Voices of the Ribbons©.

 I Am The Abyss By Soldier/ The Black "Be careful when you stare into the abyss because, eventually, the abyss stares back." "I AM the abyss."          The Devil Judge TvN K-drama 2021 Push someone long enough and hard enough and one of two things will happen: they break, or they push back. Take them to the edge of the abyss and either the abyss claims them or they claim the abyss. To claim the abyss is to become the abyss. I'm not here to spout a tirade of pointless self-pitying nonsense. Fuck that. I don't do self-pity. Shit, I know there are  people who've had it far worse . I know that, on the whole, day-by-day, I've got it good in comparison to most of the rest of the world. Every day, someplace, somehow, people suffer. Shit happens. Everywhere.       But choosing not to acknowledge the bad stuff doesn't mean I have to accept it if I have the power to reject it.       And I'm rejecting it. I've always been a firm believer in taking r

 Just Be You But. . . Who Am I? (By Tai?) There is so much advice circulating everywhere, in all forms of media and from all kinds of sources, to simply be yourself . What does this even mean? Don't have an answer to complex problems facing you in your everyday life? Just be yourself. Don't know how to respond to an ethical dilemma? Just be yourself.  As a writer, don't know what to write or how to convey your voice to your audience? Again,  just be yourself.     That's a fabulously easy piece of advice to give. Three easy words and one easy catchphrase: Just be yourself . But, what does this mean if you have no idea who yourself  even is? I've been struggling with this very dilemma for more years than I care to count. Whose voice do I consider my own? Who of all my inner voices speaks for me on any given day or under any given circumstance? Am I speaking from my own beliefs, on behalf of others who lack a voice of their own, or under a misguided pressure to conform