Here's The Thing

Here's the thing

You don't have to like everyone. Honestly, you don't have to like anyone. You can sit at home alone with your eight cats and your computer and just be content in that.

You don't have to be nice. You don't have to be altruistic. You don't have to be a social justice warrior.

But you have to be kind.

Kindness, I believe, is the most important thing, and it's also one of the hardest.

Kindness and niceness are two very different things. You can be nice without being kind, and you can be kind without being nice. I'll show you with an example.

You have a flat tire on the side of the road, and your phone is dead. You ask a passerby for help.

A person who is nice, but not kind, will tell you that they wish they could help, they really do, but they can't. For whatever reason. On a perfect day, when there are no other things going on, maybe they would be able to help, but they can't. They're so sorry, and they feel for you.

A person who is kind, but not nice, asks you what you were thinking, leaving the house without a fully charged phone, and then offers to call a tow truck for you. They might grumble, they might even not be the most pleasant person to be around, but they help.

Because that is what kindness is. And that is the difference. A nice person will lie about bad news, and a kind person will do what they can to soften the blow. Niceness is rose-tinted glasses. Kindness is a helping hand when a child scrapes their knee.

Online, there seems to be this obsession with goodness. You're a good person because you do this or you don't do this. If you think these thoughts or consume this media, you're not a good person, and that's the worst thing there is.

Maybe I don't know what "goodness" is, but I know that I will never be good by those standards.

That's fine. I'd rather be kind.

i really do wish gentiles understood how utterly decimated the jewish diaspora was by the end of the 20th century in the wake of the wave of pogroms in eastern europe, the shoah and its aftermath, and the expulsions across north africa and south west asia. in the early 1900’s, around 50% of the world’s jewish population lived outside of eretz yisrael or the us. today, that number is 13%. there are countries who had large jewish populations at the turn of the 20th century that now have no jewish presence. there has not been such a large wave of expulsions and fleeing since the spanish inquisition — which is another horrifically traumatizing series of events that gentiles don’t understand the enormity of.

during the spanish inquisition, almost half a million jews were forced on pain of death to convert or flee. thousands were killed, hundreds of thousands fled. until the shoah, it was the single most massive trauma in jewish history since the siege of jerusalem and expulsion from judea. jews made up nearly a quarter of spain’s population and had been there for centuries. some of our most important texts were written there. ladino developed there, sephardic music, culture, and identity. and then it was gone. everywhere the inquisition could reach, from spain to naples to sicily to malta to the americas, the jewish populations were brutalized, genocided, and expelled. it changed the course of jewish history forever.

in the 20th century, within the span of 50ish years, hundreds of thousands of jews were killed in or fled horrific pogroms in eastern europe, a third of the entire jewish population was systematically murdered within the span of a few years, centuries old jewish communities weren’t just expelled but almost entirely wiped out which led to the loss of centuries old diaspora languages and traditions, and nearly a million jews were expelled from places they’d lived for hundreds or even thousands of years.

like. do you understand? do you understand the kind of communal trauma that kind of massive global upheaval has on a people? the expulsion of 300,000+ jews from spanish territories was enough to leave a centuries old mark on the jewish community. do you understand the impact that the murder of over six million and violent displacement of over 2 million jews will have on the jewish psyche and on jewish history? do you have any idea how earth shattering the last century has been for the jewish people? do you have any idea what we’ve lost? what’s been violently stolen from us? can you try?

microdosing on catharsis by watching a fictional character or persona i relate to have an emotional breakdown until my chest starts to ache from the amount i've repressed

The pharmacy got some of my ADHD meds in!

After weeks!

I took ONE full dose and 20 minutes later was uncontrollably yawning and had to take a nap.

Stimulant meds are the first line, most effective treatment for ADHD, being remarkably effective in 70-75% of people with ADHD.

People with ADHD do not get high from their stimulant meds.

Becoming relaxed after taking them for the first time or after a long time off them is a sign that they are working and is an indicator that we DO have ADHD, though most doctors don't seem to know that this happens. We relax because we are closer to a normal state than we were, initially our bodies literally respond with relief.

Again. That is not what you would call even remotely a "high". Unless you are one of those awful people who believe naps are a crime.

They make our brain chemistry more normal, not less.

For those they help, we genuinely need them. Yes, both children and adults. It's fine to take them. It should not be a controversy (nor should ADHD itself be as controversial as it sadly is).

Medicating us does not lead to abuse. We are not addicts in waiting. Treating us as such is repugnant. (And treating addicts like shit is repugnant as well.)

Forcing us off medication with no support does, however, cause serious problems and can lead some people to seek them through illegal avenues, which is dangerous. Also understandable. The medical profession blames us and does not take responsibility for their part in this situation, even though they should.

We have every right to use whatever means works best for us free of censure, disapproval, and overzealous gatekeeping. If that's stimulant meds, so be it.

More respect for us please.

Especially now as we are facing rolling shortages of meds for the next few weeks or months. Your ADHD friends are struggling. Be patient.

Coolest thing about lord of the rings? The king of horses shows up. It appears he is no different from all other horses