I’m working with a voice recognition software on my side gig today and transcribing a sermon where the speaker is quoting James 1, “But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect he will receive anything from God, being unstable in all his ways.”
Except the voice recognition software translated “that man” as Batman.
For let not Batman expect he will receive anything from God, being unstable in all his ways.
In Dutch, when you boil an egg and then place it into cold water to make it easier to peel an egg, it’s called “to scare” the eggs.
One day when I was about 6 or 7, my mom asked me to “scare” the eggs. So, little joker I was, lifted the lid of the pan and yelled “BOOO!”
My mom cracked up and has been telling this story ever since, for over 20 years. She’s come to love the story and still truly thinks that I wanted to really “scare” the eggs. Truth is I knew what “scaring an egg” meant and only wanted to make her laugh because she was in a sad place and time back then.
It’s made her laugh for over 20 fucking years, that means it’s the best joke I’ve ever pulled off and I’d die before I’d let her find out I was just kidding.
I cannot believe we’re still tearing Cinderella down! 2018 only has a few months left and we’re still doing this, we’re still painting her as the weakest Disney princess and we’re still painting her weakness as a bad thing?
Why?
Why are people so caught up on bashing this princess?
“The movie is so simplistic—”
In what way is it possibly simplistic?!
“She didn’t work hard—”
YES, SHE DID!
“Well, okay, but the fairy godmother still had to come in—”
Yep, I remember the movie too, and the countless stories on which it’s based.
“So the fairy godmother was the one who caused the happily ever after.”
She sure was, now, what’s your point?
No, really, what’s your point? Is the point that Cinderella is somehow weak because she wasn’t 100% in control of her own life? Seems like a pretty disgusting opinion to have when the whole movie is about an abuse victim finding a way out of her horrible situation. So Cinderella wasn’t the one who got herself out. So what? Instead of looking the movie at its bare surface, maybe try analyzing it with a bit more thought and tact. You might see something a little different. A magical transformation, if you will.
Because Cinderella did work hard.
And guess what we learned from that?
You can work
and work
and work
And there will still be people out there who will try to tear you apart:
Literally.
And that sucks. It’s a horrible lesson to learn but it is something we will all face in our lifetimes. There will always be people who will try to tear us down, there will always be people who will try to rip us apart, until we’re in a low place:
Until it seems like there’s no hope…
Until it seems like you’re too weak to get out on your own…
And maybe you are.
Maybe you are too weak to get out on your own. Maybe you’re not the strongest woman in the world. Maybe you’re not capable of screaming at the top of your lungs or brandishing a weapon or throwing a punch. Maybe you’re not able to get out of something on your own. Maybe you hit a low point and maybe you have no way out of it. Not alone. But that’s just it.
You’re not alone.
Even at your lowest point, someone will come help you.
You don’t have to do it all alone.
It’s okay to have a little help when you have nowhere else to turn.
Cinderella is the story about an abuse victim who is unable to get out of her toxic situation by herself and just when she begins to lose all hope, is able to get help from an unlikely source. It’s the story about a girl who needs help getting to her happily ever after and that’s okay.
Give us advocates:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us warriors:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us fighters:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us girls who are not advocates, girls who are not warriors, girls who are not fighters, girls who still deserves their happily ever afters:
there is no higher form of literature than olde-ass europeans trying to explain the skunk
“The other is a low animal, about the size
of a little dog or cat. I mention it here, not on account of its
excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or
four of them. It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has
upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and
tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is
bushy and [163] well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox; it
carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than
black; and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it
walks, that it ought to be called Jupiter’s little dog. But it is so
stinking, and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called
the dog of Pluto. No sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have
believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your heart almost fails you
when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and
several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our
house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by sainte
Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor.”