Anabel

[The Redheaded libertarian @TRHLofficial]

My daughter has an immune system that breaks her bones. For 4 years, we brought her to treatments, held her when she was in pain, and prayed every single day to trade places with her so she would never feel pain another day in her life. If we went on vacation, she would have to use a wheelchair. She had a walking stick, had to have a tutor, and dealt with all this during a pandemic in Massachusetts.

In those 4 years, she broke several bones, including her T5. She was switched between two chemo drugs, one that made her very sick before switching to the second medicine that she tolerated well. We were told if this drug didn’t work, the next drug would cause her to lose her hair. I promised her I’d shave my head too if it came to that and we’d get the coolest matching wigs ever. Thankfully, it never did.

In 2022, We escaped Massachusetts and moved to Florida and it’s amazing how a change in atmosphere and climate, and not being ostracized can lift a spirit and heal a body. 17 months later, by the grace of God and good medicine, She went into remission in August 2023. I have never cried that hard from being happy in my life.

I tell you all of this now, because life is challenging and it is fleeting. We are bombarded with anger and vitriol and hatred and war. It’s difficult to not become demoralized— unless we find something or someone that gives us joy and purpose always, and punctuates everyday with goodness.

Dwelling is pointless. Holding a grudge is poison. Let it all go. Don’t let these struggles keep you in a stranglehold.

Tomorrow, I challenge you to imagine you went to sleep at 80 years old, but you woke up and got to be whatever age you are today again. You got to be young again. Have your children young again. Everyone is happy and healthy. How would you spend this day if you had a second chance to live it? How would use that gift?

Slow down and be thankful for every scraped knee that you got to kiss better, every time you had to referee a backseat argument, every snuggle that turned into a nap and put your arm to sleep. Every belly laugh. Every pillow fight. Every Oreo covered face, Brushing their hair, watching them sleep, making ice cream sundaes to cheer them up. Every time they needed you. Bottle up those moments.

Take in the way their eyes light up when they laugh, notice their crooked teeth and the freckles on their noses. Study their little hands and the dimple on their cheek. Whether you made them from scratch or they were born in your heart, they are your legacy and you are their entire world.

And most of all, remember that we are not promised a long life— but we have the power in ourselves to live a full one.

[Yascha Mounk @Yascha_Mounk]

It’s not anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government.

It’s not anti-Semitic to put the current conflict in historical context.

It’s not anti-Semitic to mourn the death of Palestinian civilians.

But if you describe the slaughter of 1,400 civilians as “military action” or call for a ceasefire without mentioning the toddlers who are still in the clutches of a terrorist organization, people will rightly wonder why you don’t seem to give a single shit about the lives of innocent Jews.

[Melissa Chen @MsMelChen]

This conflict weighs so heavily on me. I have Jewish friends and I have Muslim friends. I have a deep affinity for Israel and for Arab culture, and do a lot of work in the Middle East.

But let’s be clear about some things. Anti-Israel + Pro-Palestine demonstrations erupted around the world *before* Israel responded.

BEFORE.

Let's recap that sequence of events.

1. Palestinian militants wake up in the morning and decide to go and murder Israeli civilians, take hostages, and declare their intent to destroy Israel

2. Demonstrations erupt around the world supporting Palestine and condemning Israel

3. Israel responds to this threat

Go back over it again in case there is any ambiguity.

There is no moral grey area to inhabit here. No fog of war that one can hide behind.

Palestinian militants murdered civilians. In cold blood. They raped Israeli women. They set children on fire and beheaded them. Grandmothers were raped so brutally their pelvis was broken. A pregnant woman had her baby cut out of her stomach and beheaded, only to then suffer beheading herself. Palestinian militants murdered Jews, on a mass scale, in the most barbaric and heinous ways possible. And then vowed that they would keep going, to the thunderous applause of their sympathisers living in the West.

Members of our intelligentsia and elite students openly cheered Hamas, laying the blame *entirely* at the feet of Israeli policy. They justified the most barbaric atrocities under the banner of liberation and decolonization.

If you can't see the problem with that, I don't know what else to tell you.

It is easier of course to just keep quiet, to not talk about it. But I am compelled to.

Because 90 years ago, no one spoke up.

Yet.

It is important to recognize that this is war, and in this war, there are people are dying on both sides - children, women, civilians.

Many people have been trying to build bridges to bring about peace – and all their work crumbled just like that. The world before Oct 7 was a different world. Peace in the Middle East was achievable and now, we’re back to reliving ancient hatreds between the sons of Abraham.

One of the problems with discourse today isn’t just about the things we say; sometimes it’s about the things we don’t say.

Even when we think that “our side” may have not been totally right, we hold back from criticizing because we fear weakening the moral standing of “our side.”

So on one side, they cannot criticise Hamas, and on the other, they cannot criticise the Israeli government / IDF. But Hamas isn’t Palestine, and the Israeli government isn’t Israelis / Jews.

This distinction is important. And for those who say “but Palestinians support Hamas overwhelmingly,” please ask yourself exactly what choice you would have if you were born into the same cultural and social milieu?

You’ve heard the phrase the “bigotry of low expectations.” Sometimes it is compassionate to expect less.

Moral clarity is important, but so is being compassionate and not giving up on humanity.

When will we beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks? When will we no longer take up sword against each other, nor train for war anymore?

I recall the words of Rudyard Kipling:

“What profit to kill men?”

“Very little - as I know; but if evil men were not now slain; it would not be a good world for weaponless dreamers.”

[Wyrmwood @WyrmwoodGaming]

🎉 BIG Giveaway 🎉

To celebrate the launch of the #GameMasterScreen tomorrow, we are giving one away!

(Rules posted below 👇)
#WyrmwoodWednesday #dnd5e #dnd #giveaway #dice #miniatures #dndart

[. @grillermo]

Amazon baneo estas palabras de su chat interno. Pero sigan disfrutando de su conveniencia Prime a costa del sufrimiento de los trabajadores.

[Risco @jrisco]

Este gráfico.

Así de claro.

¡Vacúnate!

[Anabel @anabelta]

Hola ansiedad nueva

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Plants absorb nanoplastics through the roots, which block proper absorption of water, hinder growth, and harm seedling development. Worse, plastic alters the RNA sequence, hurting the plant’s ability to resist disease https://t.co/yOmDCksCw5

[Anabel @anabelta]

@Cynnderela por la ropa como se tenía antes con prendas tan baratas. Cuidar tu ropa y seguir usándola después de cuatro años está muy bien. Pero en realidad lo mejor que podemos hacer es no seguir tendencias, comprar básicos de alta calidad y no alimentar a esos monstruos. ✌🏽

[Anabel @anabelta]

@Cynnderela Sino que este esquema hace que las tendencias pasen absurdamente rápido, la gente se cansa de lo que tiene porque está demasiado visto, y como es tan barato se pueden permitir comprar algo nuevo que definitivamente no necesitan la siguiente semana. Ya nadie tiene apreciación

[Anabel @anabelta]

Un día me voy a poner así con los “chiles en nogada” de la cdmx.

[Reddit, Inc. @Reddit]

can't wait to explain this week to my therapist

[txiqui 🚲 @thesmallestboy]

qué pedo que ayer fue domingo y hoy es domingo y mañana será domingo. muy día de la marmota el 2021.

[Anabel @anabelta]

Siento que voy a empezar hacer esto con lo que dice @grillermo dormido:

[Harry Mitchell @harrywmitchell]

my girlfriend talks in her sleep. i've noted them down for weeks, and turned her dreams into rupi kaur poems.

[lauren 𐔌՞. .՞𐦯 @iwaizumichi]

imagine being the earth ambassador for the galactic federation and every week ur boss is like “is earth ready yet” and ur just like

[Shane Parrish @shaneparrish]

How to be productive:

- Don't schedule anything in the AM. Ever.
- All meetings in two afternoons a week.
- Use email or calls to replace most meetings.
- Keep emails under 5 sentences.
- Keep calls under 15 mins.
- Delete emails without responding.
- Take time to walk/think.