Now that we're here, we may as well go too far

I haven’t seen this linked on here so: this is an awesome resource for how you can help the people in Palestine. It has donation links, helps you figure out how to contact your representatives, and a regularly updated list of planned protests. It is USAmerican centric but the list of protests is international.

i am kind

i am in control of my emotions

it does not bother me when someone is in the kitchen while i was planning to be in there alone

everyone in the house has the right to be in the kitchen

When the Good Place said "Why choose to be good every day when there is no guaranteed reward now or in the afterlife… I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people and our innate desire to treat them with dignity. Simply put, we are not in this alone.” 

This sounds so harsh, but please bare with me.

I procrastinated a lot growing up. I still procrastinate today, but less so. And yet, I got good grades. I could write an A+ paper that “knocked [my professor]’s socks off” in the hour before class and print it with sweat running down my face.

I was so used to hearing from teachers and family that if I just didn’t procrastinate and worked all the time, I could do anything! I had all this potential I wasn’t living up to!

And that’s true, as far as it goes, but that’s like saying if Usain Bolt just kept going he could be the fastest marathon runner in the world. Why does he stop at the end of the race??

If ANYONE could make their top speed/most productive setting the one they used all the time, anyone could do anything. But you can’t. Your top speed is not a speed you’re able to sustain.

Now, I’ve found that I do need to work on not procrastinating. Not because the product is better, even, but because it’s better for my mental health and physical health to not have a full, sweating, panicked breakdown over every task even if the task itself turns out excellently. It’s a shitty way to live! You feel bad ALL the time! And I don’t deserve to live like that anymore.

So all of this to say, I’m not wasting a ton of potential. I don’t have an ocean of productivity and accomplishments inside of me that I could easily, effortlessly access if I just sat down 8 hours a day and worked. There’s no fucking way. That’s not real. It’s an illusion. It’s fine not to live up to an illusion.

“Oh, you have a lovely singing voice. You could grow up to be like Mariah Carey!” they say. They do not say, “You could grow up to be like Edith Wisenhunt, lead singer at the Woodglenn Methodist Church in a town of 385 people,” although Edith may have Mariah Carey’s range.

“You are awesome at computers - you could grow up to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.” They do not say, “You could grow up to be a data-cruncher who changes jobs every 18 months when the startups that hire you dissolve.” They do not say “you could do payroll accounts for your local 7-11.”

“You are so good with people and teamwork - you could be a senator!” and not “You could be the team lead cashier at Safeway.”

“Potential” is a story about “famous people who have some of the same talents you do.” It is not “what you could actually do when you grow up.”

It’s a useful myth. For kids, everything is new and confusing. They know what they like, but not what they’re good at, because they have no mark of comparison other than their classmates. It’s useful for them to see a list of jobs - a list of people - that are related to their skills, so they can pick a direction, pick some things to practice.

Once they are adults - or even teenagers - they don’t need the “potential” story anymore. They can research for themselves what the career options are, what kind of life they could make if they work on the skills important to them.

They can seek a career in programming because they are good at computers - or they can decide they don’t like the options in programming and seek a career as a librarian. They can seek a career as an entertainer because they have a good voice and great dance skills - or they can decide that the entertainment industry is too fake for them, and become a teacher. They can hone their persuasion and teamwork talents and become a politician - or they can get a job in a mailroom, and coordinate their local under-10 sports league on the weekends.

“Potential” is not a list of achievements you should strive to make. Potential is a list of “some people with abilities that may have started like yours, have done these awesome things.”

You can always decide

I don’t think those things are awesome, or

Those are indeed awesome things, but I don’t want to do them.

you pet your dog and the atoms that are you brush up against the atoms that are him, and the electrons that are you press into the electrons that are him, and both of them change their movement.

electrons of course are not really particles and do not really move.

theres also the comedy potential of it. you guys dont know the joy of having your muslim friend text you "hopefully the racists in our city will all get sick and cant go to the protest" and you, as a pasty white guy, responding with "inshallah they get covid"

its a one hit KO every time. its fucking hilarious. theres no english word that has the same effect.

he also once texted me that he got over a mysterious illness he came down with (i think? i cant remember the exact context) and i responded with "subhanallah he is cured"

again, one hit KO. he lost his shit.

disclaimer i am not arab or muslim and i dont speak arabic but @frogofalltime has explained these words to me and says im using them correctly lmao

inshallah - "if god wills it". like an "i hope this happens" kind of thing. remember the finding nemo poster "inshallah they find him" meme if that helps. used in future tense.

mashallah - "god has willed it", used when something good happened. can be used to denote awe about an event or person. used in past tense.

alhamdulillah - essentially "thank god" or "praise be to god". like mashallah and inshallah but stronger, and can be used in any tense (i think). he will be baked soon alhamdullilah

subhanallah - "glory be to god". like alhamdullilah but stronger. used for when something almost miraculous happens!

there's also astaghfirullah which means "i seek forgiveness in god" which you use when you or someone else does something haram (forbidden / sinful / wrong). tbh we use it in a lot of jokey contexts like if someone swears in a conversation you can call them out like "astaghfirullah haram !"