Joy to the world

Rape has become endemic in South Africa, so a medical technician named Sonette Ehlers developed a product that immediately gathered national attention there. Ehlers had never forgotten a rape victim telling her forlornly, “If only I had teeth down there.”

Some time afterward, a man came into the hospital where Ehlers works in excruciating pain because his penis was stuck in his pants zipper.

Ehlers merged those images and came up with a product she called Rapex. It resembles a tube, with barbs inside. The woman inserts it like a tampon, with an applicator, and any man who tries to rape the woman impales himself on the barbs and must go to an emergency room to have the Rapex removed.

When critics complained that it was a medieval punishment, Ehlers replied tersely, “A medieval device for a medieval deed.” 

Fortunately, another guy pointed that out, and the majority of the guys immediately agreed, said it was horrible that this thing exists, but only because it’s necessary. And I appreciated that they came to that realization, I appreciated that they, as a group, were able to recognize the need and take ownership of the idea that whether or not they fear it being ‘used against them’, that’s not the reality, and that’s not what’s going to happen.

2. Why am I sleeping?  I have much to do. 

Ok, let’s do this. First of all, once again, English is not my mother language and I’m may not be able to properly express myself. I hope this is not the case, but please forgive me if some of what I’m about to say sounds a little confusing.

So, anyway, I see a lot of posts on my dashboard acting like they can’t get absolutely nothing and there’s no point in even trying because they have such crippling conditions that they would fail anyway and it’s cruel to ask them to try otherwise and “OMG, you don’t understand depression is a real condition, we’re not making excuses!”.

Well, I KNOW depression is a true condition since I dealt with it during all of my adult life. I also suffer from anxiety and OCD since I was a child, so, yeah, I know how real this shit is.

But here is the thing, you know how we are always saying stuff like “depression is real, you wouldn’t ask someone in a wheelchair to walk, would you? It’s the same thing”. And I think here is the problem, many people suffering from mental disorders don’t have such a severe condition comparable to being in a wheelchair, they have a limp, a knee problem or some other leg problem and maybe they might need a cane to walk and surely they won’t be able to run, but they CAN walk… but they say they can’t because they are in a wheelchair. They are hiding behind their condition to not even try.

That doesn’t mean their suffering and struggling is not real, it is VERY real, it’s just not incapacitating. I know they are a lot of people out there with very severe conditions that make having a normal life almost impossible, but I find it very hard to believe this is the case with so many people in this website.

It’s hard to tell because when it comes to mental disorders, things are not as objective to diagnose as, following the last example, being able to walk or not. So, if you’re struggling to get things done and live a normal life, it might be an attitude problem. But where to draw the line? Your problem might be 50% mental disorder 50% attitude, 30% mental disorder 70% attitude, 70% mental disorder 30% attitude, I think it’s different for everyone.

That’s why we take meds. The meds are supposed to regulate the chemicals in your brain and make it work properly. Taking the above example of 50% mental disorder 50% attitude, the medication is solving the 50% that’s out of your hands, that REALLY is not your fault, but once that’s okay, you still have to work to change your behavior to get out the mess where you might be in. I think this is why meds don’t work for so many people, they take it as if its some kind of magic all-problems-solving pills. Medication doesn’t work that way. There is no magic way to solve all your problems, you have to work get things done.

I understand why some people act this way, though. For many years, I tried to use my very real depression as a shield, because I thought I was such I horrible failure at life, that I just didn’t want to assume that at least part of the blame for the state my life was in was mine. It was easier to blame depression, anxiety and OCD for everything and say it was hopeless to even try and shut down everyone else who tried to help me, because of course, I thought they had it easy and didn’t understand what I was going through, when in reality, many of those people were dealing with other difficult stuff, some of them even HEAVIER stuff than me.

Today I have a way better life than I used to, but I had to work hard to get here. I’m not saying that “you can do anything as long as you work hard” bullshit. We all know our world is crap and there are a lot of unfair things in our lives, only really privileged people believe this nowadays, I guess. But this is not what I’m saying.

So if Lapis loses the barn in space, can they become Bath Mates?

‘What about Ron magic?’ offered Ron. To Harry, Ron was a loud, slow, and soft bird. Harry did not like to think about birds.  

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: “You are Hagrid now.”

the 2% of my brain that isn’t actively sabotaging me: do your assignments. read a book. take a fucking shower

me: