Tag Archives: Religion

The 08/01/13 Joy Jar

1 Aug

Moi is totally reorganizing her writing space so that she can be more productive. Moi loves to read, write, and think. There is a peace in being able to think on one’s own schedule. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar is a comfortable writing space.

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Only in quiet waters do thing mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
Hans Margolius

The great omission in American life is solitude; not loneliness, for this is an alienation that thrives most in the midst of crowds, but that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit.
Marya Mannes

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that’s where I renew my springs that never dry up.
Pearl Buck

What a commentary on civilization, when being alone is being suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it – like a secret vice.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.
Voltaire

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.  William Penn

Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you.
Harold Bloom

No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.
Jack Kerouac

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
Marcus Aurelius

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
Henry David Thoreau

The 07/26/13 Joy Jar

26 Jul

The older moi gets the more she really doesn’t like drama and bad news. To the extent possible she tries to eliminate those toxic influences from her life. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is good news.

Honesty and integrity are absolutely essential for success in life – all areas of life. The really good news is that anyone can develop both honesty and integrity.
Zig Ziglar

It is the merit of a general to impart good news, and to conceal the truth.
Sophocles

When good news about the market hits the front page of the New York Times, sell.
Bernard Baruch

A wise person once said, The bad news is that you cant have it all. The good news is that when you know whats really important, you dont want it all anyway.
Unknown

To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.
John Stott

“You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal. For, in the vernacular, we Americans are suckers for good news.”
Adlai E. Stevenson

“There is good news from Washington today. Congress is deadlocked and can’t act.”
Will Rogers

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
Anne Frank

The 07/24/13 Joy Jar

24 Jul

Moi is over half way through the ‘Joy Jar’ exercise which will end in December. This exercise is to find something to be gratful for each day. No matter what is going on in moi’s life, she knows she is safe and secure because of the remarkable Grace of Jesus. Jesus is Savior.com expresses moi’s thoughts about her Savior.

       I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. –Napoleon
       And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors. –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
       No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved. –John Knox
       Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. –Fyodor Dostoyevsky
       A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. –Mahatma Gandhi
       Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. –Philip Schaff
       I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.–H.G. Wells
       As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. -Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette
       Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life—He rises from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life. -James C. Hefley
       Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ’s 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. –Unknown
       I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” -Augustine
       Buddha never claimed to be God. Moses never claimed to be Jehovah. Mohammed never claimed to be Allah. Yet Jesus Christ claimed to be the true and living God. Buddha simply said, “I am a teacher in search of the truth.” Jesus said, “I am the Truth.” Confucius said, “I never claimed to be holy.” Jesus said, “Who convicts me of sin?” Mohammed said, “Unless God throws his cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope.” Jesus said, “Unless you believe in me, you will die in your sins.” -Unknown
       Fundamentally, our Lord’s message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is that Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said, “I am the bread.” He did not come merely to shed light; He said, “I am the light.” He did not come merely to show the door; He said, “I am the door.” He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, “I am the shepherd.” He did not come merely to point the way; He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” –J. Sidlow Baxter
       Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair. –Blaise Pascal
       As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene… No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. –Albert Einstein
       An unsurpassed master of the art of laying bare the inmost core of spiritual truth. -Geza Vermes
       Jesus was the greatest religious genius that ever lived. -Ernest Renan
There is something so pure and frank and noble about Him that to doubt His sincerity would be like doubting the        brightness of the sun. -Charles Edward Jefferson
       Jesus Christ is to me the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive. There is no easy middle ground to stroll upon. You either accept Jesus or reject him. -Sholem Asch
       Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand. -S.D. Gordon
       Only Christ could have conceived Christ. -Joseph Parker
       In Jesus, God wills to be true God not only in the height but also in the depth – in the depth of human creatureliness, sinfulness and mortality. -Karl Barth
       It was this same Jesus, the Christ who, among many other remarkable things, said and repeated something which, proceeding from any other being would have condemned him at once as either a bloated egotist or a dangerously unbalanced person…when He said He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if he expected longer the devotion of any disciples—unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that! –Wilbur Smith
       I accept the resurrection of Easter Sunday not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as a historical event. If the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that Easter Sunday were a public event which had been made known…not only to the 530 Jewish witnesses but to the entire population, all Jews would have become followers of Jesus. -Pinchas Lapide, Orthodox Jewish scholar, Germany (born 1922)
       Because Christianity’s influence is so pervasive throughout much of the world, it is easy to forget how radical its beliefs once were. Jesus’ resurrection forever changed Christians’ view of death. Rodney Stark, sociologist at the University of Washington, points out that when a major plague hit the ancient Roman Empire, Christians had surprisingly high survival rates. Why? Most Roman citizens would banish any plague-stricken person from their household. But because Christians had no fear of death, they nursed their sick instead of throwing them out on the streets. Therefore, many Christians survived the plague. -“2000 Years of Jesus” by Kenneth L. Woodward, NEWSWEEK, March 29, 1999, p. 55.
       Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: “a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb”. Jesus entered our world through a door marked, “No Entrance” and left through a door marked “No Exit.” -Peter Larson
       I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin born, because the answer to that question would define history. –Larry King
       The most pressing question on the problem of faith is whether a man as a civilized being can believe in the divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for therein rests the whole of our faith. -Fyodor Dostoevski
       The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is a false religion. If it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth. -Henry Morris
       If I might comprehend Jesus Christ, I could not believe on Him. He would be no greater than myself. Such is my consciousness of sin and inability that I must have a superhuman Saviour. –Daniel Webster
       Our problem is this: we usually discover him within some denominational or Christian ghetto. We meet him in a province and, having caught some little view, we paint him in smaller strokes. The Lion of Judah is reduced to something kittenish because our understanding cannot, at first, write larger definitions. -Calvin Miller
       People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned. -Florence Nightingale
       Even Christ pleased not Himself. He was utterly consumed in the zeal of His Father’s house. As man He ever moved for God. As God He ever moved for man.-Geoffrey T. Bull
       There was no identity crisis in the life of Jesus Christ. He knew who He was. He knew where He had come from, and why he was here. And he knew where He was going. And when you are that liberated, then you can serve. -Howard Hendricks
       The Lord ate from a common bowl, and asked the disciples to sit on the grass. He washed their feet, with a towel wrapped around His waist – He, who is the Lord of the universe! -Clement of Alexandria
       How was it that, even in the common tasks of an ordinary life, Jesus drew the praise of heaven? At the core of His being, He only did those things which pleased the Father. In everything, He stayed true, heartbeat to heartbeat, with the Father’s desires. Jesus lived for God alone; God was enough for Him. Thus, even in its simplicity and moment-to-moment faithfulness, Christ’s life was an unending fragrance, a perfect offering of incomparable love to God. –Francis Frangipane
       Jesus Christ: The meeting place of eternity and time, the blending of deity and humanity, the junction of heaven and earth –Anonymous
       You cannot go outside of A and Z in the realm of literature; likewise Christ Jesus is First and Last of God’s new creation, and all that is in between; you cannot get outside of that. -T. Austin Sparks
       It is as if God the Father is saying to us: “Since I have told you everything in My Word, Who is My Son, I have no other words that can at present say anything or reveal anything to you beyond this. Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have told you all, revealed all, and in Him you will find more than you desire or ask. If you fix your eyes on Him, you will find everything, for He is My whole word and My reply, He is My whole vision and My whole revelation. -Anthony M. Coniaris
       Whenever the method of worship becomes more important than the Person of worship, we have already prostituted our worship. There are entire congregations who worship praise and praise worship but who have not yet learned to praise and worship God in Jesus Christ. -Judson Cornwall
       The message of Christ is not Christianity. The message of Christ is Christ. -Gary Amirault
       To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living. -John Henry Newman
       God will answer all our questions in one way and one way only. Namely, by showing us more of his Son. -Watchman Nee
       Christianity is not a doctrine, not truth as truth, but the knowledge of a Person; it is knowing the Lord Jesus. You cannot be educated into being a Christian. -T. Austin-Sparks
       I have one passion. It is He, only He. -Count Zinzendorf
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Miscellaneous/quotes-jesus_christ.htm

The 07/20/13 Joy Jar

20 Jul

Moi has always been a fan of Charles Barkley. She liked him when he was a player and still likes him as he comments on whatever. He is true to himself and whether you agree or disagree with him, he is still true to himself. Here are some Charles Barkley quotes:

I’m not a role model… Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.
Charles Barkley

Poor people cannot rely on the government to come to help you in times of need. You have to get your education. Then nobody can control your destiny.
Charles Barkley

I think you have an obligation to be honest.
Charles Barkley

We’re not all supposed to think alike.
Charles Barkley

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is being true to one’s self.

“It’s time to care; it’s time to take responsibility; it’s time to lead; it’s time for a change; it’s time to be true to our greatest self; it’s time to stop blaming others.”
Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“A lot of the conflict you have in your life exists simply because you’re not living in alignment; you’re not be being true to yourself.”
Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony

“Just keep being true to yourself, if you’re passionate about something go for it. Don’t sacrifice anything, just have fun.”
Blake Lewis

“Your perceptions are derived from your feelings and your ability to be yourself, to own and trust yourself, and to say what you feel, even when it may be diametrically opposed to everyone eles’s opinion. You may be called the Devil Incarnate. You may feel like cow pies are being thrown at you. Sometimes that is part of being true to yourself.”
Barbara Marciniak, Family of Light: Pleiadian Tales and Lessons in Living

“To find your true identity within the will of Tze Yo Tzuh…that is the highest of all freedoms.”
Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese

“Because no matter what they say, you always have a choice. You just don’t always have the guts to make it.”
Ray N. Kuili, Awakening

“Whatever you do don’t let anybody talk you into doing something about the way you look ever.”
John Casablancas

“I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not”
Kurt Cobain

The 07/15/13 Joy Jar

15 Jul

No one is ever promised a rose garden, what you get is a chance to live as long as one is still breathing. Each day, moi gives thanks to God that she has another day to try and get it right and to try and be better. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is positive thinking.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.
Dalai Lama

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.
Michael Jordan

Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again.
W. Clement Stone

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.
Robert H. Schuller

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
Nhat Hanh

A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can’t do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.
Chuck Norris

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.
Brian Tracy

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
Elbert Hubbard

The 06/23/13 Joy Jar

23 Jun

Moi began the ‘Joy Jar’ project right after the Mayan end of the world thing went belly-up. This was a year-long experiment to find something to be grateful for every day. The ‘Joy Jar’ is half way through and moi is learning to ‘cultivate an attitude of gratitude.’ Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is an attitude of gratitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

 

 

“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”

Maya Angelou, Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”

― Thomas Merton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

The 06/17/13 Joy Jar

16 Jun

 

Music is its own special type of worship, but the hymn takes the spiritually to a whole other level. Some hymns like ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Ava Maria’ can bring people to tears. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are hymns.

A few songs with Him might change the way you sing. Forever.”
Max Lucado,
Next Door Savior

It is natural to speak of hymns as “poems,” indiscriminately, for they have the same structure. But a hymn is not necessarily a poem, while a poem that can be sung as a hymn is something more than a poem. Imagination makes poems; devotion makes hymns. There can be poetry without emotion, but a hymn never. A poem may argue; a hymn must not. In short to be a hymn, what is written must express spiritual feelings and desires. The music of faith, hope and charity will be somewhere in its strain.”
Hezekiah Butterworth, The Story of the Hymns and Tunes

The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords If when the soul unto the lines accords”

George Herbert

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

Mark 14:26

You know when you’re young you think you will always be. As you become more fragile, you reflect and you realize how much comfort can come from the past. Hymns can carry you into the future.
Andy Griffith

Maine Supreme Court case: Transgender students and bathroom access

12 Jun

 

An emerging issue for schools is how to accommodate different populations of students. The Maine Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the case of Nicole Maines, a transgender student. The Intersex Society of North America defines transgender in the article, What’s the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition?

 

People who identify as transgender or transsexual are usually people who are born with typical male or female anatomies but feel as though they’ve been born into the “wrong body.” For example, a person who identifies as transgender or transsexual may have typical female anatomy but feel like a male and seek to become male by taking hormones or electing to have sex reassignment surgeries.

 

People who have intersex conditions have anatomy that is not considered typically male or female. Most people with intersex conditions come to medical attention because doctors or parents notice something unusual about their bodies. In contrast, people who are transgendered have an internal experience of gender identity that is different from most people.

 

Many people confuse transgender and transsexual people with people with intersex conditions because they see two groups of people who would like to choose their own gender identity and sometimes those choices require hormonal treatments and/or surgery. These are similarities. It’s also true, albeit rare, that some people who have intersex conditions also decide to change genders at some point in their life, so some people with intersex conditions might also identify themselves as transgender or transsexual.

 

In spite of these similarities, these two groups should not be and cannot be thought of as one. The truth is that the vast majority of people with intersex conditions identify as male or female rather than transgender or transsexual. Thus, where all people who identify as transgender or transsexual experience problems with their gender identity, only a small portion of intersex people experience these problems. http://www.isna.org/faq/transgender

 

It is important to know what type of accommodation is sought.

 

AP reported Lawsuit brought by transgender student over bathrooms, harassment goes to Maine Supreme Court:

 

 

Maine’s highest court heard arguments Wednesday over whether transgender students can use the bathroom of their choice, and the girl at the heart of the case said she hoped justices would recognize the right of children to attend school without being “bullied” by peers or administrators.

Nicole Maines, now 15, watched lawyers argue over whether her rights were violated when the Orono school district required her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls’ bathroom.

Maines said after the hearing in Bangor that she hopes the Supreme Judicial Court will ensure no one else experiences what she went though.

“I hope they understood how important it is for students to be able to go to school and get an education and have fun and make friends, and not have to worry about being bullied by students or the administration, and to be accepted for who they are,” said Maines, who now attends a high school in southern Maine.

Her family and the Maine Human Rights Commission sued in 2009 over the school’s actions, but a state judge ruled that the school district acted within its discretion. Maines is a biological male who from an early age identified as a girl.

At issue is whether the school violated the Maine Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. State law also requires separate bathrooms for boys and girls in schools.

Melissa Hewey, lawyer for the school and school district, said afterward it should be up to the Legislature to clarify the issue.

“To the extent that the people in Maine decide that this law in Maine should be changed, then that should be done. But right now the law is what it is, and our school district didn’t violate it,” she said.

The case goes beyond just the bathroom issue to the broader question of what’s best for transgender students, said Jennifer Levi, director of Transgender Rights Project for the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

“At the core of this case is whether the promise of equal educational opportunities for transgender students is realized,” she said. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/12/lawsuit-brought-by-transgender-student-over-bathrooms-harassment-goes-to-maine/#ixzz2W2npauHR

 

 

The Transgender Law and Policy Institute explains the issue in the article, Ways that U.S. Colleges and Universities Meet the Day-to-Day Needs of Transgender Students written by Brett-Genny Janiczek Beemyn

 

 

Bathrooms
Because gender-diverse students are often subject to harassment and violence when using male- or female-specific campus restrooms, a rapidly growing number of colleges and universities are creating gender-neutral bathrooms, either through renovations or by simply changing the signs on single-stall male/female restrooms. Currently, more than 150 campuses have gender-neutral bathrooms, including
Oberlin College, which has two gender-neutral bathrooms in its student union and at least one in every residence hall; the University of California, San Diego, which has changed male/female signs on 88 single-stall restrooms in campus buildings; and the New College of California, where all campus bathrooms are gender-neutral. Many of the colleges and universities with gender-neutral bathrooms, including New York University, Ohio University, UCLA, and the University of Colorado, Boulder, list the locations of these restrooms on their websites.

Along with developing gender-neutral restrooms, some institutions, such as American University, Kent State University, Ohio State University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Washington State University, have implemented or are in the process of implementing policies requiring that all extensively renovated and newly constructed buildings include at least one gender-neutral bathroom.

The University of Arizona has established a bathroom policy that affirms that individuals have the right to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. The statement is available at http://fp.arizona.edu/affirm/restroomaccess.htm.

Locker Rooms

As with male and female bathrooms, public locker and shower rooms can be uncomfortable, intimidating, and even dangerous places for transgender students, who may be outed as transgender if they have to undress in front of others. Partly in response to this issue, a growing number of campuses, including Ohio State University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Oregon, have created private changing rooms when they have renovated or built new recreation centers. These facilities not only serve the needs of transgender students, but also parents with children of a different gender than themselves, people with disabilities who require the assistance of an attendant of a different gender, and anyone desiring greater privacy.

 

http://www.transgenderlaw.org/college/guidelines.htm

 

 

There are pros and cons to gender neutral bathrooms.

 

 

Debate.org asks the question: Should schools have gender-neutral bathrooms for transgender students?

 

      • Gender Segregation is Wrong

Multi-stall gender neutral washrooms are the way to go because gender segregation is wrong. Gender segregation is based on the idea that “men” and “women” are the only choices to pigeonhole people into. We all know that gender is a spectrum and not a binary. Segregation is also wrong because because it creates a “us and them” mentality between the sexes and harms gender equality. When we unite all persons and do away with gender segregation then we all build a better society!

Posted by: Anonymous

  • Equality for all

    We need to move forward and stop putting people in to little boxes. We should embrace diversity of every individual, i.e. those who don’t fit into either the socially created “male, female”. Everyone is different and yet we are all the same, so I think it time to make things easier for all those that don’t fit into any boxes and more forward into acceptance.

  • Looks that way

    If they aren’t comfortable with transgender students picking a bathroom, they need to provide them with another one. These kids are demonized enough without being told where they can and cannot go to the bathroom, if we’re so ill equipped to handle this that this is the only way to avoid conflict then sadly so be it.

  • Safety is priority

    All people should feel safe using the bathroom. Besides the fact that discrimination is so last year. Suicide and homicide rates of individuals who identify or are perceived as transgendered are some of the highest in the country. And we worry about designating bathroom (most of which already exist— we just have to change the signs) as gender neutral? This can prevent bullying, prevent anxiety, and create a more accepting atmosphere. Let’s do it.

    Posted by: Anonymous

  • Should schools have gender-neutral bathrooms for transgender students?

    Yes. Trans folk have to live in fear of where they’re going to use the bathroom in public, and no one should have to live with that. Even if their I.D. indicates their preferred gender, they can still get harassed, still get arrested, and still be discriminated against. It would be best if all trans folk could use their preferred restroom, but until that happens, we should provide gender neutral bathrooms for everyone that doesn’t fit into the gender binary.

    Posted by: Anonymous

  • Yes, schools should support gender-neutral bathrooms for transgender students. A gender-neutral bathroom has many uses.

    Transgender individuals already face enough ridicule for their lifestyle. These lives they live however are no more or less human than ours. Having access to a safe place they can use and not feel unwelcome or unwanted should be a part of every building in America. Beyond the benefit for transgender students, gender-neutral bathrooms can provide a safe place for families who have small children that may need to change or feed their child while in a public place that want some privacy.

    Posted by: Anonymous

  • Yes, they should have gender-neutral bathrooms.

    First of all, being trans* is not a choice, and I doubt that any school aged child would have had a sex-change at their age. Another thing, bisexual preference is who you date, gender identity is who you are. Anyway, I’m not sure about trans woman, but most trans men choose not to have a “full sex change” because of the risks. So if you go into a women’s bathroom and see a person dressed in slacks, button up shirt, a tie and a beard, you’d object, wouldn’t you? Now let’s say they go into the women’s bathroom and see someone that knows them at a woman. They could call the school and get that person suspended from school or even expelled. Transgendered students are more common than you think; whether out of the closet or not. It wouldn’t cause any harm to people who are not transgender, so why not just give up this one thing for the sake of others?

    Posted by: Anonymous

  • Gender is a term that was created within the last 50 years.

Biologically, there are only two options – male and female. To claim that sex is fluid is insanity. Furthermore, there is a movement brought to you by Massachusetts that promotes “transgender” childhood. Kids as young as 3 are told by their parents that they can choose what they want to be. If this trend continues, it will spell the end of civilization.

Posted by: Anonymous

  • No. Why should they have to inconvenience themselves?

    Are we talking about kids that have undergone sex changes already? Because if so, then I say to use the nurses bathroom or something. Like the person before me said, We cant pander to every sexual preference. Why should a school have to spend a ton of money for a kid that Chose to change his gender?

    Posted by: Lincoln

  • No, we cannot pander to every sexual preference.

    That is probably a bad way to put it, because I do know it’s not considered a preference. It’s clear that a transgender person being forced to use a bathroom that is designed primarily for one sex rather than another would be disadvantaged, but how many students in any one school is actually a transgender? Are we supposed to build them an entirely separate facility, and if we did would that not make them stand out more as being different? It would be more practical to make all bathrooms gender neutral, sort of like the unisex bathrooms that you sometimes see in airports. But even that would be a huge monetary investment designed to be politically correct to a very low percentage of the population.

    Posted by: haightstreet

    http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-schools-have-gender-neutral-bathrooms-for-transgender-students

 

 

Resources:

 

Best Practices for Transgender Students – The Transgender Law …

 

 

 

GUIDELINES: HOW TO HANDLE TRANSGENDER STUDENTS

 

What is Transgender? – YouTube

 

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The 06/12/13 Joy Jar

11 Jun

 

Yesterday’s ‘Joy Jar’ was to give thanks for being human. Humans have a wide variety of characteristics from they walk with Angels to satan wouldn’t have them in the family because they are so evil. The best human qualities form a tapestry called humane. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the quality of being humane.

What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.
Friedrich Nietzsche

It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.
Cesar Chavez

With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
William Lloyd Garrison

One can not be just if one is not humane.
Luc de Clapiers

An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties.
Jef Raskin

One can not be just if one is not humane.
Luc de Clapiers

The 06/11/13 Joy Jar

11 Jun

 

Moi went to a NASA exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle which looked at the history and importance of the space station and space exploration. A major reason some support space exploration is that they want to plant humans as a species all over the universe. That got moi thinking about whether there is something unique about being human. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the quality of being human.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.
George Orwell

There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human- in not having to be just happy or just sad- in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.”
C. JoyBell C.

The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simple because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human.”
Rachel Joyce,
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

This is good, life must continue, we are fighting barbarians, but we must remain human.”
David Benioff, City of Thieves

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I am not a human being; I am a human becoming.

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