Love, Carter

Dear World,

I'm just like any other American teenager. Scared and lost in this very social world. I'm on my own to figure out who I am... And I think I finally found myself.

I was mislead to believe that my body defines who I am, when in reality it doesn't at all. Nor does my past or how others treat me. Now that I know this, I can truly come to find myself.

I grew up as an average young boy in a very small town. My development was normal for a little boy but when I hit ten years old everything took a turn.

My parents started telling me to wear nicer cloths, and not to run around with the other boys anymore... And they started to use these new words with me, saying that I was to be "a beautiful young lady".

This didn't feel right at all. They wanted me to be like the "other girls". But seeing the girls around town, even the "tom-boys" just didn't fit me.

After a few years of not feeling comfortable with myself, I learned another new word, "transgender". It meant that I didn't have to pretend to be a girl anymore. It was an open door that I thought my family would have been excited for me to find... But they weren't; no one was.

They threatened to abandon me if I didn't leave the bright colored powers on my face, or keep on the tight contraption they strapped on my chest. 

Eventually I asked the question burning in my head. If God had really made me exactly how I was meant to be, why pretend to be something that I'm not? Why continue to put myself in an uncomfortable position? 

I know there is a God of some sort, and that there are good people out there. I just need to find them. 

Love, 

Carter     <4