I've been doing a lot of reflection as of late, especially after this past class.
This past class was about the Torah and Tanakh in general, and the way the rabbi talked about the commandments (specifically the ten commandments) has made me really reflect on how I interpret them, specifically the fifth commandment, or honoring your mother and father.
This is a commandment I have wrestled with for a long time - in fact, it brought me away from g-d at multiple times. I was severely abused when I was incredibly young by my mother, and I used to feel insulted at the implication that I were to honor her while she got to live a better life. It was hypocritical, in my eyes.
But this rabbi surmised that this particular commandment was because parenthood is an act of creation, something that is like the g-d from which we come from. My realization is this: I don't think we're necessarily meant to take even these commandments literally.
I this particular commandment is more of a call to honor creation - creation is a gift, and like any gift, many people simply will not like it and will discard it. The person who abused me created me, but she did not honor creation. She didn't honor me, but I can still honor it.
I have started to honor creation much more. I'm too young, too unstable, not mature enough to be a father (though I fantasize about it), but I create all the time. I create relationships, I create with my hands through crochet. I create memories, I create my world. And I can honor who I am and where I came from that made me who I am. I've been learning one of the mother tongues of my family (Italian, since part of my family originates there) and it was judaism that inspired me to do this.
I don't think g-d wants me to honor my abuser. I think He wants me to remember the Holy action of creation. When I am a father, that act of creation will be Holy, and indeed, I am already joyful about the thought.
I have seen many people struggle with this particular commandment, but I think this perspective helps me personally. I don't think I ever have to forgive my abusers (plural), and I don't think I am commanded to simply because they happened to be family. I am commanded to recognize the holy, to elevate the mundane. In doing so, I will remember g-d. Through creation, I honor g-d and everything he has done for us, for me, and for our collective people.
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Do you have a Tone Deaf version of Clay Calloway?
(Perfectly fine if you don't. I was just curious, plus I love all your redesigns)
🦁🎸
SORRY THIS TOOK FUCKING FOREVER LMAO [been sitting in my inbox since FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH, HOLY SHIT :D]. YEAH, here he is :pppp a solid draft for you
Lowkey [highkey] gave up on the clothing wrinkles on the arms, but I still like how it turned out I think. I don't have much on him in terms of rewrite, but I do have some, so I'll dump it all here under the cut.
I swear I love asks, please feel free to say/ask whatever, I'm just horrible at answering in a reasonable time-frame because I always want to make it this beautiful masterpiece and end up turning all of them into full-on posts- or, at least I want to ~_~
Headcanonssss-
Ash gave him that button off her jacket [probably needs to be resized I'm realizing lol] [also I totally adopted this headcanon from someone elses post- might've been yours. Whoever came up with it I love it <3]
Born during the reformation that happened after the war- basically, nobody was really fighting anymore during this time, but some big people in power were still being stupid [aka: not letting their prisoners go]
So that would be somewhere around 1947? Which would put his age at 61 in my universe [which is in 2008- the times are pretty much random, nothing really lines up irl. Ignore how they use tech and other things that shouldn't have been invented yet lol]
He grew up when the Skunk Dolls were new and popular and stuff. And he loved them- so much that the band actually kinda inspired his music career
[Skunk Dolls also made loads of protest songs btw. War stuff]
Takes a ridiculous amount of care with his mane, and if he lets you touch it, that's a true sign of trust
So the Piglets always like to play with it, and Ash has given him braids a few times
He's had that scruffy red jacket since his early days
I should draw patches on it-
Ash probably'll give him a quill or two to put in it too with all the patches and repair stitches
He wears a lot of plaid, I just didn't wanna draw it <3
Rough and torn up clothes too
Everything he owns has some sort of smudge or tear in it from motorbiking and/or just being himself <3
His ears are pierced in almost every way imaginable, and when Ash found out, she went CRAZY
Cue her getting him to try on a bunch of stuff
He likes wrought iron jewelry and has never been a fan of anything with gemstones in it
Buster is terrified of him, but Clay is just kinda a blunt person and it doesn't mix well with Buster sometimes. They get along eventually tho. There was also some really bad timing with the circumstances of how they even met in the first place too lol-
Johnny is also. Super terrified.
Buster and him are like "Ahhh.... that guy scares the living daylights out of me." "Ohh, thank god it's not just me-"
He has a strange out-of-pocket interest in astrology.
And in herbology and plants in general, but he picked that up from Ruby. Astrology was all his, and it is the one thing he will "nerd out" over
Also the kind of guy to make fun of you for nerding out too
Making fun of people is his love language
So is giving people food
He's not great with his words and can find it hard to express love by just telling someone. Back to the bluntness thing, you can often find him accidentally offending someone and he doesn't even realize it
The troupe very quickly learned this and it's more of an endearing trait of his to them [and to most people who know him]
REALLY good cook. Fantastic, in fact. Probably one of the best chefs out of any of the characters.
Learned the hard way that enlisting Buster's help in the kitchen is a bad idea. Also Ash isn't great either, but he actually tries to teach her some of his recipes. And she's quickly improving
Buster was just being an idiot and forgot you shouldn't microwave tinfoil
Clay travels a lot, but spends most of his time in Calatonia [he technically still lives at his and Ruby's house, but he's super scared of accidentally closing himself off again, so he only visits to check up on the flowers and maintain the property pretty much]
He's like Ash's second [and very cool] dad. Which- also intimidates Buster quite a bit :D
I feel like their dynamic could be a sitcom. Clay is Ash's awesome dad and Buster is Ash's lame [endearing] and oddly unhinged and anxious dad who feels like he has to be as cool as Clay [and always fails heehee]
Clay is more entertained by Buster's ridiculous criminal record than horrified and I don't know if that's worrying or just a classic Calloway W
He's a very nonchalant person
Ruby's death is the only time I can really think he had a legitimate emotional break that wasn't just him being snappy [which is also pretty rare]
Clay's also like an uncle to the Piglets
He's kinda just taken up the role of "super awesome miscellaneous family member" for everyone at this point
He's back performing again after Sing 2- just not frequently or putting out any new songs [on his own at least- he might do a collaboration or two with Ash]
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From what you said about people complaining about Ashton going in the lava quickly that he went right away, bit he waited so long in the discussion and for a bunch of buffs, what are people complaining about?
It was all very short complaints without a large amount of detail so I can't speak to their reasoning. I suspect it's the usual "why is a show with 7 main characters not centered on My Personal Favorite Character all the time" attitude; I think the people involved also dislike Taliesin's playstyle, which I disagree with but is fine for them to think, though that's something to be very thoughtful about when posting in the main tag. Due to the delicate etiquette of Tumblr (and, to be honest, the entirely justified annoyance one feels when some absolute random person you've never talked to is like WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS IN THE MAIN TAG, an annoyance I have felt many a time) I decided to write a post about why I happened to respect Ashton's decision.
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