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Chatterbox: Down to Earth
Um, excuse me?
Just...read this or something. I don't know.
~ ~ ~
The girl sifted through stacks of things in the CB History Museum. It was dark in there; shadows from outside shifted over everything and created ever-changing patterns on the piles of archives.
She paused for a moment to examine a black-and-white photo of a smiling girl holding a flower--a daisy--in her hand, then put it down with a sad expression on her face. She shoved--almost too violently--a record book of the Gender War away, unearthing a small glass box.
Holding it up to a small patch of moonlight, she looked at the contents.
Ashes. You might ask, why is there a box of ashes in the Museum? But, see, these ashes are important. They are the only remains of the Soapbox, diligently gathered off of scorched pavement by a girl with tears in her eyes--the girl that was in the CB History Museum at this very moment.
The girl gazed at the ashes for a moment, then gently set the box down on the floor and walked quietly out of the Museum.
Standing on the ground outside, shivering in the cold winter air, she looked across the open space in front of her and saw a tree.
Walking over to it, she stood at the base for a moment, wishing she could just lean against the trunk and let it support her weight. But she pushed her thoughts away and stretched her arms up to reach for a branch.
Her bare arms--she was wearing a t-shirt--didn't touch the branch. The girl was too short.
She bent her knees and then jumped up for the branch, like she had done so many times in the summer. Her brown leather boots dangled above the ground while she shifted her hands around on the branch, then she pulled herself up to sit on it.
Looking down, se watched the bare pavement beneath her for a moment while she breathed in and out a few times. Then she gathered her strength and stood up, reaching for another branch above her head.
As she climbed, her blue t-shirt caught on branches and ripped. She kept climbing upward without stopping.
Finally, the branches were too thin for her to go higher. She stood on one branch and hooked her arm over another so she wouldn't fall.
Beneath her, the ground was far away. It reminded her faintly of climbing the big red spiderweb at the playground when she was little.
A crowd of CBers had gathered under the tree to watch her climb.
She cleared her throat once or twice. Public speaking was generally not her thing. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat one more time and opened her mouth.
"Um, excuse me?" She could barely hear her own voice, it was so quiet.
"I don't even care if anyone's listening; I just need to get my thoughts out. I apologize if I say anything hurtful or if someone gets offended by my words.
"But honestly, I think people get offended altogether too much. One little thing happens, and then people get all offended and leave.
"Seriously, stop acting like little five-year-olds. Don't you think we're better than this?
"I haven't even mostly seen what's upsetting people. Sure, I've seen CBers being forgotten, and the same few people being complimented over and over, but it's been happening for a while. In fact, as long as compliment threads have been around, it's happened.
"By no means does it imply that the forgotten people are any less important than other people. Of course they aren't! It just means that the CB is always changing; new people are coming and old people are leaving. And there are so many active, semi-active, and non-active CBers that it's hard to remember everyone. So don't take it out on people just because they can't remember every single little person."
Here she paused to brush her hair out of her face and rub her cold hands together.
"As for 'younger CBers pushing older CBers out of the way and taking their places', to tell the truth, I haven't seen it. So I don't really have anything to say about it. If anyone could tell me who/what/where this is, I would be very grateful."
She shivered and pressed her lips together.
"So, I just really don't understand this at all. I'm sorry, but I don't. Everyone is just overreacting too much. This has been around forever, so how come people are turning it into a big problem now?" A few lone tears slid silently down her cheeks.
"That's all I have to say. Thank you for listening." And with that, she quietly turned around, let go of the branch she was holding, and jumped out of the tree to fall, arms spread wide, down, down, down….
submitted by Leafpool
(February 15, 2017 - 2:28 pm)
(February 15, 2017 - 2:28 pm)
I agree that it seems kind of sudden, but what Indigo said was true. Yes, the CB is always changing. Yes, it's difficult to remember / appreciate everyone. But honestly, before Indigo left, it seemed like nobody was really even trying. Saying we're acting like five year olds just for attempting to promote equality & inclusion seems a little much, hmm?
(February 15, 2017 - 6:29 pm)
I agree with some of your points, but I'm sure *some* people were trying, no?
(February 16, 2017 - 10:11 pm)
Thank you for sharing, Leafpool! I understand what you are saying. The only thing is, - and while I agree with what you said - people see this as their home. People will do whatever they can to protect their home. It's like the Civil War of the US. Some people, like Robert E. Lee, refused to join the Union because it was their home (Southern in Lee's case) that was being invaded. It was their home, and their home came before their country. It's just how people think, and therefore, some of us get easily offended or upset. We see many acts as the smallest bit of invasion toward our family, the CB.
Regardless, I agree with what you are saying. You spoke pure truth about the situation, but the best we can do is push it behind us, K?
Battles happen in every community. Take my Hamilton FB group, for instance, are fighting over whether or not Europeans should do cosplays of Hamilton because that's not what Lin intended for the real show, etc. Because Lin purposely chose diverse groups - Asian, African American, Porto Rican, and so forth - to take on the roles so they are not discriminated in the theater field. Every single one of them, including Lin himself, besides King George. So yeah, they are debating over that. Yet, they get over it, compromise, and become a strong knit community again.
The best thing we can do is push the issue away and go back to being the great family that we all are.
(February 15, 2017 - 8:39 pm)
Mei recalled the listing of CBers. She recalled the voting for "leader and deputy" of the CB. She recalled people openly reciting the popular CBers.
In other words, I agree with Leafpool.
There are people saying, "There now seems to be hierarchy of CBers." There was, of course, but there isn't now. I'm not saying that the hierarchy of popular CBers a while ago was a good thing. I'm just saying that it's not a huge problem at this moment. And I will admit that I haven't done much to stop it.
Mei
"You only lose what you cling to." ~Grace Lin
(February 16, 2017 - 5:41 pm)
@Mei, Not after we've made all these changes, no. But "a while ago" wasn't really that long in the past, was it? This has been happening for a while, and most likely will continue to happen, but at least we can attempt to be more inclusive and welcoming than we have previously been.
@Someone, I'm sorry if you've been feeling ignored. Posting under your own name might help, as I've noticed that people seem to disregard posts from pseudonyms more than usual. But I completely understand if you're not comfortable saying these things under your regular username.
@., I'm really not sure, to be honest. On compliment / picturing threads especially it seemed like a certain few were given praise or picturings constantly, while others just sort of faded into the background and didn't get much at all. Maybe that's our own fault for being too shy to request a picturing or not being enough of an active presence on the CB to deserve one. Or maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there. That's always a possibility!
(February 17, 2017 - 8:44 am)
I was ., and I guess it would be better if I posted under my actual name. I think you're deffinetly right, and I'm not saying that no one got ignored. People did. I think that I've deffinetly felt ignored before, seeing as I don't post that much. I am deffinetly *not* blaming anyone for being too shy. Everyone, no matter how active or inactive, deserves to be appreciated. All I wanted to say was that I didn't really like the generalization that *no one* tried to be inclusive. There are always a few people that do try, even if they fad into the background as well. I suppose I'm just being nit-picky, but I wanted to point that out. Sorry if I sounded as if your points were invalid, they were very valid. I just wanted to point that out. Generalizations seem to always get on my nerves. Again, sorry about that!
(February 18, 2017 - 12:18 am)
I agree with you, Leafpool. I also think people are overreacting a bit.
The same people that say they are ignored are the same people that ignored my post on one of the threads that talks about someone leaving. They just...ignored it. And I tried to basically say the same thing as you, but it was a little different.
Thanks for this post!
(February 16, 2017 - 10:30 pm)
Someone, you are not ignored. Everyone reads your comments, but not everyone has something to say. We listen to you! See, here I am, typing a comment for you.
"My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never." --Duke Ellington
(February 17, 2017 - 8:20 am)