Skaldheim

[ID: youtube comment from Hal Sawyer:

My favorite relic English still used everywhere is the word "the" used in phrases like: "the more I look at this, the stranger it seems, or "the bigger they come, the harder they fall". This "the" is not the article of any noun, it is a different word, a conjunction descended from the old English "þā", pronounced "tha" which means either "when" or "then". Back in early Middle English the structure "if - then" had not taken over and if you wanted to express an if - then relationship you said "þā whatever, þā whatever", meaning "when such-and- such, then such-and-such". "þā" sounds almost the same as "the" and the spelling of the two converged, but the meaning remained totally different. "the more, the merrier" literally means "when more, then merrier" or "if more, then merrier'; same as centuries ago.

end ID]

they ask him if he wants to talk about it because they can solve their problems together. they have perfected empathetic tone modulation and sympathy sharing. ("my sister takes toys when it's not her turn and it makes me mad and i cry too. it's okay to cry if you're mad.") their clumsy little hands are patting him on the back and hugging at his arms. we are a species of immaculate mimicry.

he says jessica was mean to him. 3 of them who know jessica agree that jessica is never ever mean, so they posit that perhaps there was maybe an accidentally communication error ("maybe you didn't mean to say something that hurt her feelings! it's okay! it was nobody's fault if you did!") or that maybe jessica is having a bad day. they are working together to completely remove blame from the situation, effectively cooperatively de-escalating. there's a little bit of talking over each other, but no one puts down anyone else's ideas. if they do disagree, they subtly "yeah that, but also maybe—" to it so no one feels like their idea was stupid or bad or wrong. i don't even think they know they're doing it. inclusivity requires absolutely no thought or effort.

they hunt down jessica and bring her to the tribunal. jessica is also treated to blame cancelling, comforting touches, lack of judgement, and sympathetic tones. they ask her if she's feeling okay. they tell her she made arjun cry "accidentally and not on purpose" and they want to fix what happened.

jessica and arjun stand opposite in a circle of very concerned little faces eager to problem solve. jessica (crying) says she didn't like the way arjun was playing. arjun (also crying) says he didn't know because she didn't tell him the rules. jessica says she's sorry. arjun says he's sorry. they hug it out. the group is very excited to have successfully solved conflict and immediately announce they'll be doing a new activity, all together.

The Great Smudge - Table Cat