le fey
Really well said, Aeon.
Think about cruel words - if the person speaking them is someone whose opinion you don't respect, does it hurt as much as when the person is someone you care about?
If the words are said in a situation where you know not to take it personally, are you stabbed by them, or can you let them go, knowing the speaker had something going on and they weren't directed at you (your pregnant wife screams 'bastard' at you during a contraction...not the same as when she does it during an emotionally painful fight).
If the words are said with full intention to be cruel, but are about something you're entirely comfortable with - someone calls you a bitch and your first thought is 'hell, yea! and proud of it', it doesn't feel cruel, so is it still cruel? Or just a misfire?
What makes something cruel or not is how we take it - what we think of it. Swords are, it seems, always about our own reactions...what meaning our thoughts and beliefs apply to an situation.
Some people see cruelty in every disagreement and confrontation. Others are wired to let it all roll off their backs. Undeniably, the first one lives in a much crueler world because that is how they perceive it.
Think about cruel words - if the person speaking them is someone whose opinion you don't respect, does it hurt as much as when the person is someone you care about?
If the words are said in a situation where you know not to take it personally, are you stabbed by them, or can you let them go, knowing the speaker had something going on and they weren't directed at you (your pregnant wife screams 'bastard' at you during a contraction...not the same as when she does it during an emotionally painful fight).
If the words are said with full intention to be cruel, but are about something you're entirely comfortable with - someone calls you a bitch and your first thought is 'hell, yea! and proud of it', it doesn't feel cruel, so is it still cruel? Or just a misfire?
What makes something cruel or not is how we take it - what we think of it. Swords are, it seems, always about our own reactions...what meaning our thoughts and beliefs apply to an situation.
Some people see cruelty in every disagreement and confrontation. Others are wired to let it all roll off their backs. Undeniably, the first one lives in a much crueler world because that is how they perceive it.