I could tell you a story about fandom but I don’t really want to so I will tell you the story my commencement speaker at my graduation told us because it is very inspiring especially for young people about to try and make their way in the big wide world. and I will tell it to you in exactly the same way she told us, because I want you to get the full experience, so imagine this being told to a group of bored, exhausted soon-to-be college graduates who just want to walk so they can go home and sleep for 3 years but are stuck listening to this speech in increasing horror ok here we go

once upon a time there was a boy named eli, whose family moved to live on a farm when he was a very young child. he was fascinated by all the animals, and one day saw an owl sitting on a low branch, and decided he wanted to try and catch it, as you do. he grabbed at the sleeping owl, but since it was, you know, an owl, it dug its talons into him to try and escape. in surprise and pain, he flung the owl against a tree, then stepped on it and killed it. horrified by what he had done, eli became fixated on this incident, and started drawing it over and over again. eventually he started drawing other animals, and it evolved into a lifelong passion and he grew up to be walt disney.