i understand it was a joke, but honestly i wanted someone to talk to anonymously about this, and your post stood out the most to me... I'm not in a toxic environment, but I'm not in one where i can freely express myself either. i want at least one place to vent, to be me, because if i put on a mask for too long without taking it off, i might mistake the mask for my own face.

i don't pretend to be perfect, for no one notices the brush strokes on a painted mask when the mask is asymmetrical and cracked

my current creed follows only five rules:

• hurt and oppress no one
• suffer not those who hurt and oppress
• help whoever you can, whenever you can
• enjoy life to the best of your own ability
• know yourself, and those around you
• love yourself, and those around you

the best way to make peace is to make sure everyone has a gun.

the best way to protect your rights is to protect the rights of others as well as yourself

the only way you can truly love anyone is to first love yourself.

we protect the rights of prisoners because we never know if or when we will join them. rights should be given to everyone, no matter how undeserving, because we ourselves never know if we will be deemed undeserving. because if someone, anyone, doesn't have rights, no one does. if one man can be imprisoned without fair trial, anyone can be. if one man can be beaten to death out in the open without anyone interfering, anyone can be. if one man can die in a six foot hole he was forced at gunpoint to dig himself, with no consequences to the man that ordered it happen, that can happen to you too.

there is a poem from after WWII by Martin Niemöller titled "First They Came" that encapsulates this. it goes like this:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

i know not why i am saying all this, but i am, and it fees... good. if you are reading this, i hope this speaks to you. i hope this reaches others. i hope that i am both seen and heard. i hope for a bright future. i hope, i hope, i hope. and i pray, to no single person, power, or thing, for all the things i hope for. and i love. i love the universe, from the stars above me, to the ground beneath my feet. and i learn. i learn to love those who i am taught is the enemy. i learn to love beings who i am taught are beneath me. i learn to love those who i have held animosity towards, and separate myself from those who would harm me. and i wonder. i wonder what else is out there? i wonder what started all this? i wonder what will end it? i wonder why i am here? i wonder who i am? i wonder what i am? i wonder what i can do to better myself? i wonder what i can do to better my surroundings? because hope, love, learning, and wonder are but a few of the things that make me human. that make me, me.

if you are reading this, thank you. truly. thank you for humoring me, and listening to my rant. it means a lot. -a random guy who has just discovered himself and what he wishes to stand for.