A Golden Transcendence

Heather, 23 in DC. Repressed nerd and voice of reason. "I will not forget one line of this, not one day, I swear."

[thahalfrican]

[burgertv]

[ihateiu]

[boykeats]

public places need to give me a heads up before they start playing fleetwood mac. i’m not ready to have a spiritual out of body experience in the cold & flu aisle of cvs

[chewbacca]

The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)

[bullysquadess]

i dont think we, as a society, talk about the fact that in 2004 Gwen Stefani released a pop version of a showtune from Fiddler on the Roof, originally sung by a poor Jewish milkman living under imperial Russian rule in 1905

[ana-elisabeta]

[gavilarkholin-deactivated116710]

So my brother and I were best friends growing up. He was hilarious and we got into all kinds of trouble. I still can’t believe some of the shit we got away with. Anyway I guess he had a nervous breakdown one day and accidentally killed a guy. I saw what happened and it totally wasn’t his fault. But he ran away, ranting about how his entire life was a lie or something. Turns out, he was adopted and our parents never told us. I didn’t hear from him for a few years after that. Then he just shows up at this party I’m having. He’s totally grown out his beard like some kind of mountain man. But whatever, my brother is back! So I welcome him home and he pulls this snake out of nowhere. Like, an actual snake. So I try to play it cool. Knowing my brother, this has got to be some kind of practical joke. But my buddies flip out and next thing I know, they pull out some snakes too. I’m thinking, I have to get this under control before this turns into a goddamn reptile show. But before I can say anything, my brother’s snake eats their snakes, which, okay, I guess that improves the situation? So I take my brother aside and ask him what prank he’s trying to pull. That’s when he gets all serious. He reminds me that our dad did some pretty shady stuff, which wasn’t really that big of a deal to me but I guess it was to him. He tells me to check my privilege or some shit and that I should let his people go and anyway that’s how I lost my brother to social justice.

[coffee-khaleesi-deactivated2020]

When I was training to be a battered women’s advocate, my supervisor said something that really blew my mind:

“You can always assume one thing about your clients; and that is that they are doing their best. Always assume everyone is doing their best. And if they’re having a day where their best just isn’t that great, or their best doesn’t look like your best, you have to be okay with that.”

Any now whenever anyone in my life, either a friend or a client, frustrates me, disappoints me, or pisses me off, I just tell myself They are doing their best. Their best isn’t that great today, but I have days where my best isn’t that great either. 

[bogfox]

Op I’d like to thank you for sharing this. Ever since the first time I’ve read it I’ve held it in my mind and it really has helped me to be kinder to others and to myself.

[chris-evans]

This is so in character.. I CAN’T EVEN

[freeaccesszone-deactivated20160]

[darksideofambition]

Legendary

[buffysummers]

iconique™

[jtcatsby]

May love and light fill your heart and home this Hanukkah 💙💙💙 Happy Hanukkah! 💙💙💙 #Hanukkah2017 #Hanukkah #tuesdaythoughts #Chanukah 💙#JTCatsby 💙

[jtcatsby]

Happy Hanukkah 2018! 💙💙💙

[justbadpuns]

Two fish are in a tank. One says to the other, “uhm.. how are we meant to drive this thing?”

[onscreenkisses]

Carrie Fisher + Mark Hamill 💖💖

[closet-keys]

why none of them got into The Good Place

[exigencelost]

What I love about this is its acknowledgment that Jason had no intentions at all

[egyptiann]

this is all 100% true but it always made me really mad that Chidi’s “crime” was having a severe anxiety disorder like he needed understanding and therapy, sending him to the Bad Place for something he had literally no control over was incredibly fucked up

[thedreadvampy]

I feel like a less-surface theme of the show is that they’re all in a situation where they have been forced into bad patterns by forces outside their control - Chidi has SEVERE anxiety; Eleanor was forced by abuse and neglect to adopt a self-centered attitude from early childhood and, like many people with traumatic pasts, responds by not dealing with difficult emotions; Jason was very overtly raised in an environment where he got no education and all his models for behaviour were criminal and/or self-destructive; and Tahani has been raised in an environment where everything is performative and she is shot down for any genuine expression of unhappiness or non-material want. Just as Michael and Janet are made one way but changed by their experiences, the moral of the story is that things outside your control shape you but you can move away from them. That could easily be really insulting, in a sort of ‘just get over it’ way, but the idea isn’t that they change solely because they decide to be better - all six of them change because their circumstances change and give them the OPPORTUNITY to be better, because they’re finally given the support system they lack.

I like The Good Place because the whole show has since day 1 been predicated on the idea that black and white moral judgements made in a vacuum are bullshit, and that moral choices are informed by things outside our control, whether that be education, behaviour modelling, unfair treatment or mental health issues. That doesn’t mean we aren’t responsible for our actions but it DOES mean we have to understand morality in the context of people’s varied experiences AND asks for the possibility that if their environment is improved, their ability to function as moral agents also improves.

[freshfreshsalad]

[fuckyeahkingdomheartsseries]

my friends when i finish explaining the plot of Kingdom Hearts