If You Are Offended
I’ll start out by saying “I’m sorry” if I don’t identify your gender correctly or call you by a pronoun or a “gender” that you believe you are not. If you believe that you are anoother gender other than the one that God has assigned you at birth, well excuse me. I don’t have the time or the inclination to join you in your fantasy world of make-believe. Your confusion has nothing to do with my reality; I have enough trouble keeping my everyday tasks and ideas straight. If you purposely want someone to “know” what your self-identifying gender is, please wear a name tag with your preferred gender and pronouns that are listed boldly for all to see or don’t expect me and others to play a game of charades. And if you’re confused about what you want to be when you grow up…GROW UP, but before you choose a career and before you select a college major, be sure your choice can support you and be sure the amount of money you spend and time you invest can be repaid. Don’t expect me to pay for it. I enlisted in the United States Navy for four years to help pay for my nursing degree. You can too.
Many times as I worked as a nurse, I would be approached by a very young looking man with an older looking woman who would appear at the emergency department to be treated. Or an older man with a much younger woman would present themselves to be treated. Often it was necessary to question one or the oother as to what the problem that they had to initiate a chart especially when one of them was already taken back inside for necessary treatment.
I quickly learned not to make the assumptions of thinking that the younger person was a son, daughter, brother, or sister or the older-looking person was the mother, father, or wife. It often caused embarrassment on my part and would upset the person that was inadvertantly misidentified.
I quickly learned to ask the question, “How is “so-and-so” related to you?” The open-ended question solicited an answer, shifting the responsibility to identify the person with the correct answer.