Even if we are owed, does that mean we'll receive it? We should be compensated for our suffering, but is there anything that could even make up for it? Can we gain our time, our lives, our friends back? Can we receive an assurance this will never happen again?
I don't want to deceive myself. Revenge often makes people emptier, and I would prefer to be fuller.
[ simply, but it's not a particularly condescending answer. they don't fault her for it. ]
But yes. Of course. They are people who want a wish, who seek something that they cannot grant themselves. That is the definition of a person easily taken advantage of.
Even if they were open to it, do you think that they would place the lives of twenty-something strangers over their own desires? Over their wishes that they want to see fulfilled so badly?
I do not think a failure in this sense would be hypocrisy.
Rather, it is far more common to see lofty ideals whisk someone's feet of the ground, or those who remain so rooted in reality that they cannot envision betterment of the future.
Most people are preoccupied with themselves. It's not a crime, but I do not think them the sort to be creative about the future larger than their immediate sphere.
[ but they shake their head ]
I do not think I hope for anything in particular. I simply think there is more to be done than accept suffering.
Sometimes, people need a push to see the potential of looking around them, but in order to make that easier, their immediate sphere has to be more than suffering.
Would you say in that way, you could hope for less suffering?
This is where we deviate, and you are too hopeful in comparison to myself. People are not always kind, just as they are not always cruel. I believe them an inherent mix of both, and sometimes you cannot blame a person's circumstances for their faults.
[ they shake their head again ]
I can achieve less suffering for people, so hope is still an odd word. I feel as though 'hope' carries a connotation that I cannot accomplish it myself.
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I don't want to deceive myself. Revenge often makes people emptier, and I would prefer to be fuller.
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[ shrugs ]
I was merely curious.
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[ as a start. ]
I'd like to save people from your cult. I'd like to save your cult from itself.
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You would seek to offer salvation to even the people who put you in this situation?
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[ famine asked for even the impossible, and this is the impossibility she acknowledges. ]
I don't forgive them. I won't exonerate them, but I would save them. It will never happen, and I accept that.
[ some people can't be saved, and she acknowledges that, too. ]
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[ that said
famine shrugs ]
... we aren't in disagreement. Most cults are just a few corrupt people taking advantage of the desperate.
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Would you say that some of your cult members are being taken advantage of?
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[ simply, but it's not a particularly condescending answer. they don't fault her for it. ]
But yes. Of course. They are people who want a wish, who seek something that they cannot grant themselves. That is the definition of a person easily taken advantage of.
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I know the chances are low that the cult members will see they're being taken advantage of, but it'd make it easier if they were open to the thought.
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Do you think guilt would be attached to their salvation? I suppose that the hand that offers blessings does not always need to excuse every last sin.
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Guilt is as necessary as any other emotion.
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I have said it before, but I do find it fascinating how you remain both very grounded and hopeful at once.
Especially given that I am sure you are disappointed each day.
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robin smiles. ]
I try to keep my levels of hypocrisy low.
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I do not think a failure in this sense would be hypocrisy.
Rather, it is far more common to see lofty ideals whisk someone's feet of the ground, or those who remain so rooted in reality that they cannot envision betterment of the future.
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Do you believe anyone who is both exists?
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Besides you? Besides me?
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Are we the only two you can think of? What are you hopeful for, Famine?
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[ but they shake their head ]
I do not think I hope for anything in particular. I simply think there is more to be done than accept suffering.
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Would you say in that way, you could hope for less suffering?
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[ they shake their head again ]
I can achieve less suffering for people, so hope is still an odd word. I feel as though 'hope' carries a connotation that I cannot accomplish it myself.