Apr 6, 2020
I think a lot of us were conditioned to believe, albeit unconsciously, that someday we would reach the “high score”—straight As, a graduate degree, a successful career, a house, a family, all of these?—and on that mythical future date, an invisible meter would flip over and proclaim us, finally, worthy of love.
#I have been studying the Pearl fandom for two years#almost exactly two#I have met dozens of people#a worthy lot in all respects#as deserving of love and care and respect as Pearl herself is#and I've wondered#what is it that ties all of us together?#there are many quite valid answers to that question#however ...#I am beginning to wonder if this might be among the most central of them#self#text#when children are not given unconditional love#they become#ashamed and withdrawn and focused on what they can Do instead of who they Are#and all those traits can be expressed in the Pearl archetype#except that Pearl herself finally overcomes them#(how? it's not made 100% clear)#(but it's close enough under the production constraints they had)#and who *wouldn't* want to believe that we can grow out of it#go beyond#and leave that behind?