#the self destruction he's not aware about as it's veiled by reason of duty

[qiinamii]

quite the poet, quite the inspo

[countessrivers]

I’ve got to stop reading comments on basically any Jim fic, because it’s inevitably just people (the author often included) talking about how much they actually hate Jim and how he’s an irredeemable piece of shit who is way worse than all the actual murderers and abusers who feel 0 guilt over the people they hurt, because it just bums me out.

(Like, it’s wild to me that people equate Jim doing the occasional morally questionable thing, literally always in the service of protecting people/the city, and then afterwards feeling bad and conflicted about it, even as he tries to push on and make something good of it, with the kinds of people who murder dozens with no remorse, or commit cannibalism, or hold the city to ransom, or send serial killers after those that cross them, or manipulate and try to kill children, or abuse literally every single one of their romantic partners, all for their own personal gain. Fucking. Wild.)

Totally not word vomit:

Like, the stuff with Sofia in S4 was definitely a bad idea, one stemming from how desperate Jim is to help the city, how alone he feels, and Sofia’s manipulation is made that much easier by how depressed and hurt Jim is at that point. But he had good intentions - the reason was always about helping the people being victimised by the licences, and ensuring that the GCPD and the other systems within the city were doing their damn jobs and supporting/protecting the citizens. 

Jim didn’t know the full extent of what Sofia was up to. He thought they were partners, he trusted her, which was obviously a mistake, but just because we as the audience knows that in hindsight. Plus, that’s what Jim does, he trusts people, believes them when they say they have good intentions, wants them to be better, encourages and pushes them to be better. All he knew was that she’d opened an orphanage and was integrating herself with Oswald in order to help take down the Pax Penguina. For all that people claim he’s thinking with his dick, or that he slept his way to the Captaincy, Jim never asked for the promotion, is uncomfortable, if not disgusted by the whole thing (not to mention she only did it so she’d be able to hurt him later) and he decided to stop sleeping with her altogether once it happened, having realised that she was manipulating him. He cuts her off completely once it all comes out - even with the blackmail and the threat of exposure he tells her no, refuses to help her, or be with her, for which she punishes him. Sofia tried to control the GCPD via Jim the way Oswald did with Harvey, but he didn’t let her. The first thing he did upon becoming Captain was to pull the GCPD back in line and get them out from under Oswald’s thumb.

Because, real talk, while Harvey had his reasons, understandable reasons at that, he fucked up too. He failed in his duty as Captain. He’d done an excellent job before, but come season 4, he made major, consequential mistakes that arguably made him unfit to lead any longer. He took bribes, he let criminals walk free and serious crimes go uninvestigated, he failed to send anyone to Arkham during Crane’s attack, which was a major failure of duty - it was a police matter, lives were in danger, and as Captain, Harvey should have responded, ordered officers to go, regardless of what Oswald wanted, because that’s his job, because they’d been asked to help, and because he didn’t, Jim, the staff, the inmates, and even civilians had there been a breakout, could have easily been hurt, if not killed. He brushed off the assault of an officer within their own precinct by other cops, and his on-the-job judgement calls and refusal to listen/trust his partner led to multiple officers being injured.

The whole thing is tragic and the consequences damage Jim and Harvey’s relationship. It takes time to mend that relationship, and it changes how Jim sees things a little (I mean it basically makes him that bit more hopeless, which sucks, but he still doesn’t give up, and he kind of needs to be in that place for him to welcome Batman), but Jim still wasn’t wrong to take command, no matter how it came about. No one cares more about protecting Gotham than Jim, and as soon as he had that power, he started working to make things better. He took a shitty situation that he didn��t ask for, and tried to do some good with it.

Another thing that confuses me is how Jim is so often painted for refusing Oswald’s party invitation, because he has a damn good reason - he’s not just doing it to be mean to poor innocent Oswald. Because aside from an understandable desire not to get overly close with a known criminal, the invitation comes on the heels of the mess with Flass, where Jim went to Oswald for help, actively trying to keep it transactional (like a regular cop and CI) and clearly uncomfortable with the possibility of getting too close, and got burned. Oswald is the one who made it personal, who pushed the “friendship” angle, and at Jim’s insistence, promised that no one will get hurt. But he lied, straight up lied to Jim - an innocent woman was tortured, a family threatened, for way more than Jim ever asked for - and Jim found out. He’s horrified by what happened, probably angry at himself for trusting Oswald’s word, and so he tries to push him away, cut off contact. Even when he later goes to Oswald for help once again, he’s careful to keep it all business, offering a favour in order to keep that distance, and setting stricter parameters on what Oswald can do, in order to prevent a repeat of last time (as far as he’s aware).

Plus, Oswald isn’t the fragile wilting flower he’s so often portrayed as in fandom. In that scene he straight up gets threatening when Jim rejects him. Oh, he genuinely wants Jim there, gives him the biggest heart eyes on the regular, but in that moment, he lets his mask drop, lets Jim see it, issues a thinly veiled warning to Jim not to upset him, not to push him away, or he’ll regret it. And by the look on Jim’s face after, he clearly picks up on it. (Like, come the beginning of season 2, Oswald’s manipulating Jim into a situation where he knows he’ll have to kill to protect his own life, and in doing so, put himself under Oswald’s control. Oswald plans that, admits as much straight to Harvey.) 

Jim and Oswald’s relationship isn’t as one sided as people like to claim (usually as they trash Jim). From the get go Jim tries to keep his distance (and honestly, how can you blame him?) but he is always trying to keep it professional and business-like. He’s the one who offers up favours in exchange for favours, and he’s willing to do them, willing to offer Oswald something in exchange for his help. He just has limits to what his conscience will allow, what his ideals and empathy will allow, and for most of season 1, Oswald is still pushing the “friend” angle, which, again, Jim doesn’t want, doesn’t want to let himself want, for all that they share a connection, particularly the more he discovers just how dangerous Oswald is.

Also, Jim is a bad partner? Sure he has some communication issues, is self-destructive, his job will usually always come first, and he should probably see a therapist, but I really think that should be the other way around. Various kinds of abusive behaviour from 3/4 romantic partners, long before any eventual breakups, that escalated majorly into outright murder attempts? Yeah, Jim’s not the problem here.

[namhanman]

A Path of Passion, Excellence, & Purpose

I was a spectator during the event and not a huge fan of dirt bike racing. I was just hanging out with my friends and watching with mild interest. It became apparent very early in the race who was going to win. The leader quickly established a lead distance of about half a track and never missed a beat. The rest of the pack moved along somewhere behind him, no one stood out, except for maybe a few who were doing worse than the rest. But this One excelled. His skill for his chosen path was far above and beyond the norm. He implemented each maneuver with a grace and confidence that can only come with endless hours of practice and understanding not only for himself but for the machine, the track, his peers and the hobby itself. Nothing threw his concentration off. He stayed completely dedicated and committed to the task at hand. An attitude had been developed by him of focused harmony; he was one with what was required of him. I was blown away. It was an awesome experience to witness someone’s passion so vibrantly. Since that brief moment i have looked for excellence and now have witnessed it everywhere.

Mostly people aren’t committed to a purpose, aren’t passionate, and aren’t playing out their lives with quality. It’s maybe not that they don’t want to, they just haven’t found where or how to do it. But once in a while, out of the blue, someone appears who is, and then they’re easy to spot. For example, occasionally you find an excellent teacher. You might not see it when you first look, but when your child comes home from school bubbling with excitement and a new fire burning in a need to their eyes to attain, you know they have encountered excellence. Hopefully that fire burns off long enough for them to ignite their own passion.

This may be the plain thing about passion and excellence; it’s contagious. It spreads, igniting and firing up dormant minds and energy in a random fashion. That bike racer didn’t inspire me to master bike racing but rather to find and develop that same fire within my own heart in my own way. And I didn’t stop I felt just watching him until I could feel that fire in my own soul the way. We all hunger for this passion to ignite that we are here for a reason, that we have a purpose within ourselves because it tells us.

To be in the same room as the spirit of quality can be an experience that is intimidating. It is not easy for us to witness another’s excellence if we are overly aware of our own lack of passionate purpose. It is always easier to criticize, to try to minimize the other’s accomplishment rather than maximize our own. Our world that is western believes and creates attitudes of competitiveness and one-up-man-ship. The prize would go to the we&rsquo and winner;ve all been conditioned to want the prize. We have not been trained to look into our hearts and soul for the plain thing we feel passion for, for the thing we long to be excellent at. We have been taught to strive fervently for the sake of getting and staying on top. Passion itself has not been applauded, just the winning. In our world today success that is financial almost everything else. Unfortunately, we've been taught that prosperity and wealth come at a cost, a sacrifice of some heart piece. But no matter how close it may seem to come; money does buy happiness or n’t excellence and definitely not purpose. Achievement itself is not the same as excellence. We can achieve any goal it and stick to the plan if we determine to do so, set our minds to. Continuing excellence is soul driven and promises fulfillment.

We become aware of the power they have when we witness excellence in another. Working and living from your passion is an empowering experience and it is a potent force that is recognized by others as power. The need for energy has driven guys to madness. A lust for power can focus and channel all the force that is creative of individual towards self-destruction. Trying to take power from anything outside of our selves will cause us to implode in bitterness and grief, confusion and pain. True power can only be realized in one’s own expression of quality. When faced with quality we will feel bombarded with emotions that need to be acknowledged, accepted and released. We will wade through feelings of inferiority, of jealousy, of egotistic pride and criticism. But there is a better, easier way. When we have the opportunity to experience another’s brilliance we can allow ourselves to blissfully harmonize with their passion, feeling our own awakening. If we can learn to forgive our own shortcomings, accept ourselves as we truly are we will see that we too own a unique signature of excellence that can easily co-exist with anyone else’s.

Function can be painful, difficult and usually the plain thing we least want to do. The thing that is funny purpose is that it often doesn’t look like anything we’d expect or want. Although another may inadvertently provide you with to your purpose they can’t give it to you. They also can’t take it from you. It is had by you all for yourself. It arises out of you and compels you to be who you are. Purpose isn’t affected by anyone’s disapproval or approval. It simply is. Purpose is self-motivating; it makes you put your feet on the floor every morning and keep putting them one in front of the other all day long. This is beyond duty and responsibility. It is done by you because your soul demands it.

In fact it is our purpose that gives us life. It is purpose that propels a spark of light through the veils of consciousness to embark on another journey through physical life on this plane. Purpose has a divine quality to it because it is the heart-string that connects us to consciousness. It is that which allows us to maintain a resonant familiarity with the spirit that is divine. Our purpose is our inherent need – the thing that can’t be denied no matter what it costs us. Purpose is connected to evolution and thus to our karma. And because purpose is connected to growth it isn’t always pleasant. Every person lives to fulfill his purpose. And that’s a hard pill to swallow. Life happens on a continuum, beyond the short life cycles of one person or another. We are typical connected in some way. We know this. We want to assume that purpose is glorious and beautiful, harmonious and cherished. But it’s not always. It can be painful, ugly, revolting and despicable to our rationality and to humanity.

We are able to recognize the force of purpose at work when we see that we played a pivotal role in how a situation unfolds, this may be through conscious or effort that is unconscious. We are only purposeful in relationship. Purpose is part of the healing effect of karma. It is a dynamic charge that must be activated and released into consciousness to push start something into a possibility that is new. clash of clans hack Purpose is not lived for others alone, there is always a self-serving, self-defining aspect to it, but maybe one that we don’t understand in front mind. .

Purpose will be fulfilled, it is more of who we are than what we do, and there seems to be a force larger than our own free choice and will which determines the time and place for ones purpose to be revealed. Passion and excellence are forces that ignite invention that is creative our selves and others, building the path of life before us, opening possibility for many other people, and paving the way for purpose to unfold. People search obsessively because of their purpose; trying many hats on for size, they are usually searching for a demonstration that is profound of and climactic change. But purpose can also sneak up on you quietly, subtly, and discreetly. All we can do is observe patiently, with an heart that is open willingness to play our role when we are called, then play our role excellently with passion.