#mortality salience

[lucjan]

a portriat

[devout-apparitions]

i am so much stronger than Hamlet I endure this exact sequence of thoughts multiple times a day

[needfulthings1]

Carved ebony vanitas skull

ca. 17th-18th century

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

@je-blauge

In relation to that last line, Animorphs Babysitters Club AU?

Marco

Would respond to any and all difficult questions from the kiddos about racism/sexism/the future/death/sex/math homework with “You know what the answer is?  Cake!  And TV!”

Would then proceed to whip out inordinate amounts of sugar and PG-13. 

Would explain to the kiddos that “Cake and TV were my parents.  And I turned out great!” (X)

Jake

Honestly seems like he might be the only halfway competent babysitter on the team?

I’m talking kids in bed on time, only healthy snacks (but the fruit’s all cut into fun shapes so they don’t notice), age-appropriate bedtime stories, an endless well of patience for finding Teddy Bear when it goes missing, and actually following all the parents’ directions.

Let’s be real, “firm but gentle” is practically Jake’s middle name.  He’s persuasive without being manipulative, commanding without being intimidating, and willing to take other people’s problems seriously even if he doesn’t get why they’re serious.

Parents love him!  Kids also love him!  Whoever works the BSC phone lines really wishes they’d get the occasional request for anyone but him!

Tobias

Child: What happens when we die?

Tobias [without hesitation]: Your consciousness ceases to exist, and your body starts to decompose.

Child: What’s ‘decompose’?

Tobias: You rot like an old banana.  If you’re lucky, something will eat your corpse.  Maybe a predator, maybe just some worms.

Child [tears in eyes]: Rot...?  But I don’t wanna...

Tobias [nervous for the first time]:  They’ll be nice worms.  Good worms.  And your flesh will feed their worm families.  Won’t that be nice?

Child: I don’t wanna be worm food!

Tobias: There’s always cremation?  It’s kind of wasteful, as is embalming, but either way nothing will eat you then.

Child: What’s embalming?

Tobias: So they drain all the fluids out of your corpse, and—

Child: What’s a corpse?

Tobias: You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?

Child: You’re a poopy-head who’s lying to me, aren’t you?

Tobias: What?  No, I’m trying to give it to you straight—

Child: You ARE lying about the worms!  You ARE!

Tobias: No, I...

Child: [taking deep breath to prepare for impending meltdown]

Tobias: ...

Child: ...

Tobias: ... Yes, I lied.  When you die, you go to a nice farm upstate and you always manage to eat the worms before they can eat you.

Cassie

Is of course an utter sweetheart, but maybe too much of a sweetheart?

Like, she’s used to feeding and medicating and bedding down animals that don’t argue back.  So she’d be an old pro at handling things like biting and spitting... but again, maybe too much of an old pro.  Because you don’t stop and explain to a goose why it’s wrong to bite people, you just slap some iodine on the wound and keep going like nothing happened.

So it’d probably seem like it was going great at first, because the kids seem happy.  And maybe they haven’t actually brushed their teeth or gone to bed or even taken their vitamins (seriously, how do you get a human to take a pill?  Presumably shoving it down their throat and massaging the larynx until they swallow is frowned upon), but it’s fine.  They’re fine.

Which is to say, they’re running roughshod all over her.

You know that Very Special Episode book where one of the babysitters gets in over her head and ends up having to call a friend for help and then afterwards she and her friend have a great conversation about how everyone needs help sometimes?  Yeah, Cassie would be the star of that book.

Ax

The good news is, recent research suggests that sugar is actually more of a depressant than a stimulant!  So giving the kids massive amounts will cause them to crash and become grumpy, not get all hyperactive.

After the sugar crash (and possible stomachache) of everyone in the house having eaten half their weight in cookies starts to set in, Ax would probably make an earnest attempt to show the kids his favorite movie.  Considering that his favorite movie is a 90-minute infomercial for the Sham-Wow, this will somehow go even worse than giving them an entire sleeve of Thin Mints apiece did.

Then again, Ax’s wonder at so many ordinary things in the world would probably endear the kids to him anyway.  So he’d probably be in the “kids love him, parents hate him” category of babysitter.

Rachel

Rachel: Who rules the world?

Large group of 4-year-olds who just finished their first self-defense lesson: Girls!

Rachel: I can’t hear you!  Who rules the world?

4-year-olds: GIIIIIIRLS!

Rachel: Awesome!  Now, onto techniques for breaking the kneecaps of anyone who tries to grab you from behind...

[rockattitudegr]

Οι Έλληνες black metallers Imperium Infernalis είναι η νεότερη προσθήκη στο ρόστερ της Harmonia PR. Το συγκρότημα κυκλοφορεί σήμερα το one track EP τους, “Mortality Salience”, διάρκειας 18 λεπτών, μέσω της Schattenkult Produktionen.

Οι Imperium Infernalis κυκλοφορούν το 18-λέπτο one track EP “Mortality Salience”

Οι Έλληνες black metallers Imperium Infernalis είναι η νεότερη προσθήκη στο ρόστερ της Harmonia PR. Το συγκρότημα κυκλοφορεί σήμερα το one t

[wispycreator]

Terror Management Theory

states that humans both have the realization that they will inevitably die (mortality salience) and the instinct to prevent their own death, and are filled with a feeling of deep terror while thinking about those facts.

The depth of this terror is related to several cultural factors, as well as self-esteem. Individuals with higher self-esteem typically experience less death-related anxiety.

My source is Wikipedia. I’m doing more research, I just think it’s interesting.

[indoorpetrichor]

Whose woods these are I think I know.   His house is in the village though;   He will not see me stopping here   To watch his woods fill up with snow.   My little horse must think it queer   To stop without a farmhouse near   Between the woods and frozen lake   The darkest evening of the year.   He gives his harness bells a shake   To ask if there is some mistake.   The only other sound’s the sweep   Of easy wind and downy flake.   The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   But I have promises to keep,   And miles to go before I sleep,   And miles to go before I sleep.

ROBERT FROST

[10257]

"Mortality Salience" by Huoratron in album "Mortality Salience"