#0559

There are indeed several schisms mentioned in the series. Schism is accepted by volunteers in the plural sense.

“Exactly,” I said,watching Ellington frown out of the corner of my eye. “We represent the true humantradition, the one permanent victory over cruelty and chaos. We’re aninvincible army, but not a victorious one. We’ve had different names throughouthistory, but all the words that describe us are false and all attempts toorganize us fail. Right now we’re called V.F.D., but all our schisms andarguments might cause us to disappear. It won’t matter. People like us alwaysslip through the net. Our true home is the imagination, and our kingdom is thewide-open world.”[Shouldn’t You Be In School?, Chapter Nine]

“I could tell you stories, Baudelaires,” Count Olaf said in a muffledwheeze. “I could tell you secrets about people and places that you’dnever dream of. I could tell you about arguments and schisms thatstarted before you were born. I could even tell you things aboutyourselves that you could never imagine.[The End, Chapter Seven]

So it seems that volunteers and villains alike use the word “schism” to describe any argument which tears the organization apart, forcing people to choose sides. It’s part of the traditional V.F.D. slang. This is confusing because there’s clearly a difference between THE Schism™ and a schism. This confusion might explain why Jacques tells Jerome that Olaf is responsible for a schism:

For years this organization has behaved in ways that were as noble as they were secret, but recently this organization has experienced a schism, a word which here means “a member suddenly behaving in a greedy and violent manner thus dividing the organization into two arguing groups”. The member I am speaking of—I will just call him O, though currently he prefers S—has recently done a great deal of vicious, unfair and impolite acts that I shudder to describe.[The un-Authorized Autobiography, p.123]

He carefully “a” schism, not THE schism. The original schism happened when Kit and Dewey were four years old, so it’s extremely unlikely that Olaf (who was also a child at a time) had anything to do with it.

“So I’m told,” Kit said. “I was four years old when everything changed. Our organization shattered, and it was as if the world shattered, too, and one by one the safe places were destroyed. There was a large scientific laboratory, but the volunteer who owned the place was murdered. There was an enormous cavern, but a treacherous team of realtors claimed it for themselves. And there was an immense headquarters high in the Mortmain Mountains , but-”[The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Two]

“I scarcely remember it,” Dewey said. “I was four years old when the schism began. I was scarcely tall enough to reach my favorite shelf in the family library-the books labeled 020. But one night, just as our parents were hanging balloons for our fifth birthday party, my brothers and I were taken.”[The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Eight]

Other events which have been referred to as schisms include:

The feud between Ishmael and the Baudelaire parents while they were on the Island

The mutiny started by some of the Islanders against Ishmael’s regime while the Baudelaire orphans were on the Island

Fiona’s betrayal at the end of “The Grim Grotto”

“That’s probably true,” Kit said thoughtfully. “Thursday did say that thecolony had suffered a schism, just as V.F.D. did.”“Another schism?” Violet asked.“Countless schisms have divided the world over the years,” Kit replied in the darkness. “Do you think the history of V.F.D. is the only story in the world? But let’s not talk of the past, Baudelaires. Tell me how you made your way to these shores.”[The End, Chapter Eight]

Finn had said that they needed to make a choice, but choosingbetween living alone on a coastal shelf, endangering themselves andtheir injured friend, and participating in the island’s mutinous plan, didnot feel like much of a choice at all, and they wondered how many other people had felt this way, during the countless schisms that had divided the world over the years.[The End, Chapter Eight]

Only Violet felt asif their friendship were more volatile, as if Fionafit her like the wrong glove, or as if their friendship had a tiny flaw – aflaw that might turn into a schism.[The Grim Grotto, Chapter Seven]

That being said, all the smaller schisms mentioned clearly happen AFTER the original schism. So even if some passages may be confusing as to whether the schism mentioned is the original one or one of the later ones, pretty much every character agrees that the original Schism™ is the one which happened when Kit and Dewey were four years old. It was also the most important as it split the organization into a fire-starting “villainous” side and a fire-fighting “noble” side. Interestingly it’s always the “noble” side which seemed to suffer internal schisms after that, while the “villainous” side remained united and homogenous. It’s possible that the fire-starting side was at a significant numerical disadvantage originally but grew stronger and bigger as the fire-fighting side split apart.

“It was not always this way, Baudelaires,” Dewey said. “Once there were safe places scattered across the globe, and so orphans like yourselves did not have to wander from place to place, trying to find noble people who could be of assistance. With each generation, the schism gets worse. If justice does not prevail, soon there will be no safe places left, and nobody left to remember how the world ought to be.”[The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Eight]

You're not sure. They look pretty precarious to you. But you've been assured the stairs are perfectly navigable.

Tbh, idt im as whole as i was when we started. Nakakabawas pa din talaga when you feel na hindi ganun kabigat yung value mo sa kanila. You get false dumped twice??? How do u think it feels to have your worth questioned, by someone u love, and hesitated on u. Nakakabawas naman din talaga, ang sakit ha. Realtalk. Tangina, knowing din na I've been through this with my ex, gagawin din niya? Nakakapambaba din ng sarili. Kasi after, lagi mo nang iisipin kung enough na ba ginagawa mo, okay na ba, may problema pa ba siyang nakikita, may dahilan pa kaya siya para breakan ako. I know she's hurting pero, imagine din the pain na binibigay mo sa other person, kahit minsan lang.

Marami din naman ako naging issue sa kanya, which i've told her everything. Heaviest sakin is parang pakiramdam ko, i can never replace her ex sa life niya and ng family niya, since sobrang big deal ng family sakin. It's not that gusto kong ireplace yung ex niya and ignore the fact na may siya, bago ako. No. I just want to feel na I'm not in competition with her, kasi yun nararamdaman ko from them. Every mention of her name sa house nila, or even while dining outside, referring to some funny memories, stuff she bought for them and kahit pag kamusta lang. She's even in majority of the family picture na parang billboard sign for me na wala akong lugar dun.

Tangina. Yes, ive made my mistake. I made a huge mistake which i took all the blame for and apologized to her and the person involved. That person was an old short fling that became one of my closest before me and C started. I cried and apologized for so many times. I tried to redeem myself and regain her trust. I tried to do every little thing i can to make her forget about that horrible night. I focused on her, loved her extra and tried to make her feel only that. Pero idk why its never enough, i guess hindi ko na talaga din matatanggal sa isip niya yun.

I am trying, so hard, to be the best girlfriend that i can be, for her. Ginagawa at gagawin ko lahat ng pwedeng paraan to make her feel that I love her, and only her. Pero idk bakit mas lumalala. Idk. Ang tigas niya. I remember when nag come up nanaman tong issue sa Elyu, u became this person na i never thought magiging ikaw. I cried in public, i bawled my eyes out in front of someone, puta i cried and begged right in front of you, for the first time in my life. I begged for u to stop and you just stared blankly right straight to my crying eyes and kept on saying youre leaving. I dont believe, I, or anyone, ever deserve(d) that.

Pero naiintindihan pa din kita. Kasi nga i did something na forever nang nasa isip mo. Kaya hindi ko kaya magalit sa mga nagawa mo. Alam ko, wala akong karapatan kasi i made a really bad mistake. Sobrang nasaktan kita. And since then im trying to make up for what i did to fix the damages na nagawa ko sa relationship na to. It's just that, sometimes, it all just gets a little too much. Mabigat. Parang wala kong nagagawang tama, mas nasasaktan pa kita. Lahat ng maisip ko na posibleng way para makatulong maayos to, or makatulong para matanggal ko yung pain and doubts na tinanim ko sayo, ginagawa ko. Kaya lang parang walang gumagana, nakakaubos. Nakakagod din. Nakakapagod na sa relationship na to, parang duty ko na na tanggalin yung doubts mo and iprove yung love ko sayo. Araw araw. Tapos minsan kailangan extra/double effort pa kasi may days na maaalala mo bigla yung kasalanan ko. Nakakaubos. Nakakapagod din mag sorry ng mag sorry kasi minsan di niya nakikita na napapagod ka rin, nauubos, nahihirapan, nasasaktan.

Ang bigat na. Nabibigatan na din ako. Kahit sana konting tulong lang. Konting pag unawa. Konting pagmamahal para makita mo din yung pain ko.

Sobrang mahal kita. Mahal kita. Habambuhay ko pag sisisihan yung ginawa ko, maniwala ka man o hindi. Tao din ako, nagkakamali. Mahal kita. Pero i dont think mag ggrow tayo sa relationship natin kung di mo ko tutulungan mag move forward from my/our past mistake. Sana magkaron tayo ng room for mistakes and failures, kasi magkakaron naman talaga, madami, madami din magiging lessons. Sana, mas solid yung love natin and ma overcome lahat.