#Transition and Time

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Youth

The philosophy of youth explores the nature, experience, and significance of youth from multiple philosophical perspectives, focusing on the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. Youth is often associated with growth, potential, identity formation, and freedom, as well as the tensions that arise between independence and societal expectations.

Key Themes in the Philosophy of Youth

Identity and Self-Discovery:

Youth is often regarded as a time of intense self-exploration, when individuals question their values, beliefs, and sense of self. Philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Erik Erikson have written about this phase as critical for the development of personal identity.

The search for meaning, purpose, and authenticity is a central concern during this stage, leading youth to challenge norms and societal expectations. This period of self-discovery involves existential questioning and the formation of individual beliefs and goals.

Potential and Idealism:

Youth is often associated with idealism, where young people envision and strive for a world that aligns with their evolving values and principles. This potential for innovation and change has been recognized by philosophers like Karl Marx, who saw youth as a driving force for revolution and societal transformation.

The idea of youth as embodying unrealized potential is central to discussions of education, activism, and personal development, where young individuals are seen as agents capable of shaping the future.

Rebellion and Social Critique:

Philosophically, youth is often seen as a time of rebellion against established authority, tradition, and norms. The desire to break away from societal structures can be interpreted as a pursuit of freedom and authenticity.

Existentialist thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre have emphasized the role of youth in questioning societal values, expressing individual freedom, and seeking autonomy. Youth often acts as a force of social critique, challenging the status quo and proposing alternative ways of living.

Transitional Phase:

Youth is understood as a liminal phase between childhood and adulthood, marked by uncertainty and transition. Philosophers such as Rousseau and G.W.F. Hegel have recognized this period as one of becoming, where individuals are shaped by their experiences, education, and social environments.

This phase is also marked by the tension between dependence and independence, as young people navigate the responsibilities of adulthood while still exploring their place in society.

Freedom and Responsibility:

Youth is often characterized by a heightened sense of freedom, as young people explore their independence, experiment with different ways of being, and exercise autonomy over their lives. This freedom, however, is often accompanied by new forms of responsibility.

Philosophers like Søren Kierkegaard and Simone de Beauvoir have reflected on the existential freedom that youth experiences, particularly in the context of making choices that define one’s future. Yet this freedom also leads to angst or anxiety, as young people face the weight of decision-making.

Education and Development:

The philosophy of youth often intersects with theories of education and development. Philosophers such as Plato, John Dewey, and Rousseau have explored how youth is a time of intellectual and moral development, where education plays a crucial role in shaping a person’s character and worldview.

Dewey, for example, emphasized the importance of experiential learning in youth, where education should be an active, participatory process that encourages critical thinking, creativity, and self-directed learning.

Existential Questions:

Youth is a time when individuals grapple with existential questions about life, meaning, purpose, and death. Philosophers like Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche have explored the existential dimensions of youth, where young people often confront nihilism, existential dread, or the search for meaning in an uncertain world.

The process of finding one’s place in the world can lead to periods of crisis, as young people confront their mortality, the transient nature of life, and the expectations placed upon them by society.

Youth and Time:

Philosophically, youth is often associated with a unique relationship to time. The youthful experience is one of both anticipation of the future and a longing to seize the present moment. Henri Bergson and other philosophers have explored how youth engages with time differently, often characterized by a sense of urgency and immediacy.

Youth can also be viewed as a fleeting moment, with a deep awareness of the passage of time, leading to reflections on aging, the impermanence of life, and the desire to live authentically.

The philosophy of youth emphasizes the dynamic, transitional, and often paradoxical nature of this life stage. It encompasses themes of freedom, responsibility, identity formation, rebellion, and the search for meaning, while also recognizing the challenges and uncertainties that accompany the journey from childhood to adulthood. Youth is seen as a critical period for personal growth and societal change, offering both potential and idealism but also existential questions and social tension.

[stemmmm]

more people gotta try this shit where bill has not improved and will not change but he's just chilling so its fine probably. its great

[boycritter]

august is like if being 17 was a month in the calendar year

[muffinlance]

Consider: Post-canon Zuko wakes up in the body of his childhood self, the morning of That War Meeting. Would he still speak against the plans, knowing his fate? What do you think he would do differently the second time around?

"Turned away at the doors, Zuzu?"

"Shut up, Azula," her brother sulked. But sulked weirdly, after staring at her too long and too wide-eyed, not like she'd surprised him but--

But like he hadn't expected her to be there. At all.

He turned away. ...He turned back. "Hey, Lala? Do you think you could help me practice that one set?"

He didn't meet her eyes.

She narrowed hers. "Which set?"

"The one I'm bad at."

She scoffed. Pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "That's all of them, Dum-Dum."

He didn't shout or stomp or yell about the nickname. His lips twitched.

"It's okay," he said. "If you're afraid you won't be a better teacher that my instructor..."

It was the most obvious manipulation ever.

Perhaps if he proved an adequate firebending student, she'd work on his courtly survival skills next. Honestly, it was good that not even Uncle Gets-Cousins-Killed had been fool enough to take Zuko into that war meeting. She could only imagine how terribly that could have gone.

"Keep up," she said, and turned her steps towards the training grounds.

He did. There, and during the katas she ran him through.

Azula kept her eyes narrowed.

"Hey," he asked, "do you know how to bend lightning yet?"

As if he could have missed it, if she'd been able to get more than sparks. "I will soon," she said.

"You will," he agreed, and flowed through his next set. The one she'd only just mastered.

Father didn't notice how weird Zuzu was being. Uncle never noticed anything. Zuko ate dinner and asked a servant for seconds and didn't stutter or flinch or lose his appetite when father asked, coolly, what he'd done with his day. Azula's shoulders tensed, because one mention of how she'd squandered her own training time teaching him--

"Azula hogged the training grounds. For hours," Zuzu scowled, exactly like a petulant thirteen year old.

Exactly like he hadn't been acting all day.

By the time Father was looking her way, Azula had her usual smirk in place. "I'm sure there would be room for both of us," she said, "you're not afraid of a little friendly fire, are you, brother?"

Zuko sulked. And ate his seconds, like he was enjoying each bite. There was something in his eyes, like a joke no one else was getting.

---

Father died that night. A heart attack. There were the faintest of burns to either side of the treacherous organ; the royal physician hypothesized that he'd grabbed at his chest, fingers burning hot in his final moments; so hot they'd only exacerbated the problem.

The royal physician would never have been brought any victims of lighting strikes. Those that occurred in the capital did not generally require a doctor in the aftermath.

Zuzu ate a hearty breakfast.

He didn't order seconds. Azula gave him points, at least, for not being tacky.

---

The sages named Iroh as regent.

They named Zuko as Fire Lord.

"No," the tiny Fire Lord in his perfectly miniaturized Fire Lord robes said, sitting at the head of his war council. "We're not doing that. And I'll be reviewing all recent battle plans, as well. What's this I hear about a division of new recruits being deployed to the front?"

He did not mention how he'd heard of the 41st Division. No one asked.

"Prince Iroh, surely--" one of the generals tried to appeal.

The young Fire Lord's regent was looking as startled as the rest of them, for a moment. Then he sipped his tea, and smiled.

"Your Fire Lord is correct, of course. A change in our leadership--a change the other nations may mistakenly view as weakness--will necessitate a change in our strategy."

"Now," said their lord, "what, exactly, is our overall objective in this war?"

War, the new Fire Lord decreed, was not an end unto itself.

---

The new Fire Lord continued to have time, to pretend to be trained by her. Azula watched him. Adjusted her footwork. Did not tolerate, and was not offered, any commentary on who was teaching who.

"What did you do with my brother?" she asked, as they flowed from one set to the next. As her hands, poised to throw fire, just so happened to be pointed his way.

He missed a step. It didn't look like an act.

"I'm, uh. Right here?"

She didn't bother to dignify that.

He didn't bother to look worried about her hands, one movement off from a true attack.

He looked around, then grabbed her sleeve, and tugged her further from any walls that may hide ears. The royal family's private training grounds were wonderfully large, and wonderfully open.

"It's me," he said. "It's still me. Just. More of me? Longer of me?"

She narrowed her eyes. A familiar expression, by this point. "Explain."

"...I found the Avatar," he said. "And this is definitely his fault, but--but I guess it started at a war meeting, when I was thirteen."

Azula listened. It was a very Dum-Dum story.

[deadpoets]

DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989) dir. Peter Weir

[boltlightning]

do allow me, will you? ➢ THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)

[stellarspecter]

@pscentral event 20: antagonists ↳ THE LORDS IN BLACK in NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE

[diamondcitydarlin]

               "I am gonna make you so happy." 🪲🪳

[chalkrub]

KOFI

commissions: here!

membership: here!

more in-depth explanation above lol but yes, opening up my kofi for the above stuff! i'll still be posting art to my socials as usual, but there'll be more consistent/exclusive/early-access art and wip posts for members on kofi, along with all the benefits above

thank you very much for any support as always! muah

[yupekosi]

it's been a while but here's another DP/DC plot bunny that won't leave me alone; a Demon Twins/Danyal al Ghul AU, but Danny is trans.

...hear me out okay?

Damian al Ghul had a twin sister, just as brilliant and deadly as him. they were the terrors of the League, working expertly in tandem to take down their foes before they knew what hit them. but there could only be one heir to the Demon's Head, and Ra's, being the old, sexist bastard he is, arranged for the 'spare' to be taken care of- and Talia insisted it be by her own hand.

Damian's last memories of Aishah al Ghul are of her packing her bags for her first and last solo mission. she knew what was coming, he thinks. the smile she gave him as she said goodbye was bitter and sharp.

of course, what really happened was that Talia -whether out of sentimentality or simply wanting to keep her other trained weapon-child alive- faked her daughter's death and left Aishah in the American adoption system, where she was taken in by the Fentons; and, when he was a teen, transitioned.

years later, Damian al Ghul, now Damian Wayne, sees an identical boy staring at him from across the batcave. He has his sister's sword and his sister's eyes, and the smile he gives him is bitter and sharp.

and Aishah al Ghul, now Danyal Fenton, says "Hello, ahki."

[misakarose]

Momo and Okarun standing up for each other supernaturally

[digitalmemoriez]

✫･ﾟ*.2013･ﾟ✫*

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: Season 1 ↳ "Oh, the misery."

[cecoeur]

The more things change, the more they stay the same | 2011 -> 2024

[heartorbit]

bugs when you lift up a rock

[dkettchen]

she would've told them unlike her canon! version who decided not to be an ally smh