I don't understand

I want to be understanding of others, if they ever come to me with troubles involving their orientation.  However, I realize that I have only my own experiences to draw upon.  It's a very limited viewpoint.  Cosmologists have this problem as they try to understand the cosmos through the lenses of their telescopes.  We can only look at the universe from the viewpoint of our own solar system, and that makes it somewhat difficult to get a complete picture of the physical universe.

For example, although I find men attractive rather than women, I don't identify as womanly at all.  I feel very male, and have no desire to cultivate some feminine side of myself.  I behave like a guy, talk like a guy, think like a guy, and emote like a guy (which is to say, not much, at least on the surface).  I don't care much about my hair or my clothing, and don't seem to have many of those hallmarks of gay guys that are so commonly believed.  So I really don't understand gender confusion.  I don't get what it's like to be transgender.  I don't know what it's like to be genetically and physiologically male, but psychologically identify as female.  It doesn't make sense to me.

I assume this is what it's like for a heterosexually oriented guy when they consider my situation.  My attraction to guys is hard for them to comprehend.

Another thing I don't understand is how someone can discover their orientation later in life.  When puberty was barely starting for me, my attention was all on the guys.  My thoughts, my dreams at night, my crushes, they were all guys.  So it's strange to me when I hear of returned missionaries discovering that they were gay, which thing they hadn't known before.  I have a hard time conceiving of it. 

But I really do want to understand.  And I hope others can try to understand me.  We should try our best to be understanding of others even if our experiences are not sufficient for us to understand.  And I hope others can be understanding of my lack of understanding.