All this time...

[Fkeu'itan]

Seeing as many other people were starting threads like this, I have wanted to say the same, but didn't want to hijack their thread so i'll say my piece separately.

I really cannot believe it has been almost 5 months now... It's simply mind-boggling how quickly that time has passed.

*starting a group hug*

I am unbelieveably proud to call myself a member of this forum.
But more than just that...
I'm proud to call myself an Avatarian.

As Avatarians, we share emotions that would otherwise be compelled to be locked away and forgotten about. We dare to give things like generosity, kindness, understanding and - perhaps most importantly - love, expecting nothing in return. We support each other through times of hardship and together, we bathe in the light of ecstacy. We laugh, we cry, we question, we unite. We feel.

But we cannot forget those who were once like us - lost, confused, with no one to turn to. We have to ask that they find us, one way or another, so that they may be found and cradled so tenderly as we were in our times of dire need.

So here's to a lot more time spent together, hopefully in face-to-face encounters as well as over the internet. And I have but one other word to say to every single one of you...

Irayo.

[Txantsulsam Fyawintxu]

You know Fkeu'itan, every single time I see threads like these happening daily, I can't help but sit back in awe and break down crying. This place shakes me to the very core in its deep reservoir of love... All in honesty, I can't imagine a better place to go other than this place right here. And I definitely can't envision a better place to start with to help restore the world back to order.

Let me tell you something, my friend, you are in a very lucky position right now. I have literally spent years and years searching for a peaceful and loving place to reside in and have found nothing, until now... I felt this way years before Avatar began and day after day I kept wondering to myself, what's the point of being here if I didn't have a place to go? The only thing that drove me to continue staying alive is the fact that I was born here for a reason and I wouldn't stop until I found the reason. I can't tell you how lucky you are right now to wake up to the fact that you have been met with such wonderful and beautiful friendships as well as waking up to the world around you and realizing what's truly happening to the environment and humanity.

The fact is, my very reason for existence here was to help others find their inner peace. To help others wake up to what already lies within themselves. I knew I couldn't do it if I didn't have anybody that didn't understand me and to help support myself. I can't tell you how much and how long I have waited for something like this to happen. I had to take care of myself at a very early age, with nobody understanding who I was or why I did the things I had to do. I was capable of seeing past the superficial means of communications and go directly into the heart of others without realizing how to fit into the world. The only thing I was able to do as a kid until now was to wait. I was always very intuitive and just knew things that I couldn't describe. I could feel the energy and the emotions behind people's intentions flat out and effortlessly. I tried talking about this to others but they never understood me and never truly saw who I am inside. I always felt this to be normal and thought that others could do it too, but I quickly realized they couldn't. So they practically bullied me constantly without knowing the real me. Therefore, I basically shut myself out from the rest of humanity and waited until the day would finally come, the day that humans will have reached perfect unchanging love, compassion, and understanding towards each other. I'm 19 now, going on 20. The very fact that I'm reading this right now is so mind-blowing that I have no words to describe it. It's something that I've been achingly and painstakingly wanting to see for so many years now and it's finally starting... This is something that I have always wanted to do, create and usher a society of peace and living fully with the heart. A purity unimaginable to the human mind and yet totally compatible with the soul. People have always made fun of my innocence and I hated it. I never understood those who wanted to make fun of others and hurt them deliberately without cause or within reason. That concept never made sense to me and I was always sensitive to other people's feelings and how they portrayed themselves to be. I can now safely say that this is the place to start with, and head on from there to create a world of understanding, love, peace, and unity for all. Thank you ma tsmukan. Thank you dearly for this post and for listening to what I have to say. *hugs*

Oel ngati kameie.

[Fkeu'itan]

What a truly beautiful and utterly inspirational post Txansulsam Fyawintxu. Oel ngati kameie tsmukan.

I have been in a similar situation for much of my life too.

While I was shown so much love and affection in my early years, some people tried to make me into something I wasn't, that I could never be. You could say they did not See me. Labelled as odd because I showed my true feelings when I was young - something that defied who I stereotypically should be - I lived for many, many years behind a fascade, little more than a shadow of who I really was, what I really believed in. I learned to stifle emotions - to destroy them - for a long time.

I took the drugs of society in order to numb the pain, to distract myself from the soul that was bubbling ferociously underneith the shell, the armour, I had built up over the years.

As I said on a similar thread to this one, you people gave me the greatest gift a person could ever ask for. You allowed me to shatter that shell without inhibition, without fear of judgement and cast it aside to show my true self.

You set me free.

[Seshat Tsahìk]

Eywa mokri rol, such a purity and radiance here, in both your words and your hearts, Tirea aysmukan!
The world does need so many more like you, and all the beautiful souls on this forum.
May your lights continue to inspire so many others everywhere
just as you have inspired us, and we inspire and uplift each other!

Your Tirea tsmuk!

[rapunzel77]

Fkeu'itan,

What a lovely post . I agree that this forum is probably the best I have seen. Everyone is kind and respectful of each other and has love for one another too. I joined the AF to talk about Avatar and then moved here to TOS. I realize that the best thing that I can do is listen to others and to let them know that they are not alone. I have been there myself. I have been lonely and hurt and in pain. I have tried to help each of you on here to see that there is so much to love in life . Also, I am happy to have met such a great group of friends . Here is to many more years!

I also can't believe it has been 5 months already.

[Eltu]

I said this in a similar post, saying the same here:

It is amazing really.

At times I have felt like I could give everything community related up - since it has been so incredibly time consuming - the first weeks of ToS I slept about 1-3 hours each night, and even now it occupies all my free time with administrating.

But I will NEVER stop. The community makes it worth ANY trouble. And these wonderful two months we have had... well I say, let this continue!

'Ivong ToS!

[Wanderling]

Wow, Fkeu, Txantsulsam...my hands are shaking as I type this. I, too, am so incredibly grateful to this community and everyone here for every single day I've had the pleasure of sharing your company. These past five months have been a very real awakening for me. I never knew love growing up...my parents loved me, but it was always conditional. I was just too sensitive, even as much as I tried to hide it from them. My mother would scream at me to stop crying and stop being such a damn baby. The memory of that pain still makes me cry, fifteen years later. School was a disaster and the kids bullied me mercilessly. It seemed there was nowhere I fit, and although I did eventually learn how to hide the emotions, I couldn't stop feeling them. I did the same as you, Fkeu...I built a solid shell to hide behind, showing people the face they wanted to see on the outside, but dying on the inside. No matter what everyone wanted me to be, I couldn't stop being the person my soul demanded of me.

This place, this family, truly is a gift. I suddenly find myself not alone anymore, for the first time in my life. These past months have been a difficult journey for me and I'm still learning how to simply share what I'm feeling without the fear. Some days I do okay. You all inspire me to keep trying to express myself, even if it doesn't always come out right, and to express the love I hold for each and every one of you. Every word on this forum heals my soul that much more.

My brothers and sisters, I see you and I truly do love you.

*hugs you all and never lets go*

[txen]

Oel ngati kameie my brothers and sisters. This really is a wonderful place.

So much in everyones posts could have been written by myself referring to my life. One thing though I still must have some kind of a facade when dealing with the wider world. As much as I hate to say it, the world is not really ready for our kind. I've been known to really blow some peoples long held beliefs about the world and the people in it. I've even used it against some who made fun of me or other transgressions. I'm not doing that anymore. Today I try to help when I can and show those caught in darkness a little light.

In order to live in this world I've had to hold back. I've had to bite my tongue and stay silent when I wanted to speak. Here I don't have to. It's a wonderful relief.

[rapunzel77]

Originally Posted by Wanderling

Wow, Fkeu, Txantsulsam...my hands are shaking as I type this. I, too, am so incredibly grateful to this community and everyone here for every single day I've had the pleasure of sharing your company. These past five months have been a very real awakening for me. I never knew love growing up...my parents loved me, but it was always conditional. I was just too sensitive, even as much as I tried to hide it from them. My mother would scream at me to stop crying and stop being such a damn baby. The memory of that pain still makes me cry, fifteen years later. School was a disaster and the kids bullied me mercilessly. It seemed there was nowhere I fit, and although I did eventually learn how to hide the emotions, I couldn't stop feeling them. I did the same as you, Fkeu...I built a solid shell to hide behind, showing people the face they wanted to see on the outside, but dying on the inside. No matter what everyone wanted me to be, I couldn't stop being the person my soul demanded of me.

This place, this family, truly is a gift. I suddenly find myself not alone anymore, for the first time in my life. These past months have been a difficult journey for me and I'm still learning how to simply share what I'm feeling without the fear. Some days I do okay. You all inspire me to keep trying to express myself, even if it doesn't always come out right, and to express the love I hold for each and every one of you. Every word on this forum heals my soul that much more.

My brothers and sisters, I see you and I truly do love you.

*hugs you all and never lets go*

Wanderling, my heart breaks when I read this post . It so sad to see someone have to go through with that in their life. To be so lonely and feeling unloved. I am glad that we can all express ourselves without fear of being judged and reprimanded. I hope that TOS can help to heal not only your soul but the souls of others on this forum who are also in pain and in loneliness.