... "Tolerant" but all of the actors didn't act when presented with the harassment my kid dealt with.

Everyone around us went about their lives as though nothing was happening, as my spouse and I felt the weight of a state government that ignored us at best and at worst seemed actively malicious.

The weight we didn't realize we were carrying constantly was enormous and it lifted quite quickly.

It was hard on all of us, making new friends as an adult (and in a relatively rural community) feels impossible at times. But I don't fear our state government.

There are resources in the cities for transplants, even if you make the choice willingly it's still a traumatic experience. You have to decide if it's worth it.

"Through crime and crusade, our labour, it's been stolen

We've been robbed of our freedom, we've been held down and beholden

To the bosses and the bankers, who never gave their share

Of any blood, of any sweat, of any tears"

I talked to a mn guardsman I know this morning about it. He said that the way they do the activations is in phases starting with MPs.

My understanding is that it's basically a warning and a plan for where you're at on the list of getting called up, so you know what to expect as the situation changes.

I'm a dad of a 17 yo trans masc son.

It has been something like 5+ years now since he came out.

Some things I've dealt with, that may or may not be part of your and your family's journey:

I felt loss for awhile. Like, I felt like I had somehow lost the child that I had, and though I'd gained a new son, it was still hard. I felt so guilty. I wanted to be supportive, I didn't understand, but I wanted to be supportive and grieving didn't feel like support. So I did my best to keep that to myself because as he became more himself he became more joyful.

Eventually I realized that I was suddenly seeing a kid I hadn't seen in years, he had been very depressed even self harming at times, but with therapy, and gender affirming care it was like we got the kid we had lost back.

There will be people, especially online, who doubt your story, will openly call you a liar, or in some cases a child abuser.

Our home state, where most of our family lives, started aggressively pursuing legislation to criminalize us and the lengthy and thoughtful process we went through with our sons transition.

He dealt with violent threats from other students at school, to the point where kids threatend him on the school bus with baseball bats, even chasing him from the bus stop.

We moved across the country to try and find safety, even that is not guaranteed.

All that said, you will have moments of joy and moments of sadness in a world that is at best imperfect and at worst actively seeking to harm you and your loved ones.

Our jobs, as parents from my point of view, is to build our kids up and give them the tools and confidence to be successful when we're not there for them anymore. The world will give them plenty of hate and tribulation, we should give them acceptance and love.

Do what you can to protect and accept your kid. Use their name and preferred pronouns. When others have been brought into that circle keep them accountable, don't let them slip. You will see those acting in good faith and in bad, give grace where it's deserved and be prepared to protect your child from people you may have thought you could trust with your life.

Beyond that, remember they're still your kid lol, you're still gonna deal with the same old teenager/parent relationship as usual. Honestly, besides the name change, the only real issues we have come from the outside.