InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Just my allergies."

Maryanne Elizabeth Walker (maryanne_walker) wrote in compass_network,
@ 2013-06-23 02:13:00

Entry tags:

!open, jake sully, maryanne walker (oe), ~isabel lane, ~tony stark

Three key quotes that everyone should know and take to heart. Because there are far to many people who think themselves smart, or 'wise', on this island, yet close themselves off to learning anything new about anyone or anything.

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
-William Shakespeare

“To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.”
-Lao-Tzu

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
-Socrates

They all three say close to the same thing. And all three men knew what they said to be true about themselves.

My question is, are you going to die the fool? Or will you become wise before you die?

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	thehalfelven 2013-06-23 07:42 am UTC (link)
	And do you think the same about yourself? Oft I find when looking through a glass, there is a reflection showing me myself. Do you consider yourself wiser than these purported others? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	maryanne_walker 2013-06-23 07:47 am UTC (link)
	I don't consider myself wise, and I am constantly seeking out something new about someone. What has me beating my head against the wall is when I find out that there is nothing good to be learned, or that anything good that should be will never be learned by me. Or anyone else for that matter. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehalfelven 2013-06-23 07:51 am UTC (link)
	But is there a value on things learned? What is good or bad and who are we to decide the worth of knowledge? Is not all knowledge good because it inherently teaches? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	maryanne_walker 2013-06-23 08:00 am UTC (link)
	Elladan, I'm stuck remembering every person, every face, and every name on this island. I try, very hard, to find something good about every single one so when they leave it's the good that I remember over the bad. Because everyone will leave eventually. And it is my curse to be the one that remembers. Who am I to judge what has value? I am nobody. I am nothing. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehalfelven 2013-06-23 08:08 am UTC (link)
	Then how do you say there is nothing good to be learned? Or cannot be learned? How do you find good in others if you judge them before you know them? That is the failing of many, I think. Do not think so little of yourself. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	maryanne_walker 2013-06-23 08:24 am UTC (link)
	I never said there was nothing good to be learned. And you assume that I judge. Please, I beg you, stop assuming things about me. Who am I to think greater of myself? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehalfelven 2013-06-23 08:27 am UTC (link)
	But you said you were beating your head against a wall when you discovered there was nothing good to be learned. That is where my comment comes from, not a fancy I've created of you. A person. If you do not think of yourself as one then you allow yourself to be trod upon. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	maryanne_walker 2013-06-23 08:56 am UTC (link)
	I said after 'That anything good that should be will never be learned by me'. It's difficult to find good in someone when all they show is the bad. I'm sure someone somewhere earns the good. Or at least that's something I have to hope. Trod upon by who? And whether or not I'm a person doesn't mean that I'm any more important than the next. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehalfelven
2013-06-23 09:00 am UTC (link)

Good, I think, it relative. One may see something as deplorable, and another see the same thing as honorable. That's why, I think, it's hard to decide what is good or bad. None of us can judge. We all have opinions.

And of course not, I would never suggest it. People have inherent value as people. But I do think we place more importance on some than others.

Children, for instance, are always more important than adults.

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	maryanne_walker 2013-06-23 09:53 am UTC (link)
	Being closed minded is never a good thing. No matter how you look at it. Of this I have no doubt. I also don't understand why one person's importance should carry over from their world to a new one. What do you consider a child? I count experience, rather than years lived. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehalfelven
2013-06-23 01:45 pm UTC (link)

Of course not, but it works both ways. You cannot deny someone their beliefs, experiences or culture in the name of being open-minded.

And why wouldn't it? It's all they know. How do you expect people to give themselves up so easily? It's jarring, and it would be endlessly foolish to think it wouldn't be. You cannot expect people to suddenly not care who they are because other people are uncomfortable with it.

I cannot agree with your assessment. If you truly believe that then it makes your treatment of Lindir rather deplorable, in nature, as he has less experience and is a child to our eyes.

But if the choice were between me and a 12 year old human girl who lived the life of a 50 year old woman, I would choose the girl to live and I to die. She's a child.

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maryanne_walker
2013-06-23 08:17 pm UTC (link)

I'm not denying anyone anything, I'm the one that's being denied. With anyone else who even half way resembles a human.

Because it's called growth and survival. Either you grow, adapt and survive, or you don't. If I remained what I was before I was kidnapped by the train that took me I'd be here alone, and every time the spire flashed that brilliant light that told me someone was here, I'd go on the hunt. But instead, I changed, I adapted. I did what was best for others, not what was best for me.

He has enough experience to treat everyone that isn't like him with disgust. There are words for that in my world, racist, sexist, and simple discrimination. When he treats the people around him better, then he deserves better, but as long as he belittles, and lifts his nose toward the sky, then he doesn't deserve any better than what he gives.

There are very few people that I wouldn't put myself in front of, if it meant they would live and I would die. And their age has nothing to do with why I would or why I wouldn't. Their skill has nothing to do with why I would, and why I wouldn't.

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