What you must. That which affirms your own humanity.
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- A drawn out emancipation to limit both parties economic burden,
- a demilitarized zone to create a defined border,
- a joint task force to bolster some goodwill/understanding via security ops
- no reparations from either side.
Donāt see whats subject to interpretation, and thats just from the second post in the thread not the other 3 proposals.
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Hm. Well ā¦ I guess it didnāt stick in the memory so well.
Iām sorry.
Actually, come to think of it, you got jumped on a little, too, didnāt you? ā¦ Kind of hard.
Okay, now Iām sorrier.
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I donāt want my people to agree with everything I say blindly, nor do I agree with everything they say. Diverse opinions will only make us a stronger, more levelheaded people. At the same time I donāt wish to see those who donāt take the plunge into being bellicose ignored. There are many, they just dont have the notoriety.
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I see. ā¦ Maybe I despaired too quickly. I donāt think Iām the only one on the Empireās side that came away from that discussion feeling kind of shocked, and hopeless.
Iāll ā¦ have to think about this a little. Iām not sure it changes my course, but, itās something to consider for sure.
Youāre still active in the Amarr/Matari WZ, right? Or are you?
(Not a rhetorical trap, to be clear. Wondering if tea or something at Cafe Marlinea is a reasonable idea.)
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My corporation is currently deployed in black rise, State Protectorate. Lets just say its a very long story and we donāt get along with a few Galmil groups so rather than being pirate or shooting āalliesā we formally made ourselves enemies to those we view as more of a threat.
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At peace with this world? What bearing does that have on understanding, Aria? Of course Iām not at peace: Iām alive. Life is a process. We change, constantly. Some days weāre more in-tune with our surroundings, some days weāre not. The tide can be high or low, the seas calm or ragingā¦ but the ocean remains the ocean. To think that understanding arises from being at peace with the world, or even oneself, or that it enables being at peace with eitherā¦
Iām sorry, Aria, but thatās the yearnings of a child, desperate for shelter, afraid of the great big future. A twig in the current of a river knows not peace, but chaos: endless minute shifts and twists, eddies and whorls. At any moment, it might be battered on the rocks or caught immobile by the riverbank, and find its journey unexpectedly cut short. But such things are the vaguaries of chance. While the journey lasts, there is only the moment.
Of course I find much in myself worth denouncing. Iām not perfect. For a time there, I stopped even trying to be a little closer to it than Iād been. And you were one of those who saw that, who called me out on it, who ābeat me upā a bit over it. Should I see that as the act of an enemy? I donāt. A friendāsomeone who really cares about someone elseāshould challenge them to see their errors, should poke at them, prod at them, even scream at them, to be their better selves.
Who else would make the effort?
Yes, I said those things. Those thoughts come from a very dark, bleak part of myself. Itās not the whole of me, but itās there. So? This is just what I was talking about when I said that you just have to let the sunset happen, to let yourself see it. Stop fighting yourself. Sometimes youāll be up. Sometimes youāll be down. Always, youāll be you. Whoever you are, in that moment.
Be, in that moment. Itās all there is.
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Oh.
Haha ā¦ um. Thatās kind of neat. Or else a little sad.
Probably both. ā¦ Kind of a sign of our times in any case.
The worldās ā¦ certainly complicated, isnāt it?
Anyway, itād be interesting to talk some stuff out further. Maybe I wonāt have to busy myself disposing of Arrendisās ābullets,ā literal or metaphorical, so much after all.
Is this happiness Iām feeling? Or disappointment?
ā¦ this was a lot easier a few minutes ago. Also bleaker, though. Iām not sure you by yourself should be enough to change the picture-- after all, at least right now, youāre even farther outside the Republic than Mr. Egivand.
It does change how I feel about stuff a little, though.
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Well, Iāve never declared the cal/gal conflict was any of my business or my corpās for that matter. We went there to shoot pirates, not state protectorate, not fdu. Its pretty sad in my eyes since it is the culmination of failed diplomacy, which I definately have my share of the blame on. It only goes to show, be nice to your allies or your allies wonāt be allies for long. Its nothing to do with the Gallante people, just a few groups under their employ. I still support my Republic, I still support the idea of peace for it. I will not however let those under me suffer to maintain a status quo that only one side is recognizing.
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Hee.
Well ā¦ thatās a way of looking at some stuff.
Enough, though. Please. At best weāre a couple of novices bickering in the monastery yard over whoās closer to becoming a master while the actual master, seated under a tree nearby, is looking increasingly tired.
Whatever your intentions, youāve come very close to making me hate you. ā¦ Actually, right now, I kind of do. Thatāll probably pass. Even once it does, though, I donāt think your advice is good for me, and maybe mine isnāt very good for you, either.
Maybe weāre too different. Or too much alike.
Either way, Iād rather we went our separate ways for now.
Perhaps friends should challenge each other to see their errors, to be better. But they need to accept each otherās frailties, too. And right now, yours are making me want to kill someone you might care a little about, because you might care about them.
To paraphrase something Ms. Vess said just now, be nice to your friends, or your friends wonāt be friends for long. Hate and affection are not opposites.
Right now, I can say my feelings about you are not apathetic. So please, stop trying to fix me.
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Anyone who claims to have mastered anything is deluding themselves.
Iām not. Iām just being who I am, in this moment. Neither one of us could ever āfixā the other. Nothing I say can change you, or anger you, or affect your feelings. Only your decisions can do that. If something I say angers you, itās because you see something in it that you feel challenges your self-image.
And only you can examine why.
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So weāre not at āat best.ā I knew it. You can try to talk like a monk, but you donāt understand this world at all.
Go away, Arrendis.
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Or, you know, you might be a moralizer, a demagogue, and dead wrong.
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Letās not get overly cynical though, Vesper. Just remember not every Republic or Tribe loyalist is our enemy. To make peace there must be people left when the dust settles.
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Wouldnāt those be aspects of oneās self-image that a response might challenge?
Addendum:
Iāve reread your post. Youāre saying that one might be angered by the response because the person making it might be those things. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
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And yet, you can offer no example to correct my supposed lack of understanding.
How can my words change you? How can they do anything without you being the agent of that change through your reactions? If you donāt like themā¦ choose to react differently.
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So do you think that war is inevitable now? That the cluster will burn in a violent cataclysm of ideologies?
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Maybe take this all to off-topic, instead of giving the Butcher free advertisement?
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I think I agree with you on something, Ms. Kernher.
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Good point, Samira.
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