10 for the meta ask, except it's not a free for all because nothing in this world is free and I'm assigning homework to you: what quote from Iroh resonated with you most, and why?
I’ve got two because I couldn’t choose. I think it’s important to note that Iroh’s wisdom in the show was in relation to Zuko. In terms of resonating with me or real people in general, some . . . of what he said just doesn’t or can’t apply to us. Zuko is a prince with a nation and he wants his honor and all that. As an individual who’s relatively normal, these are the ones that hit me hard:
It is important to draw wisdom from different places. If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale. [S2, Bitter Work]
This is pretty straightforward for Zuko -- he has to let go of some of his attachment to the Fire Nation and firebending a particular way or he isn’t going to grow as a person. Iroh follows this up by stating that understanding the other nations will make Zuko whole. Yeah, at this point he’s clearly sensing Zuko’s conflict and trying to edge him towards making a good decision about his future (which he eventually did not make).
I think this can be personal and simple. I wouldn’t say that the vast majority of ordinary humans grow up believing what Zuko did, but our viewpoints are limited by how we are raised. It’s important to draw understanding of issues and to grow separate from how you are raised, or you will always keep making the mistakes of the community you grew up in. We might not have Sozins and Azulons and Ozais in our family trees -- or we might -- but that doesn’t mean that we should stew in our surroundings. This isn’t a novel realization, but it’s good to keep in mind.
“Rigid and stale” stands out to me here. Rigid means unmoving and unquestionable -- something that you perceive as rigid cannot be proved wrong. Things that are rigid are assumed to be true, not because they are faultless but because you are too scared to take them down. For Zuko, the Fire Nation’s determination to destroy the rest of the world was a rigid part of his world, something he never stopped to realize wasn’t necessarily truth. When we grow up we have truths at home -- sometimes about religion or cultural norms, for example -- that we never question, and we shouldn’t do that. Stale, of course, means old -- and you should never ruminate on the past for too long.
Zuko: But I don't feel any shame at all. I'm as proud as ever.
Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but it’s source. True humility is the only antidote to shame. [S2, Bitter Work]
Zuko: Well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately.
This one makes you think, doesn’t it? I don’t even know if I agree with its implications -- that the only way you can escape shame is to have true humility -- but it’s interesting to take a look at.
Let’s start out with pride not being the opposite of shame. Yeah, I think that pride isn’t totally positive but still has slightly more positive connotations than shame. Pride is the source of shame because of that -- because people mistake pride as a lack of shame and not a step towards it. It’s rather simple; if you are very proud it means that there was a point where you were not -- it means you have something to lose.
Humility is modesty, a low view of one’s importance. I think it’s interesting that Iroh calls Zuko ‘Prince’ in the same breath as he claims that humility is the antidote to shame, because being a ‘prince’ comes along with having pride. To me, that makes me think that humility is all really relative here. Iroh isn’t telling Zuko to give upon himself at all -- Zuko knows humility at a surface level, clearly. He’s telling him to gain perspective on a certain issue -- this entire episode was around sort of Iroh trying to teach Zuko lessons about growth and good.
There is a difference about being proud of yourself and being proud that you’ve fulfilled the expectations of those who matter to you. Zuko’s failed at both here -- eventually he would do the latter, realize that sort of pride is irrelevant on the beach, and then figure out the former with the Gaang.
This is sort of vague and rambling, but essentially this hit me because in context it had me realize that you don’t have to give yourself up in order to find your honor, or pretend to have pride when you don’t. You just have to accept that extremes come hand in hand and staying true to yourself is what matters.
