#WHO DESERVES LOVE AND COMPASSION

[tony-andonuts]

Hey by the way. If you can't respect and acknowledge mentally AND Physically disabled people, people of color, immigrants who don't know your country's language, queer people (ESP TRANS PEOPLE), fat people, people who aren't of your religion, and overall anyone not like you,

YOU HAVE NO FUCKING BUSINESS WORKING IN HEALTHCARE!!!!!!!!!!!

[shannonsketches]

[hopeswriting]

imagine you're luce, and you're born the heir to a mafia family. you're mafia-born, and so of course also mafia-raised, and then also a donna-to-be. you're raised to be able to take on the role, to be good and capable at it, are taught to make one of your core beliefs about how the many must come before the few, because the family must always come first. you're going to be the donna, of course you must always prioritize the family above all else, it's your foremost and most important duty.

if caring about the few too comes at the price of the many, comes at the price of the family, is it even worth it? if the happiness gained from it comes at the price of a greater suffering for others, is there even any meaning to it, even if it's your happiness we're talking about? you understand, don't you?

you're not sure if you do, but you care about your family, love it, want to do right by it once you become their donna, so you nod, listen and learn.

(you don't have to be taught the pain and loss and guilt and anger and bitterness is a fair price to pay for the pain you decide has to be inflicted and the sacrifices you decide must be made, including by yourself. it's the least you could do, even.)

imagine you're luce, and the gift of foresight runs through your blood.

you would not call it a gift. you did not ask for it either. and you'll never come to see it as something wanted by you.

you can see the future, and it happened exactly as you saw it would, so of course it's exactly the way you wanted it to go. you can see the future, and it happened exactly as you saw it would, so of course you didn't care to try hard enough to change it. you saw the future before the shape of it had yet to be breathed into existence, and who's to say it didn't come into existence only because you saw it happen? you saw the future, and it happened worse than it had to for it.

you can see the future, but you still can't make it anything else than what it was always going to be. you can even make the visions happen at your will, but you still have no say on what you see or how much you see. you still can only be the witness of it before anyone else can.

it does mean double and longer the happiness sometimes, means relief and gratefulness and hope beyond words, and it'd be cruel of you to voice out loud your feelings for others to hear the many more times it means something else.

you can see the future, and it doesn't make it any kinder on you than on anyone else, does not give you any more power or control over it than anyone else, but at least you can see the future. you're given the time to make peace with it, to brace yourself for it, to bargain with it, to plead and beg and fight against it however desperately and hopelessly, even if in the end it still happens exactly as you saw it would.

(you can see the future, and it still doesn't hurt you any less than anyone else when it happens, but you don't expect anymore for anyone to hold you any less responsible for it anyway. it would be nice for someone to do it one day, but you understand.)

you can see the future, and you decide it's a kindness to both yourself and others to keep it for yourself as much as possible whenever you can.

imagine you're luce, and your family has this set of rings they've looked after and protected for as long as your family has existed. they're one set of three of the most important artifacts in the world, ones that help in safeguarding its existence and balance. they're duty, the very first one and the most important one your family was created for.

the pacifier around your mother's neck is duty too, and the most important and powerful artifact among twenty-one in safeguarding the world and its balance. it's been passed down in your family too, from mother to daughter. it's duty, but less tied to your family and much more to the blood running through your veins. it's a curse, in fact, as it demands heavy sacrifices the rings don't, and one that can only be tied to the blood running through your veins.

(your mother looks at you as if expecting some kind of reaction from you, and you can only wonder at which point you weren't supposed to see it as a given. duty and sacrifices have been one and the same for you for a long time now. is it even duty if it doesn't require any sacrifices from you?)

imagine you're luce, and your mother dies for duty. she's the donna, and so she dies for your family. she's the sky arcobaleno, and so she dies for the world. she's your mother, but she dies anyway, doesn't fight it either, even knowing she will leave you behind, even knowing she won't ever get to see what you look like all grown-up.

everywhere you look, duty stares back at you, from your mother and the pacifier around her neck, her love for your family and the life she gives up for it, her love for you and how she dies anyway while you're still only a child. duty, from your family members and how they die for you and kill for you, how they do both at your command, how their lives are in the palms of your hands and how they weigh only as much as you allow them to at a time. duty, from the knowledge your foresight gives you and the shackles tied to the blood running through your veins.

your mother's only duty while she lives too. she loves you, but she'd have had to give birth to you anyway even if she didn't. she loves you, but she still gave birth to you even knowing the kind of life you'd have to live, the kind of hands you'd inevitably end up with, the burdens she'd have to lay on your shoulders, passing them down from her own. because she loves you, she finds the resolve to raise you to be able to face all of it head-on and come out on top, but she'd have had to raise you much the same way anyway even if she didn't.

(she doesn't die for you, doesn't fight to be able to keep living with you, and this, too, is your mother surrendering to duty one last time.)

(you're so sick of it, so angry at it, so hateful and resentful against it. you're so stifled by it to the point you've stopped being able to breathe for a long time now. or you would have been if they had taught you how to face duty in this way too.

it's for the better they didn't. a silver lining, sparing you pain that isn't necessary for you to go through. everyone you turn to only teaches you how to keep holding your breath longer, and you listen and learn, obedient and dutiful as you've ever been.

you're grateful for it too. really, you are.)

everywhere you look, there's no room for you to so much as question any of it, let alone anything more. duty is commendable, something you ought to look up to and strive towards, strive to achieve. duty is the right thing to do. of course it is.

(you exhale a breath of relief that shakes you down to your very core.

thank god, it's at least the right thing to do.

you're grateful for it beyond words. really, you are.)

imagine you're luce, and before it even happens, you know the choice you'll make when climbing that mountain, when standing on top of it, when waiting for a bright light to shine down on you from above. you know the choice you'll make then, even when pregnant with your daughter.

it doesn't matter since how long you knew, be it years, months, days, hours or minutes before. all that matters is that before you can even contemplate the idea of making another choice and all its implications and possible consequences, before the thought can even come alive in your mind, you already know the choice you'll make.

(you can see the future, but just because you already saw it, it doesn't mean it's now set in stone.

you can see the future, but just because you're given the chance to fight to change it, it doesn't mean it still won't happen every bit like you saw it.

it doesn't mean it can't still happen even worse than how you first saw it happen because you fought to change it, no matter how already dreadful it originally was.)

imagine you're luce, and before it even happens, you know they'll be others with you standing on top of that mountain. you're the only one who'll know it before it happens.

(because you can see the future.

and oh, you did not ask for it.)

they're strangers, people you don't owe anything to. adults who choose to show up at the first meeting, and to show up to every following mission after that. the chosen seven, whose ambitions and prides lead them to walk the path of the seven strongest too once laid down in front of them.

you don't force their hands in making any of those choices for them. you're not responsible for any of them.

you become coworkers then, accomplices, your hands stained in blood to various extent, but now dipping in the same pool of blood as you strive towards the same goal together. you have each other's backs, learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, learn each other's personalities, likes and dislikes. you keep having to spend more time together as the missions keep coming your way.

inevitably, you come to care about them. even more damning, they come to care about you in return. enough so they'll look after your daughter even after what'll happen on top of that mountain. enough so they'll look after your granddaughter too, warmly and fondly enough she'll call one of them uncle.

you're still the only one who knows they'll stand together with you on top of that mountain, not knowing what'll happen on it like you do.

and you do care about them, you swear you do. really, you do.

(you care about them the same way your mother cared about you, and how she still raised you to have steel in you and be made of sharp edges you know how to use. you care about them the same way you care about your family, and how you still send them to their deaths as needed so the rest of your family you care about just the same can keep on living longer and safely. this is the only way you've had the chance to learn how to care and love.

duty and sacrifices have been one and the same for you for as long as you can remember. it doesn't matter at which point sacrifices came to mean love to you too.

and most of all, you love your daughter more than anything else in the world.)

imagine you're luce, and this is who you are. this is who you've been raised to be, the only way you've been given room to grow up to be. this is the life you've lived and the kind of life that has shaped you as the person you are now. this is what you've been taught and told is the best version of yourself you could have grown up to be. this is who you ended up being by what you've been taught and told are all the right choices to make.

you're still the only one who knows what is about to happen on top of that mountain. it hasn't happened yet. the fate of the world hangs on what'll happen on top of that mountain, the same world you'll have to give birth to your daughter in. the same daughter you're currently pregnant with.

now imagine you're luce, look me in the eye and tell me you'd know how to even form the thought of the possibility of there being any other choice to make. look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't look at the only choice in front of you, and know deep in your bones it's the only right choice to make. that it is right of you to make it. because it simply has to be.

(imagine you're luce, and you're not doomed by the narrative. of course, you're not.

why would you need to be when the narrative has painstakingly shaped you all your life to become its perfect, faithful and dutiful sacrificial lamb?

and then, imagine you're luce, and you're even grateful for it, so, so very grateful it held up its end of the bargain too.

truly, you are.)

[several-ravens]

post season 2 horny rant about elias don't click if it's going to upset you

MY HUSBAND. A MURDERER. who would have thought???

so it was him at the murderous end of that pipe. good for him

when i tell you i screamed when he walked into the room. i mean damn he can talk to me like that whenever he wants. HIS VOICE??? and that little evil speech at the beginning oooooh that's enough to kill me

maybe he didn't need to murder leitner as well but also who am i to stop him? like eurgh brotha eurgh but also ooooh baby heaven is a place on earth like that one remix that's on tiktok atm

AND because that wasn't enough, on top of being evil and fucked up he's also very powerful

excuse me but that's hot af. his place of power should be me.

(i have a thing for evil powerful men in case that wasn't clear)

[findafight]

Me, lying face down on the carpet: I don't know how many times I have to explain that people love characters like Steve Harrington and Zuko, is that they have done things that are bad. They have said things that are bad. Possibly reprehensible. Possibly violent.

But then. And this is THE fundamental aspect of them that you must understand, they realized they were wrong. They realized that what they did and who they were were not things they were proud of. Were not things they liked doing or wanted to continue doing. Were things that hurt people. They realized that they didn't want to be that person anymore.

And then they changed. They went and tried to apologize to those they wronged. They worked to fix what they had done or helped do. They made strides to be different from what they once were.

Zuko stood up to his father, he apologized to the Gang, admitted to them he and his people were wrong, and taught Aang Fire bending. He changed and he helped and he apologized.

Steve helped clean up graffiti, he went to Jonathan's house to apologize for the terrible things he said and their fight(and got dragged into monster fighting and saved Jonathan and Nancy's lives), he replaced the camera he broke.

They owned up to their mistakes and apologized and did their best to remedy them. The apology and the changed behaviour make these characters likeable. They have flaws that have glared but they have accepted those things, tried to do better than them.

I need you to understand that there are characters out there that do the same things but never apologize. When you question why someone likes character a but not character b, when character a has also done bad things, I need you to think about whether or not that character has apologized and since changed that behaviour and thus been sincere in their apology. That is why. No excuse or justification. Did the character apologize and change? Did the other not? There you go.

Me, sitting up with the imprint of the carpet on my face: Woah haha where'd that come from?

[carefulfears]

what do you consider the heart of californication? like really carries through the series & makes it compelling

thank you for this question, i really love it. to me, it's a number of things, starting with that the show cares deeply about hank and takes him seriously in a way that the culture doesn't. in a way, yes, he's their dog and pony show with the funny one-liners and the salacious pull. but the arc of the series is unequivocally aligned with him and his desires and his needs and his values.

hank wants to be with his family, wants to be better for them, wants to not let them down- and the show needs him to fail at all of those things. for the dog and pony of it all, for their viewership and for their thesis and for the food in their mouths, but it simultaneously feels bad that he is failing. simultaneously knows that this isn't what he wants, and that it's sad. and it can be as simple as a dream sequence or a look or a quiet final scene, but every single episode is ultimately going to remind you that everything you're laughing at is a loss.

which, like i said at the top, speaks to a level of respect that the show had for the character that is just gone in discussions of the series. they take the time to recognize that he is missing something. he is losing something and he is without everything that means anything to him, this is the cost. equally important, duchovny respects that character and understands the same.

i was listening to an interview last night (trish you heard this) where he was speaking with some podcast dudebros and one of the hosts said that he always wanted to be just like hank moody, and then he made some "bad decisions" and got there, and he doesn't like it. and duchovny said that every time people come up to him saying "i'm just like hank moody," he says "i'm sorry."

men watch and they want to be just like hank moody and women watch and they want to fuck hank moody so bad, and all of you miss what the source comprehends: that it's an irreparable deficit.

other than that, i feel like what roots that show is that it really isn't all that cynical. not in the way that it could be. and the show believes in hank.

there is a lot of kindness and hope (often false hope) that runs underneath most every relationship and interaction and dynamic in the series and i really really appreciate that about it. it's like in the pilot when hank is being mean and he wants marcy to yell at him and she just says "go home, honey. sleep it off. tomorrow's another day."

there's always a little bit of understanding and grace amongst the crazies and i think there's something really special about that

[starrynightkyoru]

Society if Tohru was allowed to set healthy boundaries for herself

[percytheboykisser]

dear disabled people(any type i don't care) i love you. you deserve love and respect. you deserve to feel how you need to feel. you deserve to use your mobility aids,meds,accommodations ect ect whenever you need to. you deserve to be treated as a human. you are allowed to take a day off because your disability is bothering you. you deserve love kindness and compassion. you deserve to be yourself and to be understood. you are allowed to have bad days. you are allowed to have good days. you are allowed to struggle and get through it. you deserve everything good to come to you. i love you.

[dispadaferisce]

Astarion Ancunin - Character Info

[sskk-manifesto]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vagueiish]

what exactly is one supposed to do about accepting things you can't control when the thing you can't control is a person who is actively fucking over many people, including children?

[martyrbat]

something about bruce and his bleeding heart where he's always going to offer his hand out to help. even if he knows they'll bite it and draw blood, even if he knows they'll betray his trust—he cant NOT take that chance because of the very small possibility that this will finally be the forgiving gesture that actually changes someone for the better. its hard to trust, its hard to take that risk again and again, its hard to believe in the possibility of every person being able to do good and change for the better. but its even harder to not love someone enough to not be willing to take that chance.

[wearegoodenough]

Being ‘fat’ is not a character flaw.  Being ‘fat’ is not a reflection of who we are as whole beings.  Humans evolved the ability to carry extra weight for a reason.  Overvaluing ‘thinness’ is a reflection of culture.  People are ‘unhealthy’ in many ways, but people pick and choose what kinds of unhealthiness they deem worthy of ridicule over others which reveals the subjectivity in shaming ‘fat’ people for their bodies. 

I and others must keep dismantling fatphobia both within ourselves and each other to prevent more suffering in the world.  I apologize to anyone I ever made to feel less than and less worthy over something that has so much more to do with socioeconomic factors and other factors outside one’s control like stress, lack of access, lack of time, trauma and psychological manipulation by greedy, sick, food corporations than one being a bad person.  We all deserve love, compassion, support and kindness and if there was more of these things in the world, it would be a much better place for us all. 

[weirdlizard26]

head in hands. rose is so kind so unbelievably kind

[deathsbestgirl]

is there a fandom word that's about shipping people as friends, no romantic/sexual context.

[the-force-awakens]

the sequel trilogy is always going to be important to me, and will remain in my mind the best, because of the themes it holds, and the heart it has. it really embodies the moment in rotj, when luke throws away his lightsaber in the face of unimaginable evil, refusing to sink to that level, imo. because every character is so angry, so hurt and so traumatized, and they have every right to be! but it's not enough, and burning yourself out to fight isn't enough either, you have to work towards something - something kind, something good, and you have to want to live for it - that you SHOULD live for it, because otherwise why are you fighting? That you have the power to make what you've been through, matter. It says that you can act on the best information you have, and still fail and still hurt the people you love the most, and you'll have to carry that for the rest of your life, but it's okay because you can do better. you just have to allow yourself the grace of forgiving yourself so you can move forward. it says failure happens to us all, but there's always tomorrow, and you can try again. that you're strong, not weak, for offering your heart to people, for seeing the best in them, but it also reminds you that if they won't change themselves, you have to accept it and take care of yourself, and choose the people that will choose you. It says that trust is what holds us together, and if you can't forge trust with each other, then things will fall apart, no matter how good intentioned you may be, and that you can't lose sight of the people around you no matter how hyperfixated on a goal you may be, because that has its own cost too. And most of all, it says that you're not alone - that there are others who care. It says that you're not that different from the person who made all the wrong choices, and it forces you to confront and accept that you, too, could make all the wrong choices. and it says that you ultimately have the choice to choose your family and what you stand for — for good or for bad.

it's a story about belonging and forgiveness and kindness and how the sun will rise and they will try again the next day, and that's why it's my favorite story in the whole world: because it's kind.