See people don't seem to understand this-

The soldiers are not just people who fight. They are people who have had to carry themselves when no one else was there. They are blunt and honest and their sword is so heavy so they do everything they can to avoid confrontation but in the end it will happen whether they want it to or not. The soldiers don't want to destroy but everything they touch crumbles at their fingertips and the flames grow despite their pleading for it all to stop, please let it stop they're not strong enough they don't want to be strong enough for this.

The poets are not just creatives. The poets are the ones who can cut you down with words. They want the truth, they want to see everything you are and more and they will marvel your ugly spots as if they were diamonds. The poets are also those who can tell you the prettiest lies, they give you lenses that disguise all the red in this world. The poets are also those who know that words are so incredibly dangerous and powerful, so they will sit in silence to hide the strength a simple word can hold.

The kings? The kings are those burdened with a life they never wished to lead. They are the golden children so burnt out that waking up is more tiring than the rest they had just achieved. The kings believe they have a duty to the world, and they are unfortunate in that everything they do will be criticized and judged and used against them no matter how noble the intention. All they can do is pray they create enough good to balance out their bad.

And together the soldiers, poets, and kings want to move forward. No matter their individual burdens, the soldiers will serve their kings, the kings will bow to the poets, and the poets will fall to the soldiers.

my brother had a brilliant idea that i wanted to share with other people who have four-legged family members: he trained our two cats to go directly to the door when they hear the fire alarm.

obviously at first the fire alarm sent them scrambling for cover, but he started slowly by giving them treats whenever it went off, when someone burned food or forgot to open the fireplace flu. he then progressed to calling them to the door to offer treats immediately after the alarm went off. and it actually wasn't too long before the cats voluntarily started going to the door upon hearing the alarm.

i think this was genius because in the event of a real emergency we know exactly where the cats will be and we will not have to waste precious time trying to find them to rescue them. i think this method would work equally well with dogs and probably other free-roaming pets such as rabbits, ferrets, etc. and i certainly encourage others to give it a shot!

if your pet was adopted from an animal shelter, and you can spare just 5 minutes of your time to make the world a little happier, do me a favor and email the shelter you adopted from with an update on how your pet is doing!

it doesn't matter if you just adopted recently or adopted a decade ago. it doesn't matter if you can only write a sentence or two, or "don't have anything interesting to say". and it doesn't matter if you've already sent an update in the past. shelter workers fall in love with our animals the same as forever-home pet owners do, but unfortunately when they leave our care, they essentially disappear overnight and without a trace! even those of us with access to adopter information only see things like your name or address, there's no reassurance that our pets ended up in a good home.

so please just write an email letting us know how loved your pet is, what their favorite toys are, if they like to play or go on hikes. you don't have to sugarcoat it if they're facing challenges either, just promise us that you're doing your best by them. and I promise you that these updates get shared around and they make our days so much better.