#The best thanksgiving day

[efraim7praise]

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV) Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogging friends who are celebrating this special day with their friends and family. Thank you for sticking with this blog and supporting it throughout the years. My deepest…

[peppermintbits]

My personal highlight reel from the Westminster Dog Show yesterday. ✨ 🐶

The silly faces club

🧡 Pomeranian Fan Cam 🧡

Dinero's Angelic Eyes 👀....vs Jolene's Glorious Wizard Beard

And finally...Our Lord And Savior; Stache.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[larabar]

missing him ^

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Henry Selick)

13/07/2024

[cordiallyfuturedwight]

knockin’ on heaven’s door (feat. ~eyebrows~ for @aprylynn)

[a--messy--blog]

Forgot about thanksgiving day but i gonna treat myself by watching falsettos side by side video after school <33

[stars-inthe-sky]

UGH.

[thegeekyartist]

Happy National Dog Show day to all who celebrate

[dailydarcycarden]

I miss her 🥲

[doormouseetcappendix]

Best Films Of 2023 41-50

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem directed by Jeff Rowe

Scott Pilgirm Takes Off directed by Tomohisa Shimoyama, Moko-chan, Akitoshi Yokoyama, Rushio Moriyama, Takakazu Nagatomo, Kenji Maeba, Takuya Fujikura, & Takakazu Nagatomo

Kazizi Moto: Generation Fire Raymond Malinga, Simangaliso ‘Panda’ Sibaya & Malcom Wope, Shofela Coker, Nthato Mokgata & Catherine Green, Tshepo Moche, Pious Nyenyewa & Tafadzwa Hove, Terence Maluleke and Isaac Mogajane, Ahmed Teilab, Lesego Vorster, Ng'endo Mukii

Thanksgiving directed by Eli Roth

V/H/S/85 directed by David Bruckner, Scott Derickson, Gigi Saul Guerraro, Nathasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson

Luther: Fallen Son directed by Jamie Payne

The Creator directed by Gareth Edwards

Make My Day directed by Takahiro Tanaka, Kentarō Fujita, Tatsuji Yamazaki, Kohei Sugatani, Grace Chen, Mntn Chang, Yuichi Abe

Landscape With Invisible Hand directed by Cory Finley

No One Will Save You directed by Brian Duffield

[dewarism]

ALEX STEEVES YOU 🫵🏻 ARE A TORONTO MAPLE LEAF

[stuffeddeer]

i have 2 count em TWO finished requests in my drafts rn omggg but im gonna wait to post them for maybe a day or two :) wanna spread em out

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

Well, I got my turkey today. Unfortunately the store was sold out of all the ones they had cheap. Also, of the ones not at a bargain basement price (all eight of them they had left) ALL were bigger than I intended to get.

**sigh**

I hate being so damn poor. I took out an extra $50 to shop, stuck tightly to my list, went for the cheapest options, and came home with 75 cent.

This is extra horrible since I took money out of my “emergencies only” stash for this, plus a couple other bills. $1000 a month was doable a few months ago, but damned how I am going to keep this up. If I keep dipping into an every dwindling side stash for “luxuries” like Thanksgiving dinner and putty to fix s leaking pipe. $1000 in, but $1150 out already this month is very bad math. At that rate will have me without even emergency resources in three months!

Before you ask why I bought a turkey if I am so broke and have no one to share it with, you should know I ADORE roast turkey. I only allow myself to indulge in it twice a year, and I eat every bit over almost a week. Anything I can’t eat (honestly, I have never been a skin fan).…well, that’s the advantage of having beasties.

I’m happy to have the turkey. Already always having Thanksgiving alone is sad***, but to not have turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce would have made the day unbearable.

I realize how lucky I am. Lots of people can’t afford Thanksgiving dinner stuff. I easily could have found myself without enough money after buying the animal feed to get the turkey. I could have showed up an hour later and there wouldn’t have been a turkey left in the store.

Still, that 75 cents is going to make the next two weeks nerve wracking as I hope nothing urgent comes up….

***No, my brother won’t let me go to his house. I don’t think they do Thanksgiving anyway. And no, my only real world friend is not an option since she has family to go to. And no, volunteering somewhere isn’t even a possibility in a town of less than 500 people. Hell, last I knew people that need a homeless shelter had to go 50 miles (I gave someone money for gas last year so they could get to one after they had been living in their car.)

[gentil-minou]

(Same anon who talked about having a Jewish friend)

Actually, I've already seen a bunch of the video explanations and looked things up before sending the last ask in, and yeah, I'm pretty convinced the Palestinians got a raw deal. It looks like the British came in, took over Palestine, then decided to kill two birds with one stone and try to move all the Jews out of their country and into the area they were trying to establish as Israel, while intimidating or outright forcing Palestinians into leaving their own homes in order to make room.

And then after repelling the attack from all the surrounding countries trying to get rid of Israel (which yeah, that uh. That would also have led to a massive tragedy), Israel took over a bunch of territory beyond what they'd been assigned (without any Palestinian input whatsoever), and claimed it as spoils of war or something. And it's occupied areas even beyond that, and regularly bombed Gaza like. A Lot.

Honestly, my biggest source of difficulty is that, well. I DO know people who are Jewish and have family in Israel, and are pro-Israel and arguing all the usual Israeli talking points, and are scared right now. And I can't really say that they shouldn't be afraid for themselves and their friends and family either, even though from what I've seen with my research, Palestinians seem to have been dealt a rawer hand. I'm not sure what to say to them, except generally adopting one of the more neutral stances that focuses on the horrors this conflict has inflicted on everyone involved, like what Rick Riordan said in a recent blog post.

I am also quite aware that when anyone, myself included, tries to speak about this issue, the reader is waiting to pounce, thinking, “Yes, but whose side are you on?” That is exactly the wrong question. If there are two sides to this issue, those sides are not Palestinian/Israeli or Muslim/Jewish. The two sides are humanitarian and dehumanizing. Dehumanizing has a long evil history. It is appealing and easy to buy into, because humans are tribal animals. We are hardwired to think in terms of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’  We are the real humans, the good guys, the ones with God on our side. Those other people are evil monsters who don’t deserve empathy. Hate mongers have thrived on dehumanizing for as long as there have been humans. It provides them with a purpose, a way to rally support, power, and scapegoats. It is  easy to point to atrocities committed by our enemies, while justifying or minimizing the atrocities committed by ourselves or our allies.

Humanitarianism is a much harder sell. It requires us to empathize, to see other groups of people as equally deserving of dignity and quality of life. It requires not always putting ourselves and our needs first. But in the long run, humanitarianism is our only hope. If violence could end violence, if we could put an end to “those other people” once and for all, human history would read very differently than it does.

So yes, I am appalled by the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians. I am appalled by the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Both things can be true. Both things must be true. My thoughts are with all the people who have died, who have lost loved ones, who have had their worlds and their lives shattered, especially the children. More death and violence will not break this cycle, which has been going on for generations. There is no military solution. Even since I first wrote the post, only twenty-four hours ago, the Israeli government’s brutal retaliation against the entire population of Gaza has reached genocidal proportions. This is not only an atrocity. It is folly. Answering misery with misery only creates more fertile ground for extremism, dehumanizing the “other side,” letting hate mongers thrive, stay in power, and reduce us all to our most monstrous impulses. The only real solution is treating each other like equally worthy human beings, and negotiating a peace that allows all parties a chance to live in security and dignity, with hopes for a future that does not include bombs and rockets and gunfire. This means security and support for Israel, yes. It also means a secure Palestine which is allowed to get the international aid and recognition it needs to build a viable state.

Do I think that will happen? Unfortunately, no. Humans are simply too selfish, too ready to blame “the other” for all their problems, too ready to dehumanize, though I also believe, perhaps paradoxically, that most people just want to live their lives in peace and have a chance for their children to have a brighter future. The problem is when we don’t allow other people to have those same hopes and dreams — when it becomes a false choice of us versus them.

What can I do? I will continue to write books that I hope will give young readers some joy. I will resist the urge to demonize entire groups of people. I will call for less violence, not more violence. And when asked whose side I am on, I will tell you I am on the side of humanitarianism.

I'm not sure whether you have a better stance to take when it comes to talking to friends who have close ties to the Israeli side of this conflict, who are afraid for themselves and their family. Because I can't say they're wrong to be afraid and upset, but also there needs to be recognition of what Palestinians have gone through as well. I'm not sure whether you have Jewish friends who support Israel who you've talked about this with, but if you do, how do you handle that?

To be frank, I wish I had the answers for your question but I don't right now. The majority of people in my life are either Pro-Palestine or refuse to talk about the situation saying it's too stressful, which is its own frustration and which I push back on by still talking about it.

The people in my life that are Pro-Israel are at work, which is difficult considering the ethics in this situation are all over the place. How do I support an Israeli client calling for the genocide of an entire race? How do I, as their therapist, validate something that I find so morally repugnant I feel sick to my stomach before every session. How do I deal with working at an organization devoted to helping kids with their mental health when right now one of the most traumatic incidences the world has ever seen is happening right this second?

My workplace has apparently chosen silence and not talking about any of this as its strategy, and I don't know how to navigate it. Do I leave my job and the kids I work with to uphold my morals? Do I stay to help the kids I wanted to support even though they support something I fine reprehensible? Do I ignore it like my workplace does and stay for the kids I can help, where I comparmentalize everything thats been happening so I can help them even though their problems are so small? Do I stay even though every second of silence and refusal to recognize the very real genocide happening right now kills me every single day? I haven't worked it out yet. I don't know how to balance psychology ethics with my own ethics, and I think that's it's own issue.

So I don't have the answers here. I'm much better talking about these things online than I am in person. I have a better reach online than I do in person, which is why I do it so much here. If I had to confront a Pro-Israeli family/friend I know myself and I know I would cry and get angry and I don't know what I would do after that.

So for that, I'd say you're doing better than I am Anon.

Something I have considered though is where do I draw the line for what makes someone a friend or person I want to keep in my life.

And to me, a South Asian woman with an Arabic name from a Muslim family who grew up under the shadow of Post-9/11 Islamophobia in NYC and has devoted her life to working with kids who have trauma, depression, and anxiety, I think I am justified in taking it personally and with great offence if someone is saying the genocide of people I relate to heavily is okay. I think I as a person as a human being can draw the line when I need to.

And I think what gets me is I will talk about it. I refuse to stop.

[lionblaze03-2]

Yknow guys. I have my moments but honestly I’m really glad to be alive and get to experience this beautiful world... like the birds outside my window or my beloved beast bella (there is an animal!!! In my house!!! And she LOVES me!!!) and getting to see my best friend and watching tv and movies together and engaging with media and taking long car rides. Life is so beautiful and I’m so glad I never forget it too long. Every little thing that makes you feel joy is a reason to be on this earth, so cherish every last one, because you deserve it. You deserve to feel how beautiful the world can be. Even if it sucks dick sometimes. Sometimes everything sucks and then you see a cardinal out the window competing with another for a female and everything’s okay again. Theres joy in every day, so please go out there and feel it as hard as you can, embrace everything that makes you happy. Live. We deserve it.