First, another shoutout to ANOTHER PAL WHO HAS FALLEN ‘NEATH THE BLADE OF BLAUGUST as I swing it to and fro among my friend-group, heedless of how many sandwiches I accidentally cut in half, which, you’re welcome, jeez. It’s my buddy Isaac! He’s one third of The Jackson Two (SHUT UP YOUR MATH DOESN’T MAKE SENSE) and he’s just the best; go check out his blog and join me in bullying him into keeping up with it! (I tried to embed his post but something something Blogger, something something WordPress, vague gesture, .gif of Alan Grant trying to make two female-end seatbelt-connectors click)
Alright, time to once again entrust my fate to a robut who can tell me what one pound of gold is worth but not 50:
#22: What is a favorite Quote(s), and why?
Like most insufferable people, I’ve got a bunch; in fact, I’ve got a whole Evernote file full of ’em but for both our sakes and in consideration of the waning daylight I’ll limit myself to five.
1. “We must persevere, Cal…after all, what else is there to do?”
-Zee, Jedi Survivor
It would be easy to read this as pessimistic or defeatist, especially out of context, but it’s incredibly inspiring to me in the framework of what is (I think a little misleadingly) called Anti-Nihilism, which embraces the core premises of Nihilism (nothing matters, existence has no inherent meaning and, in the words of Father John Misty, everything is doomed and nothing will be spared) but forcefully rejects its depressing conclusions by choosing to interpret that inherent meaninglessness and impermanence as limitless possibility, hope, and joy. If there’s no reason to do anything or meaning anywhere, there’s no reason not to be belligerently kind, aggressively compassionate, make our own meanings and love like a fucking hero.
With rare exceptions, one thing does not negate another, you must count all things, and that’s why the full FJM line is “Everything is doomed, and nothing will be spared, but I love you, Honeybear“. We’re all gonna die, our mistakes will be consigned to oblivion, and sooner than we can imagine the very knowledge that the language you’re reading this in ever existed will be lost forever; in a world like this one, what is there to do but spend every second you can get loving and protecting and fighting for hope and joy and mercy with fists forged in the light of God? (Whether or not a or any God/s are involved is between you and them, I just couldn’t resist the simile.)
2. “Sometimes, a hypocrite is nothing more than a man who is in the process of changing.”
– Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive
Pretty self-explanatory. I’d go into more thoughts but I’d risk repeating myself after doing my two-part Manifestivus last week.
3. “You got what everyone gets. You got a lifetime.”
– Neil Gaiman, The Sandman
I said this once, at my vet’s office, when we were discussing end-of-life care for Beloved Local Cat Holland J. Cat; we’d do everything we possibly could, and when her time was done, she’d have gotten what everyone gets: a lifetime. My vet had to stop in her tracks for a second, then said “I…need to think about that for a while.” She, by necessity, deals with death every day, and being able to give her a new idea about it to consider was a small, proud moment. I think that’s probably what I’ll tell Neil if I ever have the good luck to meet him.
4. “Has it ever occurred to you that you believe the Founders are gods because that’s what they want you to believe? That they built that into your genetic code?”
“Of course they did. That’s what gods do. After all, why be a god if there’s no one to worship you?”
–Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Gang I consider myself a religious man (albeit in the same way Moon Knight considers himself a priest), but I’ve been thinking about this exchange for six years and still don’t know what I think it means; all I can say that means for sure is that I need to keep thinking about it.
5. “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose; that is not weakness, that is life.”
– Star Trek: The Next Generation
To use a quote to describe another quote: “If I can’t whup it, then I’ll go down.” – J.R. “Bob” Dobbs. Also I’m not sure you commit mistakes? That’s always bugged me but I have no recourse or authority to question JLP, and so it is an object lesson: I must simply accept it.
MY WIFE TIRES AND SO DO I. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
–The Bageler
Wake up Flanigan, the bartender’s coming
He says there’s someone here who means to do us harm