"People aren't having kids because they can't afford them..."

WRONG

The real reason is because you're not allowed to be a kinda shitty parent any more. There's too much pressure to be a really present parent. Throughout most of human history people just popped out a load of kids and apart from feeding them and sorta making sure they have some clothes you didn't really have to do anything. This is still the case in places where people actually have kids.

You think MFs in the 1900s were taking their kids to soccer practice 3 times a week? after school clubs? You think they even knew where there kids were 90% of the time.

Sure we may loose a couple in freak accidents or whatever but that will be massively offset by increased births. And the kids won't even turn out shitty they will learn to fend for themselves, unlike a lot of kids today who are honestly losers.

My very close online friend passed away by s*icide last sunday and it feels surreal. I wanted to write an eloquent poem or a little piece for her, something that summarized the various parts of her that made her whole, real and so very special to me but I just don't feel like doing that now. I've done that many times when she was alive simply because i appreciated every aspect of her existence that much.

She would have turned 20 this coming may the 13th.. I'm finding it hard to verbalize any of my thoughts in relation to her but if anyone asks me a question I think I can express my overwhelming feelings through answering them.

She deserved so much better, she tried her best every single day and I can literally attest to that. I feel like crying thinking of the last time I spoke to her, which was day before. It was me asking her if sertraline affected her physically. I was going to take it soon because for the first time in my life, I took tangible steps to solve suicidal tendencies and anguish I've felt from loneliness and a terrible home life for 10 years now and she had more experience with medication..whether any of that experience helped or alleviated her pain or not. She told me it was gonna be okay and when telling me about her first experiences with it, she showed me a photo of herself when she first started taking the anti depressant and I just remarked on how beautiful she was even though I'd seen her so many times before..she barely tried in that aspect and I'd often feel that she didn't know what suited her but it didn't matter ever.

I also feel like crying when I go outside because sunny days remind me of her, that might sound stupid but even before this, the most beautiful things in the world that occur naturally like flowers and sunsets would remind me of the people I truly loved, because that's the way I'd cherish them. She was real, she's gone but what we had was real. I will never ever forget her.

She had the most adorable curiosity about the tiny aspects of the world when she wasn't entangled in deep problems due to the circumstances in her life. She deserved proper help, not a prostitution job or people providing her with cocaine or a shitty rehab facility or a neglectful abusive father or people leading her on emotionally or every single sexual assault from men who went on with their lives after destroying her bit by bit.

She wanted to study marine biology in college and I'd always encourage her with passion because I really meant it. This was one of the things I wished for in like 5 years time, my wish was for her wellbeing and fulfillment, perhaps a sense of normalcy that I maybe took for granted in some aspects. I'm slightly younger than her but I wish I could have gotten a job earlier and helped her out financially and taken care of her and spent some of my days with her in real life even though she lived on the complete other side of the world.

I want to go there to melbourne and make a small flower shrine for her and write letters to her when I can and leave them there somehow and try not to cry.. maybe meet her younger brother once and tell him that his big sister was one of the coolest people ever and that she really made a difference to other people's lives even though she felt she was a unsuccessful doomed fuck up. And then be on my way home, reminiscing on my past conversations with her

I'm so glad we were friends, that we found eachother in this lifetime. I think she was a dime a dozen. I loved her

This building makes me want to go into cripping debt for a useless advanced degree and live out my dark academia fantasy

Photos by Sage Adams. Loooved her styling here

is it a perfectly normal response for them to insult you over the most benign things. i made a pretty harmless statement and had tons of them attacking my personal appearance

Got rear ended while scrolling through this subreddit today, thought I’d share 💔

I'm probably coming to the end of a short lived relationship with a hippy. I went into it wondering if this is the worst idea in the world and I can now confirm that yes, it was.

When I first started dating him, I was describing him to a friend and she said ''Don't take this the wrong way but you basically just described a cult leader''. I laughed it off but that comment stuck in my mind. Then I read a comment on some post that said ''Never trust a guy who does fire spinning'' such a random thing to say but my boyfriend does this so again, alarm bells. I quickly started to realise that all his soul searching and supposed enlightenment was being used to excuse selfishness and an overall lack of self control. All his spiritual growth seemed very centered on the self.

Well now I've learned my lesson. Turns out he is just like all the other men I've been with but he has managed to slightly cover up his selfishness and sexism under a pile of spiritual mumbo jumbo. The more I talked about feminist issues, the more I saw how ignorant and dismissive he is to other people's experiences. Sad.

Goodbye my misogynistic Syrian hippy prince. 💔

My affections for you are as obvious and plain as the immutable truths of the world. Is the sky not blue, vast and indifferent? Is the grass not green, stubbornly alive? Do I not love you, plainly and without mercy?

Love is an structural necessity in the anatomy of the human condition, a divine defect even, a curse pierced into our veins at Eden’s gate. Maybe He, in His quiet cruelty, pronged it in us the moment Eve tasted the apple, just as I, unashamed, wish for you to consume me with that same reckless hunger.

I tell you stories, fragments really, of artisans from distant, and sun worn places, who sculpt imperfection and whisper that perfection belongs only to Him. If we are made in His image, crafted not out of utility, but out of desire, then even His omnipotence is only a yearning to be seen.

I don’t know. I only know that I want to love you, and be loved by you, as naturally as the sea reaches for the shore, as inevitably as the sky turns its face to the sun.

Where is beautiful and accessible in spring for a young female with a rapidly expiring passport and no ability to drive? Imagine that it is a life saving intervention.

I want love. I want to love, I want to be loved, I want to be one with someone. I just went to the theatre, the programm was an interesting sonata for violin and piano by Leos Janacek (I especially liked the 2nd movement), Mozart k376 (nice), Scherzo in Dmin by Bhrams (really funny), some other pieces and Ravel Tzigane, which was crazy good. There were also 3 encore! Again very good music by Ravel, the violinist was so delicate, everyone was captivated.

But there is no one I can look into the eyes and feel even more connected to just because we experienced that same beautiful music. It was still nice, but a bit for its own sake.

Should I go back to the apps? I read some time ago something here about falling in love by chance vs meeting someone from the apps, and I agree with that post about the second method being pretty much an impossible way to find true love (especially maybe for a guy), for the very reason that love can't be chosen like you choose your favourite cereal brand at the grocery store. But I feel lonely, and with the apps seems so much easier.

Anyway, anyone else in Milan?

A

i never see anyone whistle in public anymore. like where are all the people nonchalantly strolling down the road, whistling a tune with their hands in their pockets, and saying good day to random strangers?
i want to learn how to whistle better now. like i always wanted to be one of those people who were able to whistle an entire song, but sadly i am unable to
how do u whistle better guys??

There is something so humiliating about going to a bar alone. I am a little buzzed rn, so apologies if this sounds nonsensical. A magazine I subscribe to had their magazine launch party today at a bar. Subscribers get in free, plus ones had to pay. I consider myself to be a somewhat socially adept person. I have been to parties alone, but bars? Not often.

Everyone here seemingly knows each other. To break into a conversation seems to be like crashing a little private party. Each with their inside jokes and established relationships. The only person I spoke to tonight was a guy, about 42, about our jobs. And I really tried, I really did. I am sitting at the bar stand as people around me order drinks with their friends. The bartenders move left and right fulfilling orders. At least the drinks are free.

was inspired by the poor sap who didn’t seem to have a good time alone. one must have the metaphysical constitution to withstand such an experience, not for everyone it’s okay. i haven’t spoken to my dad in over four years. my parents almost got divorced six months ago but my mom eventually caved, at least what it seems like from the outside. it makes her weaker than i want her to be; and i get my strength from her, so if shes weaker maybe so am i;

I know yall aren’t ready for this one