@DreamsInPixels Aww, thank you so much! I think I've managed to get a small handful of people obsessed with Gunther, so my mission has been successful! *rubs hands together and makes with the 'Muahaha!' noises* :mrgreen: And yes, I'm still around and currently on Chapter 64, with 65 waiting in the wings as soon as I finish getting the screenshots.
@MedleyMisty The short answer is "yes". The slightly longer answer is: every single little bit of beauty added to the world counters a bit of nastiness. So the more beauty we can add - however small - the more we're balancing everything out. And yes, we can make a difference.
I'm sure most of us are familiar with the starfish story by Loren Eiseley, but in case anyone here isnt:
“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one.”
It may not seem like it, but every little bit of beauty that people add to the world, be it in the form of writing, art, dance, music, love, laughter and the myriad other things we could define with the word 'beauty'... each little bit of that is like throwing yet one more starfish into the ocean.
