Valhalla does not discriminate against the kind of fight you lost. Did you lose the battle with cancer? Maybe you died in a fist fight. Even facing addiction. After taking a deep drink from his flagon, Odin slams his cup down and asks for the glorious tale of your demise!
Oh my god, this is beautiful.
A small child enters Valhalla. The battle they lost was “hiding from an alcoholic father.” Odin sees the flinch when he slams the cup and refrains from doing it again. He hears the child’s pain; no glorious battle this, but one of fear and wretched survival.
He invites the child to sit with him, offers the choicest mead and instructs his men to bring a sword and shield, a bow and arrow, of the very best materials and appropriate size. “Here,” he says, “you will find no man who dares to harm you. But so you will know your own strength, and be happy all your days in Valhalla, I will teach you to use these weapons.”
The sad day comes when another child enters the hall. Odin does not slam his cup; he simply beams with pride as the first child approaches the newcomer, and holds out her bow and quiver, and says “nobody here will hurt you. Everyone will be so proud you did your best, and I’ll teach you to use these, so you always know how strong you are.”
————
A young man enters the hall. He hesitates when Odin asks his story, but at long last, it ekes out: skinheads after the Pride parade. His partner got into a building and called for help. The police took a little longer than perhaps they really needed to, and two of those selfsame skinheads are in the hospital now with broken bones that need setting, but six against one is no fair match. The fear in his face is obvious: here, among men large enough to break him in two, will he face an eternity of torment for the man he left behind?
Odin rumbles with anger. Curses the low worms who brought this man to his table, and regales him with tales of Loki so to show him his own welcome. “A day will come, my friend, when you seek to be reunited, and so you shall,” Odin tells him. “To request the aid of your comrades in battle is no shameful thing.”
———-
A woman in pink sits near the head of the table. She’s very nearly skin and bones, and has no hair. This will not last; health returns in Valhalla, and joy, and light, and merrymaking. But now her soul remembers the battle of her life, and it must heal.
Odin asks.
And asks again.
And the words pour out like poisoned water, things she couldn’t tell her husband or children. The pain of chemotherapy. The agony of a mastectomy, the pain still deeper of “we found a tumor in your lymph nodes. I’m so sorry.” And at last, the tortured question: what is left of her?
Odin raises his flagon high. “What is left of you, fair warrior queen, is a spirit bright as fire; a will as strong as any forged iron; a life as great as any sea. Your battle was hard-fought, and lost in the glory only such furor can bring, and now the pain and fight are behind you.“
In the months to come, she becomes a scop of the hall–no demotion, but simple choice. She tells the stories of the great healers, Agnes and Tanya, who fought alongside her and thousands of others, who turn from no battle in the belief that one day, one day, the war may be won; the warriors Jessie and Mabel and Jeri and Monique, still battling on; the queens and soldiers and great women of yore.
The day comes when she calls a familiar name, and another small, scarred woman, eyes sunken and dark, limbs frail, curly black hair shaved close to her head, looks up and sees her across the hall. Odin descends from his throne, a tall and foaming goblet in his hands, and stuns the hall entire into silence as he kneels before the newcomer and holds up the goblet between her small dark hands and bids her to drink.
“All-Father!” the feasting multitudes cry. “What brings great Odin, Spear-Shaker, Ancient One, Wand-Bearer, Teacher of Gods, to his knees for this lone waif?”
He waves them off with a hand.
“This woman, LaTeesha, Destroyer of Cancer, from whom the great tumors fly in fear, has fought that greatest battle,” he says, his voice rolling across the hall. “She has fought not another body, but her own; traded blows not with other limbs but with her own flesh; has allowed herself to be pierced with needles and scored with knives, taken poison into her very veins to defeat this enemy, and at long last it is time for her to put her weapons down. Do you think for a moment this fight is less glorious for being in silence, her deeds the less for having been aided by others who provided her weapons? She has a place in this great hall; indeed, the highest place.”
And the children perform feats of archery for the entertainment of all, and the women sing as the young man who still awaits his beloved plays a lute–which, after all, is not so different from the guitar he once used to break a man’s face in that great final fight.
Valhalla is a place of joy, of glory, of great feasting and merrymaking.
And it is a place for the soul and mind to heal.
I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING
THIS IS GLORIOUS
Beautiful.
@mischief7manager i need you to read this so you can cry along w me
abuse cw
Apparently Amber Heard donated her entire 7,000,000$ divorce settlement from Johnny Depp to charities against domestic violence and people are commenting on that saying it’s a “PR stunt” and still calling her a gold digger. I swear this woman could give up all her money to charities and live homeless and people will still find a way to discredit her.
Oh, and some people are still asking why some women who suffer from domestic violence don’t come forward :) :) :)
I like to verify shit before I reblog so googled and holy shit
Let’s also remember that they released a statement with their settlement that said that there were no false accusations meaning that, yeah he abused her.
amber heard and j*hnny d*pp’s JOINT statement literally says “neither party has made false accusations for financial gain.” that is their JOINT statement, amber heard decided to not go through with a domestic abuse trial because he admitted his guilt. no need for a trial if he admits it.
what kind of world do we live in where a man can admit that his ex-wife was not making any false accusations when she accused him of mistreating/physically abusing her BUT people still think she’s lying. she had the bruises on her face, the video that showed how angry he could get, and HE ADMITTED THAT SHE DIDN’T LIE…. WHAT MORE DO Y’ALL WANT? why do you want to prove this woman wrong so bad? what do you gain from being in this much denial?
My girlfriend elaborately made me homeless.
In an incredibly cathartic reddit thread, a guy who admits to hitting his girlfriend and fighting loudly enough to attract police attention tries to drum up sympathy and seek “legal advice” for getting thrown out on his ass and almost all 120 some comments are bluntly explaining how and why he has nobody to blame but himself.
It’s also a great look at what you can do when you’re in a situation like hers. She took a very smart series of steps to give herself a way out of a potentially dangerous relationship.
My favorite line out of the responses:
“
I don’t know what your checklist for “am I abusive?” is, but you checked
everyone else’s boxes—even when we only have the story coming from your
fingers“
OUCH
Society: Why don’t people speak up about domestic violence? Why do they suffer in silence instead of seeking help?
Amber Heard: Provides photographic evidence, verbal accounts, and a police complaint to prove that Johnny Depp abused her. Files for divorce and a restraining order to prevent further domestic violence.
Society: “innocent until proven guilty”, “don’t jump to conclusions”, “we don’t know the full story”, “don’t believe everything you see on the media”, “he doesn’t seem like that type of guy”, “she’s a gold digger”, “she just wants his money”
i’m not kidding when i say this is going to be hell for amber heard. like every woman who comes forward about domestic abuse, there will be a bias against her but one that is amplified so much more by her position in the limelight and depp’s career. she will be dragged every day in the press and accused of all kinds of things by twitter and mocked on websites and people would rather joke about it than support her vocally but she needs to know she has support right now. she is a young woman accusing an older man of something people would rather laud than address, please give her your support.
she filed her evidence and restraining order today. the police had to be called to their home on saturday and, according to the source, it’s not the first time something like this has happened. this is disgusting behavior from a man that she placed her heart and her trust in. the way that this is already being handle by depp is gross, already he has come out on the defense and has said that he will not address any ‘salacious gossip, false stories or lies about his personal life’.
already, he is setting her up in the traditional way that media view women who come forward about domestic abuse: as an attention seeking liar. already, he is setting her up to fall.
we need to believe amber heard and we need to stand with her through this. every account anyone has of her it’s that she is a kind and genuine person; she deserves better.
i stand with amber heard.
And if anyone tries to tell you that this is somehow some falsified made up story, remind them how infrequently domestic abuse accusations are fake. Remind them that two extremely high-profile people are involved and that Amber Heard is risking her entire career and putting her ass on the line so that she can stand up to her abuser.
If they say “well, he’s never done anything like this before,” remind them that nobody believed Bill Cosby had for his entire beloved life and career, either.
I stand with Amber Heard.
Elijah Wood Claims Hollywood Is in the Grip of Massive Pedophilia Epidemic
Elijah Wood Claims Hollywood Is in the Grip of Massive Pedophilia Epidemic
Anne Henry, co-founder of the BizParentz Foundation: “We believe Hollywood is currently sheltering about 100 active abusers.”
This is chilling but should probably be read.
PLEASE SIGNAL BOOST!
I found this on Instagram but it apparently originated on 4chan, it’s dated today (5/10/16) so I hope if I can get this out there I can help in some way.
This is a truly horrible, cruel thing to do and if anyone knows the person who posted this or can contact them somehow, please do!!!
Hopefully we can help this poor woman have a healthy, safe transition without any asshole brothers getting in the way!!
PLEASE READ AND SIGNAL BOOST!!IF YOU CAN CONTACT THIS PERSON OR THEIR SISTER PLEASE DO!!!
OTHERWISE PLEASE JUST HELP ME SPREAD THIS!!!
This made me feel physically sick.
The original post is here, if that helps anyone. (I Googled the subject line of that screenshot). Don’t read it. Just…don’t read it.
But intriguingly, that person appears to be based in the UK, and we actually have laws against hate speech here, and that post would certainly count. I think so anyway?