Margin Zheng

The Magic in Life: A Trans Prophecy

While canvassing for Democratic candidates, I spoke with a MAGA Republican who told me that his neighbor was a trans woman.  He believed that being trans was a mental illness because God made you either a man or a woman, so gender can’t change. 
 
He asked me, rhetorically, “Have you ever thought that you were a man?”  Presuming that I was a cis woman, of course. 
 
I said no, but I am nonbinary.  He became somewhat flustered, but he didn’t attack me personally.  So I tried talking with him more. 
 
I explained that once I recognized myself as nonbinary, I felt so much more fulfilled, as many trans people experience once they recognize their true gender identity.  It makes life so much more worth living, I told him.  Life is more beautiful when you can be yourself. 
 
And he responded, there’s no magic in life.  It’s all just work, family, and vacation. 
 
I asked him, what is your God like?  And he told me that God was someone to be fearful of, as He will punish you if you do not behave well.  And I said, as a spiritual person, I don’t fear a higher power, but rather feel connected with it. 
 
I feel the magic in life and in the universe.  It’s not going away even in the darkest of times.  The Light embraces all of us even when we do not feel its warmth.  The Light comes from within us and beyond us.  Even when the Light isn’t visible at the end of the tunnel, it can emanate from every bone of your body. 
 
It is a spiritual emptiness that draws people towards the false warmth of destructive, charismatic leaders.  When all you’ve learned is fear, you forget how to love.  But love (for yourself) is love (for your companions) is love (for the world). 
 
So many of us trans folx have been and will continue to face despair, fear, and anger about what our world is becoming.  Sometimes it may seem that life has become impossible to live.  But trans people know the magic in life more than most.  And in time, it shall be our magic to share with all the world.