#spark despot privileges!

[lizasweetling]

Yeeeeeah. I Don't think a "clank override" is a real thing.

For one, trusting people is OOC for Klaus,

and if that weren't enough, a device to auto-win against his defenses would not be a remote with 2 buttons that sits in the palm of your hand and can be used (theoretically) by anyone

at a guess, the device Chakraborty is holding is a trap: an 'easy' hole in security to make would-be invaders, saboteurs, and rebelions shoot themselves in the foot.

I bet there are a few dozen of those around and they might be called 'clank overrides' but what they do is activate an aggro subroutine in all trooper clanks within a certain range (may even automatically make them converse to destroy you very efficiently! for Boris' sake, lets hope not though)

[blradley]

By popular (ish) request: a WIP intro

KING OF THE WORLD (Adult romantasy/comedy, m/m)

Meet MALEVOLOTH (Loth to his friends. If he had any - ), a tyrannical dragon-king who reigns over the realm of Krazuk with a fire-filled fist. Has burned millions. Will do it again. A proud human-hater, for reasons (no, he won’t talk about it), he lives by the doctrine that only the strongest can rule.

...Which means that he spent the entirety of his five kids' lives subjecting them to horrific abuse. He pitted them against each other constantly, almost killing them to ‘make them stronger’, encouraging them to fight for power and privilege and never displaying affection unless it’s part of a ploy.

…....And then he wonders why he gets brutally assassinated and deposed.

Because he spent 0 time on building any sort of political stability and +1000 time on WAR and TORTURE-MURDER and BEING HORRID, his kingdom crumbles the minute he can no longer terrorize everyone into order. The vultures are circling, as his five children splinter the army to form their own factions and fight each other for the crown, and the surrounding kingdoms throw their collective hats in the ring in a bid to piss on Loth’s legacy as much as possible.

In short: womp, womp, no bitches.

Loth tries to project a personality that is cold, calculating, and oozing menace, to the point that he glamours his body to look far more imposing than he actually is – but he’s the sort of loser who starts screaming internally whenever things don’t go his way. When he can no longer control the actions of everyone around him, he becomes a shaking wreck, constantly catastrophising, refusing to believe that anyone could ever be kind to him without ulterior motive.

Loth spent his whole life (except for. Some very bleak formative parts.) as the despotic ruler of this kingdom. He has completely lost touch with anything outside of the prison he built for himself within his own mind, where everyone is an enemy.

MALEVOLOTH SONGS: You’re Nobody Till Somebody Wants You Dead (Saint Motel); To Ashes and Blood (Arcane, Woodkid); King of Disappointment (Echoes)

Enter AZRAEL DE LIONHART, a young human man who’s been on the run from Loth his entire life (he was prophesied as a baby to be the one to eventually slay him. Loth, unable to be Normal about anything, has been hunting him ever since).

He’s thoughtful. He’s kind. He’s warm-hearted, and seems to actually care about the endless human collateral of the wars sparked by Loth’s heirs as they bicker over the crown. Despite the absolute hell Loth’s put him through, he doesn't succumb to trauma and darkness. Instead, he makes friends everywhere he goes, and genuinely does his utmost to help anyone who needs him.

Obviously, this is all a cunning act to gain the support of the people, so he can steal the throne for himself.

Or so Loth tries to convince himself, with increasing desperation. No one can be that kind. That forgiving. That… handsome. It’s not possible.

Right?

In fact, there’s only one person in the entire world that our noble hero seems to hate… and that’s Malevoloth himself.

Whoops.

AZRAEL SONGS: Dear Fellow Traveller (Sea Wolf); New Eyes (Echoes); Me and the Devil (Soap and Skin); Thus Always To Tyrants (The Oh Hellos)

Thankfully (?) following a near-successful assassin attempt from his kids, Loth is stuck in the body of Azrael's beloved tutor: the erudite imp RIVVEN of VARRUN, who has been teaching Azrael how to fight a diverse menagerie of beasts.

Unthankfully, Rivven is very, very dead, and it's 100% Loth's fault. And all of Loth’s once-legendary powers have been lost to him, much like his corpse, which has been locked in his old fortress to prevent resurrection attempts by his dedicated cult.

If Azrael finds out that Rivven… isn’t Rivven anymore, things will get very, very bad for Loth. If Loth can con Azrael into returning him to his cadaver, where Loth can reverse his accidental bodyswap (and, um, rebuild his exploded head), things will get exceedingly bad for Azrael.

All Loth has to do is get this trusting, naive idiot to guard him for the duration of one eensy-weensy cross-continental journey. Then it's all over for humanity's so-called hero.

…Only what’s that voice in the back of his head? The one that sounds like a cross between Jiminy Cricket and a certain tortured-to-death imp?

And why, with each passing day, does the prospect of killing Azrael become less appealing?

RIVVEN SONGS: Liar (The Arcadian Wild); The Devil Within (Digital Daggers); The Whole Being Dead Thing (Alex Brightman & Beetlejuice Cast)

TL;DR: ‘we’ve gotta kill this guy, Steven.’  ‘okay but. hear me out. what if I romanced him instead?’ ‘but you’re prophesied to kill him??’ ‘…your point is?’

(note: I have no idea how long this concept will itch at my brain, and I'm mostly focusing on my vampire imperialism story & my YA at the moment! but it's a fun background project for me to poke at when I get bored of the others~ intro for the Vampire project will be coming soon!)

[sillylittlehistorian]

the french revolution part 1: prelude to revolution

Mounting Tensions in France

By the late 18th century, a confluence of factors ignited revolutions across Europe, with the French Revolution standing out as particularly violent.

Social Dynamics in Western Europe

The rise of a prosperous elite among commoners—merchants, manufacturers, and professionals (the bourgeoisie)—sought political influence where they lacked it. Peasants, many landowners themselves, saw improvements in living standards and education, desiring to abolish feudal remnants for full landownership rights and expansion. Improved living conditions since 1730 had notably reduced adult mortality rates, contributing to a significant population surge across Europe, doubling from 1715 to 1800. France, with its 26 million inhabitants in 1789, faced acute challenges due to this rapid demographic growth.

Economic Pressures

Growing populations drove increased demand for food and consumer goods. The discovery of new gold mines in Brazil from 1730 initially spurred economic prosperity, but by 1770, economic crises began to frequent the landscape, sparking concerns and even uprisings. Intellectuals of the Enlightenment era, inspired by thinkers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, advocated for social reforms through their writings, influencing the educated classes via various intellectual societies.

Political Tensions

Amidst the heavy costs of 18th-century wars, European rulers sought revenue by taxing nobles and clergy previously exempt. This fiscal strategy, justified as enlightened despotism, faced staunch resistance from privileged classes across Europe, triggering political turmoil. The American Revolution, born from similar fiscal grievances, underscored the growing dissent against monarchial policies.

Conclusion

Debates continue among scholars regarding the exact catalysts of the French Revolution. Key factors commonly cited include the bourgeoisie's frustration with political exclusion, peasants' discontent with feudal burdens, widespread influence of Enlightenment ideas in France, financial strain from supporting the American Revolution, demographic pressures exacerbated by crop failures, and a monarchy perceived as increasingly out of touch with societal demands.

These were the tensions brewing in France preceding the eventual catastrophic and bloody revolution. Signing off with a "let them eat cake." I'll catch you fellow scholars in my next part ;)

[ravencromwell]

Thinking about this answer thanks to the flood of Atabei feels in Rue The Day. From the moment you'd answered my world-building ask about the bounds of compulsion, I'd had this crawling dread of what it heralded (in fact a version of this reblog has been sitting in my drafts unfinished for ages because I'm a gadfly essentially saying wait, but then did she *willingly* for Eliza? and fuck, never been so sad to be right.)

It must have been hideous paradox. Knowing you should let Gilly do his worst. As he says, without the siren his life would be short and brutish and he could enact so vastly less harm on others. But to also know you're just. not. brave enough to carve your heart out. That to cling to the fragile threads of sanctuary a monster grants, you'll let the rest of the world burn. Hating yourself. hating him but knowing that truth is as stark and unchanging as granite. (After all, isn't it a microcosm of what so many have done, turning a blind eye and quieting their conscience in the face of despotic rulers for a chance at normalcy?)

Which makes it matter all the more that she visited the siren, still tried offering what comfort and fellow feeling was possible; he might make her do monstrous things in service of Eliza and herself, but she would not let him strip her of compassion within those constraints.

And Eliza: I have to wonder how much of Eliza's realizations on that ship, amid the horror of how this man had *wrecked* the life. the child. *everything* she and Atabei had worked to build. was understanding herself as ultimate pawn to control her wife. Jumping as the last form of autonomy in an impossible situation: desperately hoping that by depriving Gilly of the power of her existence, she could set the wheels in motion for Atabei to make this madness cease. Didn't work, but she's still the bravest. most clear-eyed of everyone in that first cycle, imho.

God it just. means so fucking much to me that the focal points of this story are two queer women and that Kira will be the one to set her queer foremother's mistake to rights. That the "ghosts" of Eliza's house, and the strangely vivid portrait may have been doing what they could in finite ways across the centuries. That, on a broader scale, throughout the centuries, it has consistently! been Gilly's wives mitigating his awfulness by their small acts of revolution, even (and especially!) if those revolutions were domestic: Ford's mother protecting her children, instilling them with enough morals Ford understands Gilly's monstrousness and will go out of his comfort zone to help the siren. But not just! his wives; so many of the overlooked domestics, nameless Nadette's, holding onto slivers of themselves long enough to bring some spark of decency in to that hellhouse even if it seemed pointless in the moment. I am _certain it's those women who are just faces in a gallery determinedly throwing wrenches into this privileged sexist bastard's spanner, along with Areyto's own defiances, making it so that even now he's throwing mud at the wall still trying to be king instead of the "worse" of my compulsion ask already. (All your fans have their "Ash tales they wish were a book" but for my money it's Bones all the way. just so we could have those narrative style interludes you'd put in the video game: the ephemera of those women's lives, all buying enough time that Kira could face a man: still unbelievably dangerous. but *defeatable*. But then, I've low-key been hoping Kira discovers the primer she took as childish nonsense was some sort of coded journal for ages :).

1/ 2I need to talk about the perfect tragedy that is Atabei. Atabei who met this little boy that wouldn't kill the piglets! Who embraced the black girl with her magic and superstitions! And then _wouldn't _realize until it was too late that boy had changed. It didn't matter if it was the privation he'd experienced, or if there was this seed of awfulness always in him, didn't even matter if some part of him was guilty about it. She loved him so much for who he was before and what they'd shared

2/3 that love—one of the strongest forces for good—blinded her into doing great evil and I'm verklempt. I have no idea if the "ghosts" Ford mentions will play a role, or even if we'll learn *why* Eliza eventually "fell" (though I hope like hell some of Sirene's descendants play a role because her eight-year-old put-down of Guilford was the best fucking line so far I adore that child to pieces) Sure, she'd done some questionable shit—though considering abusive husband of Eliza I approve--,

3/3 and it would've been so easy to make her as resentful as Guilford, but that the hamartia of her doom was wrongly bestowed kindness is visceral and raw and perfect. God, sorry that got so long my epitaph will be 'thought nothing worth penning were it not verbose'

-

First off, sorry I didn't answer this right away. I have been mentally rereading and kicking my feet and giggling.

Secondly!

NEVER feel bad about sending long asks about Bones in the Ocean. Or any asks! That story, its world, its concepts and the types of magic, the rules... it's all taken over my brain and I am almost always desperate to just ramble endlessly about the characters and histories, especially the aspects that aren't part of the main storyline but are instead the added context around the edges of it.

Gilly always had a seed of potential awful in him, but Atabei was actually a good influence on his willingness to empathize with nonhuman creatures, because SHE did. Atabei's empathy did not extend overmuch to actual human beings, though. Even less so when it came to her love Eliza's abusive husband, who stood between the two of them and happiness and kept Eliza in a life of constant fear for herself and her daughter.

Decades later, Eliza gets far enough away from Gilly and the siren to remember herself, and to remember the daughter she left behind - she assumes to die, alone and unloved - and she 'falls' over the side of the ship. It's polite language. Everyone knows, deep down, what really happened. Especially Atabei, who never fully forgot herself, and went more than a little mad as a result of the guilt and shame and fear that overwhelmed her when Eliza was gone.

Atabei's tragedy is in aiding and abetting the evil that would ruin her life, turn her love Eliza into someone else entirely, and leave her knowing what had been done but utterly unable to speak of it, to do anything at all to stem the tide of Gilly's ambition. She used her magic when commanded, to paint the marks again, to rebuild the bars of her own cage, really.

I have thoughts on that time period, those years of her watching Gilly's children with Eliza growing up. I think she probably visited the siren, on occasion. She and Areyto probably came, at some point, to a sort of bitter understanding with each other. Each of them trapped, each of them captive and caged and knowing it, each of them used as a tool in Gilly's plans.

If this story were a video game, there would be diaries or half-erased letters stained with tears throughout the house, Atabei telling the story of her own long, dreary life, the bright spots with Eliza, the darkness that was so much stronger.

Watching her childhood friend grow into a more violent man with age and power - especially with the corruption of his slowly growing power. Watching him murder his own eldest son to take his place.

Watching the cycle start anew with the next generation, knowing even her death would not end this, as she aged but Gilly didn't.

She gave a man she cared deeply for functional immortality and far too much power.

-

But - know this - Sirene is instrumental, too, to the eventual end of Gilly's grand ambitions.

[sinkix]

Haikyuu!!│Obsessive/Yandere HC’s │

Warning - Contains dark themes, mentions of emotional and physical abuse & sexually suggestive/explicit (18+) content, reader’s discretion is advised.

Characters - Hinata, Kuroo, Daichi, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Oikawa, Bokuto, Tendou & Kageyama.

Important Note: This is in no way romanticising or normalising toxic/abusive behaviour, you should not do as such as this is incredibly dangerous and unhealthy. If you identify any of these in your own relationships please seek help from a member of authority, counsellor or someone who can remove you from and aid in your recovery from the situation. This is a great contrast from all my other work on here so please read with caution. Stay safe <3

Hinata - The Hell-bent Visionary

Danger level: 6.5/10

So you’ve caught the eye of Karasuno’s ray of sunshine?

Bask in it’s warmth while you can, for the sun sets and leaves a chilling dark in it’s wake.

When he becomes focused on something, it’s hard to break the dedication he has. It’s unyielding, firm and persistent. Once you light a fire in him, it’s near impossible to put out.

And you didn’t just spark a flame, you formed a whole inferno.

Blowing up your phone with texts, calls and the tapping of rocks against your bedroom’s glass from late night visits to your doorstep. Greeted with the sickening scent of blood-red roses filling your nose at a reminder of how firmly he has you in his hold that will never falter. The lingering scratch marks adorning the window panes that you could have sworn were not there the night before.

 He can’t get enough of you, and the more time he spends with you, the more addictive your presence becomes.

He’s hooked, reaching the point of rivalling his sporting passion.

He learns to balance the two equally, and any second that isn’t spent practising, he is by your side or doing everything in his power to be.

It’s tunnel vision. All he sees is you, and the ball, nothing else matters. Relentlessly chasing for both long after his lungs tire and legs give out.

 He is a dark, unwavering force of nature, itching to monopolise you and eradicate any threat on what belongs to him. Yet around everyone else, he's a bundle of lovable sunshine who wouldn't dare hurt a fly, and while he doesn't show an outright aggressive nature, you know there's something sinister lurking underneath that might one day snap. 

It’s his stare that haunts you the most.

That ominous, chilling stare which pierces through your heart and impales it on a stick, out on display for him to marvel at in all it’s vulnerable beauty. The level of intensity and sheer devotion glinting in his eyes is nothing short of haunting.

Luckily for you, Hinata will not cause physical harm, but it’s his presence and ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ nature which will slowly but surely chip away at you until your sanity is reduced to dust. The worst part? Since he is loved by everyone, no one sees the twisted side you do, and as a result left permanently in a state of self-doubt and second guessing. Your mind will eventually spiral into a descent to madness until your right where he wants you.

Be careful, for even the sun’s light burns out eventually. And when it does, you’ll be swallowed by the darkness.

Kuroo - The Devil’s Reciprocal

Danger level: 9/10

Ahhh, the bad boy who smells of cigarettes and sex, the one who lurks in bars long after midnight eyeing up his prey. This man gives Satan a run for his money. I hope you’re prepared. What did you do to catch his eye, anyway? 

Whatever it was, it’s doomed you to an eternity in hell on earth.

Or heaven, if you’re a glass half full kind of person.

Kuroo drew you in like a moth to a flame, you knew he had no glinting halo, but that was his appeal.

 He was the incarnation of everything your parents warned you about, and you couldn’t get enough of it. 

Hell, you still can’t. But that doesn’t minimise the damage done to you every second he turns the light on, reeling you in once again, further and further until there’s no escape, utterly blinded by his deceiving tactics.

He has many admirers, you know. So in his eyes he feels you should be privileged to be given so much of his attention, that once received would leave any sane person running.

Unfortunately, you don’t seem to be sane enough, and he recognises this. He knows he’s got you hooked on his every word, dragging out the syllables like a lullaby that leave you entranced and begging for more.

 What can I say? The man has a way with words, and you’re totally enthralled by every sentence. 

Kuroo recklessly waves his charm like a gun, never a moment of hesitation to utilise it in order to get what he wants. 

And he always gets what he wants. 

It’s so dangerous it will leave you down on your knees in an act of submission and prepared to do anything to please him. The tip of the pistol aimed at your temple as if daring your defiance.

He revels in seeing that doe-eyed expression, fully aware of how much control he holds over every cell in your body. All of them scream out for him, for Kuroo. To kiss you, touch you and whisper sweet-nothings into your ear that linger with his hot breath scathing your neck, burning his scent into your memory until it’s one you’ll never forget. 

With all that temptation comes  consequence though, because once you give in, you’ll face the sadists horns that lurk underneath. 

Intertwining your bodies and tracing a switchblade across your jugular, he’ll stretch his lips into a wide, cunning grin, slamming into you and rutting his hips until they connect with yours. Throwing your head back in ecstasy, your whine will be stifled and cut short by the piercing slit of a blade shallowly opening the skin of your throat, the sharp sting lingering as his tongue deepens the incision with delight.

He is incredibly possessive, so anyone he deems a threat will be mercilessly eradicated, soon to be forgotten though. He will never allow your thoughts to be consumed by anything but him. 

Grinding his body against yours, the husky murmuring of pillow talk he is all too skilled at will leaves your knees trembling and buckling before him, with the one question he will only ever accept one answer to.

“Tell me sweetheart, who do you belong to...?”

Shuffling the cards and dragging cigar smoke across his lips, he’ll sip that glass of gin snidely and lock you in place with his smouldering gaze. Forever a reminder there’s no escape from his enslaving curse.

Daichi - The Despotic Protector

Danger level: 6/10

Karasuno’s father figure and reliable captain rolled into one. I hope you’re prepared for a lifetime of suffocation, because he’s never letting you go.

He takes on an almost a parental role in the relationship, and a toxic one.

Controlling, overbearing and monitoring your every move. He will never allow you to do anything without his permission out of fear for your safety.

I mean, what if something happens to you while you’re not within his peripherals? 

That’s a thought he simply couldn’t bear.

He’ll lock you in the confines of his home if he has to. But don’t get mad sweetheart, it’s because he cares for you.

Soon enough Daichi will have isolated you from the world, never seeing the shining of sunlight unless your arm is looped around his in a crushing hold. 

Friends? You can forget them, he made sure to steer you far, far away from those. He just can’t risk them laying a finger on you or putting you in harms way, he would never forgive them.

Daichi desperately tries to convince you he has your best interests at heart, and unluckily for you, you fall right into his trap.

Your whole life is consumed by him, and only him. Watching the clock tick by aimlessly until you hear his footsteps up the driveway, scurrying to the door to greet him like an obedient dog upon his arrival.

Pulling you into a loving hug that threatens to squeeze the life out of you, you can’t help but let your mind roam and ponder the question lurking at the back of your thoughts.

Has he ever killed with these hands?

They seem too crushing. Like a brute, inhuman force. You can picture his fingers wrapped around someone’s throat and draining them of oxygen almost too easily.

Little did you know, your hypothesis was painfully accurate. 

An old childhood friend of yours, currently 6 feet under in the yard. Your bare feet trampling over his grave and none the wiser every time he allows you to set foot in the garden.

You’ll never know, though. It’s not like you can check your phone without his permission anyway, he’s already blocked their contact.

Days, weeks, months pass by of his constant monitoring and controlling behaviour. The CCTV’s scattered in every corner of the house, the social deprivation and loneliness that creeps in every time he’s not there as you roam the barren household, the purple finger marks roping your wrists from when he kept you in a paralysing grip,daring your disobedience.

and you can’t help but wonder,

Maybe the person you needed protecting from was him.

Tsukishima - The Mendacious Manipulator

Danger level: 8.5/10

How unlucky you are to be paired with this mentally destroying sadist. 

At first Tsukishima’s wit, sarcasm and clever quips were what allured you, never did you think they would be used against you. Wielded like a weapon with a blade sharp enough to slice you in two.

And I’m warning you, every cut hurts.

There’s no escaping from it, a string of degrading remarks whispered cruelly in your ear while holding hands in public, appearing to be a cute and affectionate couple, but a sinister secret lurks underneath that only you know of.

He’ll treat you like a dog, expecting you to be at his every beck and call, serving on your knees with a painted smile that’s woefully forced on with every ounce of strength you have left.

You are his puppet, his useless little play thing that he makes painfully aware of how disposable they truly are.

And don’t take him for a fool, he will discard you if he sees fit.

Unmerciful, cruel, snide, are the some of many words that can describe Tsukishima, and as you’ll soon find out none of them are pleasant.

He will craftily make you open up to him. Revealing your deepest insecurities,traumas and troubles then sheath it like a sword to your neck, holding you hostage to your own weaknesses in order to gain that empowering sense of control he oh-so revels in. Endlessly striving to achieve his selfish, favourable outcome. 

This Yandere is one of most intelligent of the bunch, and unfortunately for you, does not use his intelligence for charitable or good-natured purposes.

He knows exactly what to say to leave you curled up in a ball, tears streaming and wracked in emotional agony as you plead for forgiveness on something that isn’t even your fault. He knows this, but finds it comical and all too amusing to see you so broken over something when you weren’t the one to blame. He gets off to your mental anguish.

You’ll be left stumbling the streets at 2 in the morning, contemplating your life and everything as you know it, he will warp your perception of the world until he is the only one you can crawl to. After all, it’s your fault, right? He’s the only one who could tolerate you, everyone else abandoned you because you were so insufferable.

...is what he’ll have you believe. In reality, Tsukishima was pulling strings behind the scenes to ensure you would distance yourself from friends and family, resulting in them doing the same. Wrapping you around his finger and twisting your behaviour into one that’s volatile and unapproachable, until you’re left totally alone.

You’ll never know though.

That mental fortitude will soon shatter, and when it does, he’ll cackle at it’s pathetic remains.

Yamaguchi  - The Diffident Vampire

Danger level: 5/10

I’m sad to say, but your tween Twilight fantasies will be crushed when you stumble upon this mess of a monster.

I don’t mean to say he’s a literal vampire, but you’ll understand the use of this metaphor once we delve into some of his tendencies.

He is incredibly insecure, the walking embodiment of the very word.

Now that isn’t the reason you should be warded off, everyone has self-esteem issues. However, this trait of his plays a huge part in siphoning the life out of you.

He captured your heart with his soft and sympathetic nature, easily startled and somewhat skittish.

You didn’t see what was below the iceberg however, and once you did, he sank his teeth in and began to suck before you could escape, draining you dry until you have no more left to give. Nothing to spare until he is licking his lips in satisfaction, swelled with the abundance at the emotional dependency he has built up on you.

He needs reassurance like a life line, and while some might find this endearing at first, it undoubtedly becomes highly toxic and emotionally exhausting.  

Yamaguchi is incredibly volatile with his sensitivity, you have to watch your words and be sure he doesn’t misinterpret them and become dejected. He will read into everything you say and question every little detail. 

This is one of those Yandere’s that wouldn't do it intentionally I don’t think, but by the time he catches himself it’s too late, he’s in far too deep to stop and I don’t think he ever will once he realises how addicted he is to you, your words boosting his sense of worth and being the only form of confidence he’s ever felt in his life.

It’s quite sad, really. 

Don’t pity him too much, though. That’s the trap. That’s how reels you in until the teeth marks adorning your neck are a harsh reminder that you are nothing more than food for his ego.

If you ever think about leaving, he will have no qualms grovelling at your knees, razor to his wrists and begging you to stay. A cruel memoire at what keeps you tied here in the first place.

Pity.

Care.

The mutual empathy you saw in him that drew you in was now broken and one-sided, his selfishness far outweighing this trait of his and becoming your death-sentence. 

The marks will never fade. One day you’ll collapse to your knees and cave, but he won’t stop until he has bled you bare.

Oikawa - The Venusian’s Nightmare.

Danger level: 8/10

Oh charming Oikawa. The pretty boy with enough carnal seduction to rival his greek goddess counterpart. Hair smooth as silk, eyes glinting with mischief and a smirk that could bow you down on all fours. He has everything, or so it seems.

Sanity isn’t one of them.

He is VERY demanding when he craves your attention, which let’s face it is pretty often. If he doesn’t get it? Definition of a nightmarish brat.

He will whine, complain, blow up your phone. Still not available?

He’ll simply disappear.

For how long? Who really knows. He likes the thought of you on edge and anticipating his return, thoughts of him plaguing your mind to the point you question if you’re the one who’s obsessed.

Don’t worry though, when he returns he has enough sensual suave to make you forgive him ten times over.

You may think his bratty and sulking nature is the worst of it.

Oh how wrong you are.

Push him to his limits or the closest thing to it and you’ll face a cut-throat, teasing sadist who will tie you to the bed with a sickening sparkle in his eyes, marvelling at your skin jaggedly sliced open like a sheet of paper, tracing the wounds with his tongue and lapping up the blood before pulling you into a heated kiss which seems almost loving, if it weren’t for the metallic taste intertwining your tongues as a harsh reminder that you’re not here by choice.

He is definitely the type to mock you and howl with laughter as your body spams and writhes in pain, degrading you with the most vile remarks till tears spill from your eyes.

“Awh poor (Y/N)-chan, crying like a baby. Can’t handle the pain? What a pathetic little whore. Maybe if you beg enough, I’ll ease up the pressure~”

Sometimes he’ll leave you there wrist-bound to the bed post for hours, coming back in occasionally until your level of pleading satisfies him. 

His change in treatment is paradoxical in the aftermath, he will release you from your restrains and rub your skin with such tender care, it’s agonisingly deceiving.

One of the most dangerous things about him is his intuition, it’s damn near supernatural and makes for a natural born lie detector. Oikawa will sense the slightest shift in your mood, tone and body language. He knows you like the back of his hand, making it all the more unnerving to be in his presence.

This can be a positive if he is looking to fill you with ecstasy, since he knows every sweet spot, curl of his fingers and words to whisper that leave you trembling in mind-numbing pleasure.

Though you know once coming down from your high, your moments of heaven will slip through your fingers before crashing back down to reality.

He can read you like a book that he wrote with his own hands and it’s horrifying, he can predict what you’re going to say or do before you’ve even made up your mind. Which as you can guess, makes escape or wheedling out of a threatening scenario a null alternative.

If you decide to make the suicidal mistake of lying, your body will never quite function the same once he’s through. not to mention the plethora of emotional scarring that comes along with it.

After catching you in your mendacity and deeming your punishment enough, he’ll decorate your body in cuts, bruises and hickeys that throb from the abuse of his teeth. Laying you down in bed and tucking you in gently, wrapping an arm around in an act of ‘protection’ that was formerly wrapped around your throat in an act of threatening asphyxiation.

Eyes fluttering closed hours after he drifted off beside you, your heart rate quells and the tears staining your cheeks dry, preparing for the repeated cycle when the sun rises. 

How foolish to be lured in by such a facade, even the most beautiful of creatures can be hideous. 

Bokuto -  The Volcanoes Slaughter

Danger level: 9.5/10

The ticking of a time bomb, the cracking of the ground beneath your feet.

Once you are swept up in this man’s wrath you know there will never be an escape.

and he’s fucking terrifying.

His energy and vigour were what charmed you, his upbeat enthusiasm that while volatile, was very contagious and encouraging. 

If only you had known what kind of disaster was laying low under the surface.

Akaashi had tried to warn you, but you simply never listened.

He pities you now, for you’re in the same boat as him.

Eternally putting up with his violent tempers and erratic nature, which you often get the brunt of behind closed doors, left to cover the scars with a scarf and cheap pot of concealer.

His moods switch as quick as the direction of the wind, a gust too strong that leaves you flying back like a ragdoll against the wall.

Or that may just be because he actually threw you in a fit of rage, itching to see your limp body crack against the drywall to soothe his rage. Drowning the voices in his head with the sound of your soothing whimpers filled with agony.

While he may beat you black and blue whenever the overflow of emotions take over, he still does ‘care’ for you in his own sickening way, and would never have any qualms snapping a neck or two if it prevented anyone else laying a finger on you.

Though to be honest it’s the furthest thing from care, it’s downright monopolisation of something he deems his object.

How dare they hurt his personal punching bag, don’t they know you’re his and his alone to mark up in any way he pleases?

To everyone else, he seems like a very loving and protective boyfriend who has the occasional mood swing. If only they could pick up on the flinching of your body when his voice raises even a decibel, or the way you retract in fear at the swatting of a hand too close to your face. 

The anxiety felt when in his presence is indescribable, your whole body will soon become accustomed to trembling in fear, your fight or flight kicking in at the mere mention of his name. His voice sends every hair standing on end, bracing for the impact that may or may never come from his grazed fists.

Treading on eggshells and analysing every word before you speak will become second nature, even the tone of your voice or the way you arrange a question will be heavily thought over before even daring to let it escape your mouth.

You just can’t risk it, even hearing a word he doesn’t like will result in the tectonic plates shifting, getting closer to his impending eruption.

Once you hear the rumbling, you’ll know it’s far too late to run. Burned by the raging lava and consumed whole in a flood of pain and misery, it will destroy everything in it’s wake, even you.

Tendou - The Jesters Despair

Danger level: 10/10

You really opened pandora’s box with this one.

And once you so much as cracked it for a peak, just that little inkling of curiosity, the lanky arm of a redhead yanked your wrist and dragged you in with him.

Tendou’s eccentric and offbeat disposition was something you had always admired, it was what made your heart flutter.

Now? That eccentricity is put to the most horrifying of uses.

Mind games, manipulation, and unpredictability beyond your worst nightmare.

Tendou is the type to sink a blade into your skin and cackle maniacally while you cry and plead for him to stop. Edging himself and eyeing you up greedily at the painful fear in your eyes, blood trickling down your skin with each incision.

He’ll pull your hair back and slide his tongue along the cuts, his lustful gaze boring into your own as the pooling saliva leaves a chilling feeling on your skin, nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought of his DNA entering your bloodstream.

He thrives on trickery and deception. He’s the type to say something incredibly warm and soft-centred, one that makes your pupils expand in newfound hope with the question of “...really?” rolling off your tongue. That inkling of hope sparking the thought that maybe, just maybe he’s changed. 

Only to burst into a fit of laughter at your naivety, teasing you relentlessly for how gullible and moronic he thinks you are. 

This yandere is incredibly incalculable. Here one minute, gone the next. Don’t even bother trying to figure out what he’s doing or where he is, you’ll never know. It keeps you on your toes in the most negative and unnerving sense of the expression, he gets a buzz off leaving you wondering, and takes great satisfaction in knowing you’re probably thinking about him.

 However, he expects you to be there whenever he needs you, regardless of circumstance. And if you’re not? You’ll have consequences to face.

I’m sorry to say, but there is no chance in hell you’re surviving this experience, there’s no doubt you’ll be murdered eventually. 

After all, he does get bored easily. Not so much as giving it a second thought on disposing of you once you are no longer a source of fresh entertainment for his sadistic desires.

With each passing day his treatment becomes increasingly brutal, searching for new ways to fulfil that empty feeling in his heart and cold, hollow look in his eyes. Don’t even bother trying to save him, not even he would know where to start.

Every night as you shut your eyes on the hardwood floor beside his bed, you can’t help but wonder if this is the last time you’ll ever close them.

And for your sake? You’d better hope it is.

Charming you with the humour of a Jester and putting on a show, he’ll make it certain every time you laugh, will be paid back with tears twofold. 

Kageyama - The Majesties Tyrant

Danger level: 7/10

Kneel before your highness or face his wrath. Kageyama Tobio is the most commanding of them all. Permanently trapped in his dictatorship with no hope of revolt. 

He doesn’t become set on things very often, but once he does it’s something he’ll never give up until he’s conquered it wholly.

Stubborn, moody, domineering and demanding. With just enough of a soft side he uses to persuade you back again. 

Fuelled by ego, pride, and a sense of superiority, he will never stop until he has your total obedience.

Being the dense man he is, this is usually achieved through simplistic means of intimidation and threats of aggression.

Kageyama will not hesitate to raise his fist and back you into a corner, cowering in recoil at his menacing aura that itches to do damage

You will do what he says, whenever he needs it, no if’s but’s or objections.

For such a hard headed ruler, he’s surprisingly childish and unsure about how to express anything other than abuse.

I think a part of him genuinely does like you, but it’s far too clouded by his toxic nature that it could never be seen as even slightly redeemable.

The most you’ll ever get out of Kageyama is the occasional hug, in which he squeezes you far to tight and resurfaces the pain of last nights bruises.

He doesn’t resort to physical violence often, as he is always reprimanded by the team to control his anger. If only they knew what he was like behind closed doors. I suppose you could credit it to Karasuno that he hasn’t accidentally killed you yet.

Yet.

When it comes to matters in the bedroom, he is focused solely on his own gratification, yours being a second thought he never so much as acknowledges.

Collared and threaded by  chain, you will crawl beside him and take it all until you’re gasping for air. The only thing he cares about is climaxing and leaving you with the cleanup.

He’s quite self conscious, so don’t expect much physical affection unless he’s chasing a particularly intense release.

Kageyama is highly jealous and frequently painted green with envy, so expect your social life to dwindle significantly once he has his hands on you, literally and metaphorically.

Thankfully, he won’t isolate you entirely, but it’s enough to leave you feeling segregated from the rest of the world. A lone member of his regime that you are forever trapped in with no chance of escape.

Bow down with a meek mutter of “Yes...master.” His crown will twinkle in the moonlight as a symbol of your everlasting enslavement.

The king of the court, and the ruler of your heart.

[farendaire]

Quando caeli movendi sunt

Riven,

I will do all I can through contacts I have established in the Brume over the years through my ministry there.  We shall make a neighborhood watch for you the likes beyond your imagination.

But I cannot expect them to fight, these poor souls, and especially so if your operation is to remain relatively discreet.  Without Hilda’s people, I fear that they will be powerless should the Vandairs resort to violence.

But Judielle was not satisfied; there was too much uncertainty, and she knew too well the depravity the privileged few could bring down upon the earth for she was one of them.  She felt horrid, preparing Brumelings to defend themselves from trained knights, no matter what their eagerness to stick it to the highborn could or might be. 

Another idea - one profound, dangerous, catastrophic, monumental - but one nonetheless.  She rose from her seat in her quiet apartment in a clerical district of the city, braved the harsh Coerthan night, and arrived at Farendaire Manor, whose sole remaining highborn inhabitant - Celine, Judielle assumed, still being at the Castle - was doubtless still awake, perseverating over the next great issue in the House of Lords.  Though the servants smiled to see her once more in the manor’s halls, Judielle spared little time before making her way to Aronaux’s personal chambers.

She stopped, fist raised to the door, pausing to realize the gravity of what she was about to do - and then she knocked.

“Intrude,” said the tired voice of the Viscount; she entered.

Viscount Aronaux de Farendaire gazed towards the doorway while he sat at his writing desk in the middle of writing his own letter; he offered a faint, tired smile and solemn bow of his head to his sister.  “Ah, you’re usually asleep by now - what brings you home, Jude?”

“Oh, I just wanted your opinion on something,” Judielle asked, turning her gaze slightly to Aronaux’s work.  “What’s that?”

“A letter to Lord Rosaire Ledigne,” he curtly replied, glancing over his writing for a moment before jotting another few sentences.

“...May I ask for what reason?” Judielle asked with a tilted head, finding it difficult to believe that the two, so different in perspective if not in demeanor, were in regular contact.

“His widely known work, The End of Nobility.“  Whatever he was writing - and Judielle wasn’t entirely optimistic - the viscount was assuredly proud.  “But you’ve completely avoided the question.”

Judielle hesitated, knowing that this was in every way a breach of confidentiality with Riven, but in that moment she put her all her trust and might in the firstborn son of Garion Farendaire - and she told him everything. 

And after several long moons in Hingashi, Judielle was shocked to see how Aronaux had changed.

---

Lady Riven de Pendragon,

My father, the late Viscount Garion de Farendaire, may he rest in peace with the Fury, was an honorable man.  I have ever struggled to learn from his example, having misinterpreted his life so often and begrudged that I could not have him beyond my youngest years, yet now - after much reflection and contemplation - it is my hope that my work upon this earth shall be deemed honorable by history.  This is no new sentiment of mine, but it is one that, I pray, I finally comprehend.

I have regrettably few knights to send to your aid, but you need but call upon them and they shall stand at your side should House Vandair strike at you. 

I am still struggling to understand my place in this world, one in which one’s bloodline matters not and merely one’s courage, honor, and virtue distinguish a man as better than his brothers and sisters, but I recognize my castes’ ancient assaults on dignity and justice must henceforth be tolerated not.  The Revolution may have failed to bring about its most enlightened of aspirations, but as long as we remember that there was once an idea, it has not died and can be reborn with but a spark.

Though I write ahead of myself and our own times - I will understand if you reject this letter, perceiving it as greatly reckless and a danger to your people should the Temple Knights come in the name of order - House Farendaire will stand with you and yours, and should this one spark set aflame the ancient order once more may it burn away its greatest offenses in the eyes of gods and men.  Let the world witness that predatory despots cannot be allowed their reign over a just society.

I am under no illusions refuting that what I propose is drastic and will prove irreversible, yet I bind my fate to your cause should your people face the wrath of the sword all the same.  The House Farendaire of Garion would not have allowed for the destruction of innocents; neither will I.

Halone save our Republic, come what may.

Viscount Aronaux Garion de Farendaire

---

The letters came to Riven sealed with the sigil of House Farendaire and hidden in a basket of various gifts for her young twins.

---

@scrollsfromarebornrealm @eaoisnotawhore

@heavens-light-and-hells-ice Letter coming soon.

[zari-olawale]

In the disturbing light of the recent racist outbursts in Charlottesville USA and the consequent sparks across the nation, it is bountifully evident that white America and its self-styled privilege is constantly threatened​ by its own programme of fear driven agendas. Since Agent Orange stepped on the hubris filled stage, the palpable fires of hate have burned with such ferocity. This one disjointed individual has galvanised the secret sauce of racism in America with one fell swoop. To my mind, I am convinced that America is conducting its own social experiment on despotism and crass leadership. Agent Orange has always stated his agenda so flagrantly and the chosen populace saw, heard, and felt its vitriolic depths like the stings of a wasp but they willingly decided to follow the hate, polarity, erroneous desires and fear induced mindset. The world gasped in paroxysm. The dystopian elements were in place. The people of colour and a small number of conscious white sensibilities have stood up against the insidious agendas of an administration soaked in infantile antics, sand pit politics, playground cruelties and an acute case of arrested development. The plethora of black men and women slaughtered by modern day slave patrols and the massive incarceration of the same has sparked the ugly narratives that danced in the form Jim Crow. America's history is a jaded mass of ticks. In 2017, old fear filled ideology congregates with open face and in broad daylight surround a place of worship deemed to be the wrong colour. Fires burn, diatribes spew, intimidation grunts, twisted flags fly and a car rams into a crowd. No one says it's terrorism. The tinder box is ignited again. The constant Twitterer-in-Chief can't find his phone or the gall to be the 'man'. The joke is not laughable. The world looks on and hopes. The time has come even more so, for all maligned peoples of all colours in America to raise a collective and resolute hand to this junta and let true power be. Enough is enough! Fear is a debased choice in the fight for being. The power that can be lost is not power at all. People of colour are powerful beyond measure and yet accommodate others. This hospitality is what gave rise to this problem. Our strength is also our weakness. America is a tinder box and what it does on the world stage is crucial. It's a laughing stock. The man-child called its leader is a comedy of horrors. Charlottesville is but a precursor to more unrest until wisdom is chosen. President Obama must be looking at the present portrait of what he left as a legacy and is deeply saddened. I still believe that hope and wisdom will finally reign again in this utopia within a dystopia. High consciousness is the only responsibility for clearing the trash that the human self has accumulated over millennia. What do you think? © zari alexxanderr-caine 2017 #TheWisdomGuide

[theconservativebrief]

Could test the U.S. dollar’s status as world reserve currency…

Stefan Gleason

(Stefan Gleason, Money Metals News Service) President Donald Trump’s “America First” trade policies are upending decades of global arrangements and entanglements.

Globalists are aghast that the leader of the free world is openly confrontational toward NAFTA, NATO, the European Union, United Nations, and World Trade Organization.

In rebuffing the global community by pursuing unilateral tariffs and vowing to win trade wars against both rivals and putative allies alike, Trump is playing a high stakes game.

Trump’s trade wars could test the U.S. dollar’s status as world reserve currency.

According to economist Brad Schiller, “Nations are willing to accept U.S. dollars in exchange for their goods because they trust that the dollar will retain its value… The long history of U.S. dollar stability gives the U.S. this unique trade advantage — a key reason we can import more goods than we export year after year.”

Schiller, like many conventionally trained economists, seems to believe that our ever-growing trade deficit benefits us. In the near term, we do get to consume more things. But countries that are sending us stuff in exchange for our dollars are effectively accumulating claims on our future.

China holds title to an enormous hoard of U.S. dollar IOUs. U.S. taxpayers now owe China more than $1.2 trillion. China ran a $366 billion trade surplus in 2017 alone.

President Trump has moved to impose tens of billions of dollars in tariffs on China and other trading partners including Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. They have responded with retaliatory tariffs affecting everything from wheat crops to Harley-Davidsons.

Winning trade wars may not be as easy as Trump had thought.

Dying U.S. Senator John McCain, a longtime Trump detractor and globalist, is among those who are actively rooting against the U.S. administration and consoling foreign countries.

“To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t,” McCain ranted on Twitter.

It’s not clear the failed former presidential candidate speaks for “bipartisan majorities of Americans” as he boasts. Nor is it clear that these foreign alliances reflect our “shared values.”

Many of the international commitments signed by previous administrations are to European-style socialists, third world despots, and NGOs that flood our cities with welfare-seeking refugees from the world’s worst backwaters. Trump questions whether these entangling alliances actually benefit America.

But undoing trade agreements and raising tariffs has downside risks, to be sure.

Whether Trump’s trade wars produce more wins than losses for America’s economy remains to be seen.

Regardless, Trump’s tariffs will not close the trade deficit. They will not reduce the projected trillion-dollar budget deficits the U.S. will be running when Trump is up for re-election.

In fact, if Trump’s tariffs – which are tantamount to tax hikes that get passed on to consumers – reduce U.S. economic growth and profitability, then these federal budget deficits could come in even higher than expected.

One bold move Trump could make to shrink the deficits would be to reverse President Richard Nixon’s severing of gold from international trade. In 1971, Nixon ended the Bretton Woods system, which had allowed foreign governments to convert their accumulated dollars into gold.

While not a true sound money system, it did link international trade to the discipline and stability of gold. It prevented countries from running up large trade surpluses against the U.S. Under Bretton Woods, the U.S. current account balance was positive. In the years since, it has turned sharply negative.

The Bretton Woods international arrangement no longer reflects the “shared values” of today’s globalists – who favor unlimited debt and untethered currency. Gold is anathema to international bankers and bureaucrats because it provides a check on their power.

Gold serves as a natural form of regulation in the international economy that obviates the need for central planning and helps solve the problem of chronic trade imbalances.

Under a gold standard, a trade deficit country such as the United States would owe gold to trade surplus countries. Gold flows would be the balancing mechanism through which accounts between countries are settled.

And since gold is the ultimate form of settlement – a global currency with no counterparty risk – national currency fluctuations, manipulations, and devaluations by trading partners would be of little concern. Trade skirmishes might still break out from time to time, but gold would act as a check on their escalation.

**MORE FINANCIAL NEWS at LibertyHeadlines.com**

Countries that are unhappy with U.S. tariffs and/or economic sanctions may increasingly replace their dollar reserves with gold.

Russia, in recent years one of the world’s biggest gold buyers, is now slashing its holdings of U.S. bonds (from a high of $109 billion in 2017 to below $50 billion today). The two largest foreign holders of U.S. Treasuries, China and Japan, have also trimmed their holdings this year.

The U.S. dollar may be slowly losing its privileged status in international finance. No other single national currency seems capable of replacing it at this time. As trade tensions escalate, gold may come to be seen more and more as a highly appealing counterweight.

Original Source -> Trump’s Trade Wars Could Spark Global Flight to Gold

via The Conservative Brief

[thinktosee]

4th of July - The American Declaration of Independence

50 stars depicting the 50 states of the Union

A. INTRODUCTION

We congratulate and wish every American a wonderful Independence Day on the 4th of July, 2018.

We also like to express our fervent wish that America continues to be a beacon for Freedom, Enlightenment and Democracy to the world. These are not empty terms. They carry great import, for which the American Republic, as a consequence of its uncompromising belief in these values, rose to become the greatest society in history. It remains so today, 242 years after the Declaration.

B. THE BEGINNING

“Betsy Ross” flag depicting the original 13 stars or colonies. Courtesy Wikipedia

On July 4th, 1776,  13 colonies of the British Empire in North America, declared their independence. Their Declaration of Independence, principally authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, stated among other things the following :

“IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government…….” (1)

These are some of the most powerful words expressed by any People. They are fighting words for sure, of a People who had reached the end of their patience and suffering. These are some of the most lovely words too, specifically the universal values of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” which are so clearly expressed as the foundations of a NEW and Independent Political Entity – the United States of America.

America was birthed in the struggle against imperial tyranny.

C. AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

American exceptionalism “refers to the special character of the United States as a uniquely free nation based on democratic ideals and personal liberty. Sometimes this special character is inferred from the nature of American political institutions founded in the 1776-89 period–the declaration of independence (1776), revolution (1776-83), constitution (1787) etc. Thus the “revolution” and its aftermath freeing the US from British control are important in ideas of American exceptionalism. But often the political differences are said to be underpinned by material differences brought about by the wealth/resources of the United States, sometimes seen as a direct product of the freedom of the American people, but by others as the product of the inheritance of the North American continent’s abundant resources…” (2)

Much has been said for and against American Exceptionalism. Those who are against it generally argue from the standpoint of the violent history of the Republic, especially against the Indigenous and African Peoples. These massacres and abuses were horrendous and inexcusable for sure, especially as they demonstrated a racial dimension or exceptionalism for the violence. Try reading Dee Brown’s account of the plight of the various American Indian Nations, titled “Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee.” I did as a teenager in the 1970s. It devastated me.

The modern wars which America is pursuing in the Middle East and Central Asia seem to be an extension of this sense of being special, of knowing what’s good for everyone.

Ultimately, American Exceptionalism is a just feeling of pride within a People, so long as it abides in DEED to the words of the founding fathers of the American Republic :

Courtesy Amazon.com

“This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech…”(3)

Benjamin Franklin

And what of the man, who principally drafted the Declaration of Independence? What did he have to say about Governance?

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” (4)

-  Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States of America (1801-1809)

D. MY AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

I received my college education in the U.S.A. in the 1980s. Nothing can adequately express my heartfelt appreciation to America for the privilege I was accorded. The American system of education taught me a good deal. The most important lesson I learnt was to cherish my Freedom, my Individuality. For it is through each of us, our diverse natures and respect for these, that a GREAT SOCIETY may be achieved. Without this sense of “being yourself”, of being the master of our destiny, the individual and society descend into tyranny and dictatorship. The American nature is a struggle against the unnatural constraints of tyranny, injustice, poverty and elitism. I realized then that these were universal struggles. The difference being the American system has an organic or living Constitution crafted by their founding fathers which gives protection to the People against these iniquities. It is not a perfect document certainly…except it is far superior to any other in the world.

The U.S. Constitution is so unique in that it goes beyond the law. Perhaps these powerful words by Thomas Jefferson best describe what I mean :

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” (5)

My experience in America had a great impact on me and later, my children, Sara and David. They were raised to believe in themselves, their choices, freedom, liberty, and their individuality. Through these, I knew, they would gain enormous personal and spiritual strength. Through these, they would triumph.

David loved America. He had plans to live in New York City. He was the most determined and self-assured person. He knew what was best for himself. His Spirit wanted to be FREE. America was the place he felt completely himself.

A document does not maketh a man. But a living document, carrying the full weight of the universal values of man, creates that spark in every child in us to seek and be clothed in it. The U.S. Constitution is and continues to be the Protector of the People and their Freedoms.

E. CONCLUSION

America is presently in a state of flux. Americans are divided politically and economically. These are no doubt difficult times. The two things which Americans can always rely on and defend are their Constitution, and the values which underpin it as originally proposed by the founding fathers.

The Nation has existed for over 240 years. More than most. It shall continue to prosper on the Strength and Character of its People, its Individuals, because it has the finest document money cannot buy – the U.S. Constitution.

To every American, I say, Good wishes on the 4th of July.

To every Individual in the world, I say, “BE YOURSELF!”

In the Spirit of David Cornelius Singh

David’s father

Email : davidnfather@gmail.com

Sources/References

1. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

2. https://iantyrrell.wordpress.com/papers-and-comments/

3. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0015

4. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0088

5. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-0303