Letters from the Asylum - Zuko
I am writing, primarily, to let you know that I am done. The asylum staff have tried a new tactic in convincing me of the 'grievous errors of my ways', and I am not having it. Would you like to know what they've been saying to me lately? That I need to 'consider the points of view of other people'. Can you believe that? As if they think that hearing why you do the things you do will somehow make me more interested in being sympathetic about it. Let me tell you something, Zuko. Eight years now, give or take, you have been hurting me. Eight years now, give or take, I have been trying to get you to stop. Learning your reasoning for it is not going to somehow magically make me all right with being hurt.
'You need to give him a chance,' they say. 'You need to understand where he's coming from.' 'You need to try to accept his point of view.' You know what, Zuko? The answer's no. You can ask me about my point of view. You can learn about my point of view. Because I have had to bend and to bow and to break under other people's perspectives and other people's ideas. I have been subjected to the perspectives of others, I have had to 'try to understand' where other people are coming from for years, but not once has anyone ever stopped to consider the point of view I might be coming from. I have had to 'understand' that from mother's perspective I'm a dangerous freak. I have had to 'understand' that from Uncle's perspective I'm just not worth his time.
I have had to 'understand' that every single time I get cut down or burned it was for a reason, but every single time I've been pushed to my limit and acted out because of it, no one has to give me a single lick of understanding. In fact, I have to turn around and 'understand' that what I did hurt people. Guess what, Zuzu? I already knew that. And that was kind of the point. They're saying you want to make up with me, that you're interested in solving our differences, well, I'm not against that. But I'm done yielding. You want me to understand your point of view? You first. Understand mine. Because I am not yielding again.