Collateral Damage Enters the Field

As in every war there are people swept up in what is euphemistically called “collateral damage.” In demolishing so many lives without an iota of thought to the long-term repercussions, the trans-cult has made a serious tactical mistake: they created too many of us. We, the collaterally damaged, who have been battling for years on the fringes of the field are now gathering to engage en-masse on behalf of our loved ones who are held captured behind the lines.

You see us gathering in our ranks now - weary and wounded but still ready, willing, and able to head directly into battle. See us entering the field:

• Grandmas and grandpas whose opinions were disregarded as ‘old fashioned’ and ‘out of touch’ as they attempted again and again to reach out in loving kindness to their precious grandchildren.

• Childhood friends who watched in horror as their old friend devolved into someone they couldn’t recognize - only interested in hanging out with other poor deluded souls - leaving good friends in the dust.

• Family doctors - the few standing by their oath and refusing to refer a patient they have known since birth - and then watching that young patient pursue physical harm through the oxymoron known as ’affirming care.’

• Aunties and Uncles, who, while writing out a birthday card to what seems like an empty hole - never getting a ‘thank you’ or even a ‘hello’ text in return - wondering how to address the card - finally deciding to throw it out and just put cash in an envelope instead.

• Siblings who watched their parents dissolve into a messy ball of insecurity as this one sibling pulled down every tradition, every family vacation, every high school prom, every holiday, every joyous memory - as this one sibling sucked all of the air out of the loving family leaving an empty shell of people trying to hold it together in the wake of ‘wokeness.’

• Fathers who tried to keep the family together the only way they knew, Dads wondering if they were too strict or not strict enough, if they were too religious or not religious enough, if they threw the football too much or not enough, if they fought with their child too much or were too much of a pushover, if they were too ‘alpha’ or too ‘beta’ - Daddy’s wondering if they should say what they think or remain silent and just deal with the knot in their gut every day while they dream in their mind of conducting a rescue mission like Captain America.

• Moms who know with certainty that they did something wrong, who wonder if their memory is bad, who obsessively research every angle while they plan and scheme who fret over how to write a simple text and, in frustration, send a symbol of a heart while the one in their chest is bleeding out. Mothers who shake in anger, drink to fall asleep at night while in the day they hold the truth behind their teeth as they nod and smile to try to maintain any relationship with a child they can’t even recognize. Mommies who, while attending the wedding of a former friend of their child, quietly retreat to the bathroom stall scrolling through old pictures while sobbing, searching for evidence that there really was a ‘before.’

We, the collaterally damaged, have been doing all of this and more. We have also been observing you: activist teachers and doping doctors, progressive politicians and affirming therapists, surgeons conducting Frankenstein experiments and WPATH publishing made up science. We see you for exactly who you are.

We have observed that for you, your involvement in this trans ‘movement’ has a finite point to it: You will stop when society sees it for the false and horrifically destructive construct that it is. We already see you sliding to the side of the argument when you used to yell your opinions, denying your involvement when you used to get recognition for supporting the cause, re-writing history like you re-wrote biology, softening your tone as quickly as you can.

But for us, the collaterally damaged, we will never lose our focus or drift away. You see, this war is an infinite one for us. So while you equivocate and sidle away leaving in your wake our children and fragile young people; we step forward into the fray. Not just to bring our beloved ones home but to also raise the flag of truth and fly it boldly for all to see.

As with all collateral damage, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.