Kappa Beta Serving the transgendered community since 1988

You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch the news without seeing or hearing it again: dissension, anger, and vilification. Democrats think Republicans are war-mongering rich people who don’t care about the average person. Republicans think Democrats are pie-in-the-sky nut cases who don’t have the foresight to see how their liberal thinking is going to destroy the American way of life.

It’s not just the political parties; it’s everywhere! School boards vs. parents, team coaches vs. the leagues, athletes vs. the media, Israel vs. the Arabs, Iran vs. the U.S./”free world”, drug companies vs. litigants, George Bush vs. everyone and so on ad infinitum! Controversy, controversy, and more controversy!

I’d like to take advantage of my position to make some comments on the recent elections.

With three candidates for two At Large positions, there was a bit of campaigning. Some people seemed to take offense at this.

Whenever there are more candidates than seats, there is what is commonly called "politics." This is a fact of life; it cannot be avoided.

We have many different individuals who come from many different backgrounds. We all think differently than the other members, with different thoughts, different opinions, and different ways to express ourselves. However, we do have some common bonds between us.

Some of the things we share is our desire to socialize in a group setting with others who enjoy doing the same things that we like to do and to support one another in our qwests to be all we can be.

I joined this group because my friend (Kari) wanted someone to go with her to the meetings. Kari told me that this group was very supportive, friendly and she thought that I would fit in very well.

There is a book very simply titled Night, by Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. He chronicles the horrors of a young teen whose family is suddenly snatched from their home, the family separated and moved from death camp to death camp.

It is the story of survival in the midst of madness. It is also the story of a young man who's spark of hope continued to glimmer while the world, as he knew it, crumbled around him.

It is a story we have heard many times, but perhaps never really pondered the ramifications. Woven in the threads of the experience are life's lessons for the world, and each of us.