seb • xe/him (sé/é) • 20
[icon: a sidney paget illustration of sherlock holmes lounging on a couch in a dressing gown, with a trans flag background.]
[header: a photo from the set of the re-animator, showing herbert west about to tap the head of dr. hill with a pencil.]
the "oh. oh." moment in fan fic but instead of a character realizing they're in love it's them discovering they have a specific kink at the worst possible moment
I really think one of the best things we can do as people is just get more comfortable with embarrassment. Yes, it's an unpleasant emotion, but we gotta learn to let it pass over us and move on. The longer I'm alive the more clear it is to me how much harm we do just because we're embarrassed. How many parents punish their kids needlessly and/or super severely just because the parent feels embarrassed by the child's harmless behavior? On a bigger stage, how much of fucked international intervention is started and especially continued because a nation doesn't want to be embarrassed? We have to recognize that being embarrassed does not entitle us to harm others. Alongside this though, we have an obligation to each other to lower the stakes of embarrassment. Offer grace to each other. Stop filming people in public. Stop making fun of harmless cringe.