05-15-2018, 03:34 PM
Her head drifts lower as Scorch speaks, as ears swivel in opposite directions, casting away as lingering thoughts of uncertainty plague her mind. What had she gotten herself into?
Anxiety clutches at her heart making each staggering breath harder to drag in and push back out. The ground feels as though its tilting without her, losing her footing with each flickering moment. Panic settles around her, the primal urge to flee long gone now, as she finds that her legs have suddenly gone too heavy to move.
Rapidly her eyes search for something, anything to give her ground. At last a flicker of something stands out as her gaze shifts to the glimmer of gold, recognizing the bright eyes she had come to discover not so long ago. And he offers her a smile of mischief and she clings to the odd mixing emotions of irritation and infatuation like buoy as it slowly begins to draw her up from drowning in anxiety.
At first she merely glares back at him, but is pleasantly surprised by how much higher her head has raised and finds herself smiling lopsidedly back in his direction. If nothing else, he is a reminder of why she chose to call Nerine home as she collects her thoughts on the topic she was given. The girl wanted to prove herself amongst her Sisters and Brothers and at least she will be able to say she gave it her best attempt.
[OOC: So I included a little preamble for character devlopment purposes XD]
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There are times when it is good to categorize. For example edible versus inedible plants or drinkable versus undrinkable water sources. These are items that can be divided into appropriate categories. However, attempting to categorize people based upon their ideas and beliefs cannot be done as simply. People are complicated and are influenced by remnants of their past, what is happening in the present, and what goals they set to achieve for themselves in the future. Many do not directly lean towards only one point of the light, dark, or neutral trifecta, but find themselves somewhere between the three. Tactically it could prove treacherous to allow those with similar minds to become isolated from the rest of the population, as well as subjecting us formulate preconceived prejudices. Simply stated, I believe it unwise to separate individuals based upon their suspected light, dark, or neutral affiliations.
It would be easy if we were simply labeled as light, dark or neutral, then siphoned off into the appropriate categorial kingdom, to live and prosper with those of minds akin to our own until our deaths. But the world is not black and white, because people are not black and white. Dividing the people into kingdoms of light versus dark versus neutrality is like trying to split a mass of gray back into its predecessors of black and white. It would be a complicated process and I believe discerning who would fall under the title of light, dark, or neutral would prove just as complicated. We are not strictly good, bad, or neutral in our thinking patterns, but the sum of a collection of beliefs and experiences. Who is to say that a person labelled as "Light" could not or would not have any "Dark" thoughts in the right situation or even have had a "Dark" past? And likewise who is to say that an individual labelled as "Dark" could not or would not have any feelings associated with the "Light" or had been born into a "Light" family but chose a "Darker" path instead? As far as neutrality goes, I believe a large sum of people would find they have feelings of indifference towards certain circumstances as well. If you were to observe the world and her people at a distance and with a different perspective, it would be evident that people are multi-faceted and prone to varying emotions. It sounds so simple to categorize people, but really who is to be the judge of who goes where? Is there an altruistic force that divides us? Or do we leave the people to their own devices? Should we trust that they can categorize themselves appropriately? But what of those of us who are indecisive or lack confidence? Is it fair for them to cast themselves off to the darkest realms with a guilty concious for merely having a single ill thought towards someone else? Or what of the person that lives in the fairest of kingdoms, who murders his violent, wayward brother in what he believes to be a small sacrifice for the greater good? The answers to these questions I ask are debatable, but my point is static-- to segregate people into singularly labelled categories is wrong and complicated.
Which brings me to another point that placing a label on someone fosters preconceived prejudices. Having someone introduced to be from a dark kingdom, what do you automatically think of them? The majority would think to hold them in wary regard or perhaps even elicit feelings of paranoia. On the reverse side, what if this person stated they hail from a light kingdom? Many would most likely relax and allow for easy conversation to take place, perhaps even going so far as to trust in the other. The children born into these light/dark/ or neutral realms would be expected to live up to the standards of these labels, presumably to be cast away from their families if their viewpoints stray from the normal processes associated with such labels. It's sad to think of, but this would be the truth of the reality in which we would live. And to think, that as we push away these young minds from their friends and families, could this be the start of the path that takes them into shadows?
For tactical reasons, I think it unwise to allow the darkness of Beqanna to remain isolated from the population. Imagine the vile thoughts that are sewn into the minds of the darkened; to be left to fester and feed off of minds similar to their own. To allow them to unite under a common goal would be an injustice to our world. If they were to be given enough time, they could grow in numbers and perhaps one day seek to destroy whatever light remains in Beqanna. The light of our world should not go unchecked either. It is just has bad for the lightened to feed off of each other's thoughts and reasonings until they begin to believe that they are so pure they could do no wrong. Maybe even going so far as to deem themselves God-like and perpetually pure. And those of the neutral mindset, what becomes of them? They would become the simple folk caught somewhere between good and evil, never to bask in all the glory of the light or dwell amongst the shadows of the dark.
Drawing dividing lines between the people of Beqanna is not the answer. Instead, I offer you the idea of allowing people to be themselves, to live amongst who they choose to, and to live the life they should be free to pursue. We are all composed of light, dark, and neutrality and that is what makes each of us unique. Intermingling those of us who lean more toward dark or light or neutral would help to dilute any strong outliers and perhaps even encourage us to set examples for one another and accept each other as the beautiful, complicated creatures we are.
Anxiety clutches at her heart making each staggering breath harder to drag in and push back out. The ground feels as though its tilting without her, losing her footing with each flickering moment. Panic settles around her, the primal urge to flee long gone now, as she finds that her legs have suddenly gone too heavy to move.
Rapidly her eyes search for something, anything to give her ground. At last a flicker of something stands out as her gaze shifts to the glimmer of gold, recognizing the bright eyes she had come to discover not so long ago. And he offers her a smile of mischief and she clings to the odd mixing emotions of irritation and infatuation like buoy as it slowly begins to draw her up from drowning in anxiety.
At first she merely glares back at him, but is pleasantly surprised by how much higher her head has raised and finds herself smiling lopsidedly back in his direction. If nothing else, he is a reminder of why she chose to call Nerine home as she collects her thoughts on the topic she was given. The girl wanted to prove herself amongst her Sisters and Brothers and at least she will be able to say she gave it her best attempt.
[OOC: So I included a little preamble for character devlopment purposes XD]
_____________________________________________________________
There are times when it is good to categorize. For example edible versus inedible plants or drinkable versus undrinkable water sources. These are items that can be divided into appropriate categories. However, attempting to categorize people based upon their ideas and beliefs cannot be done as simply. People are complicated and are influenced by remnants of their past, what is happening in the present, and what goals they set to achieve for themselves in the future. Many do not directly lean towards only one point of the light, dark, or neutral trifecta, but find themselves somewhere between the three. Tactically it could prove treacherous to allow those with similar minds to become isolated from the rest of the population, as well as subjecting us formulate preconceived prejudices. Simply stated, I believe it unwise to separate individuals based upon their suspected light, dark, or neutral affiliations.
It would be easy if we were simply labeled as light, dark or neutral, then siphoned off into the appropriate categorial kingdom, to live and prosper with those of minds akin to our own until our deaths. But the world is not black and white, because people are not black and white. Dividing the people into kingdoms of light versus dark versus neutrality is like trying to split a mass of gray back into its predecessors of black and white. It would be a complicated process and I believe discerning who would fall under the title of light, dark, or neutral would prove just as complicated. We are not strictly good, bad, or neutral in our thinking patterns, but the sum of a collection of beliefs and experiences. Who is to say that a person labelled as "Light" could not or would not have any "Dark" thoughts in the right situation or even have had a "Dark" past? And likewise who is to say that an individual labelled as "Dark" could not or would not have any feelings associated with the "Light" or had been born into a "Light" family but chose a "Darker" path instead? As far as neutrality goes, I believe a large sum of people would find they have feelings of indifference towards certain circumstances as well. If you were to observe the world and her people at a distance and with a different perspective, it would be evident that people are multi-faceted and prone to varying emotions. It sounds so simple to categorize people, but really who is to be the judge of who goes where? Is there an altruistic force that divides us? Or do we leave the people to their own devices? Should we trust that they can categorize themselves appropriately? But what of those of us who are indecisive or lack confidence? Is it fair for them to cast themselves off to the darkest realms with a guilty concious for merely having a single ill thought towards someone else? Or what of the person that lives in the fairest of kingdoms, who murders his violent, wayward brother in what he believes to be a small sacrifice for the greater good? The answers to these questions I ask are debatable, but my point is static-- to segregate people into singularly labelled categories is wrong and complicated.
Which brings me to another point that placing a label on someone fosters preconceived prejudices. Having someone introduced to be from a dark kingdom, what do you automatically think of them? The majority would think to hold them in wary regard or perhaps even elicit feelings of paranoia. On the reverse side, what if this person stated they hail from a light kingdom? Many would most likely relax and allow for easy conversation to take place, perhaps even going so far as to trust in the other. The children born into these light/dark/ or neutral realms would be expected to live up to the standards of these labels, presumably to be cast away from their families if their viewpoints stray from the normal processes associated with such labels. It's sad to think of, but this would be the truth of the reality in which we would live. And to think, that as we push away these young minds from their friends and families, could this be the start of the path that takes them into shadows?
For tactical reasons, I think it unwise to allow the darkness of Beqanna to remain isolated from the population. Imagine the vile thoughts that are sewn into the minds of the darkened; to be left to fester and feed off of minds similar to their own. To allow them to unite under a common goal would be an injustice to our world. If they were to be given enough time, they could grow in numbers and perhaps one day seek to destroy whatever light remains in Beqanna. The light of our world should not go unchecked either. It is just has bad for the lightened to feed off of each other's thoughts and reasonings until they begin to believe that they are so pure they could do no wrong. Maybe even going so far as to deem themselves God-like and perpetually pure. And those of the neutral mindset, what becomes of them? They would become the simple folk caught somewhere between good and evil, never to bask in all the glory of the light or dwell amongst the shadows of the dark.
Drawing dividing lines between the people of Beqanna is not the answer. Instead, I offer you the idea of allowing people to be themselves, to live amongst who they choose to, and to live the life they should be free to pursue. We are all composed of light, dark, and neutrality and that is what makes each of us unique. Intermingling those of us who lean more toward dark or light or neutral would help to dilute any strong outliers and perhaps even encourage us to set examples for one another and accept each other as the beautiful, complicated creatures we are.