Its obvious to me when people who post about canaries in mines have never met a canary. Like yeah the miners had a special device to revive the canary because canaries are one of the most adorable creatures on the planet and they make adorable little chirping sounds and honestly probably loved the sounds of machinery and people talking so it was probably loud and friendly with the workers. Whatever though maybe meet a canary sometime and youd understand
If you see this animal every day at work, and it sings to you during your hardest bouts of labor, you will be distraught if it dies. Even if you know this creature is meant to die in lieu of you, you still hear it when the labor is at its hardest and your muscles are struggling against the weight of your work. It is so small, smaller than your soot-stained hands and louder than the death that follows you. You dont want it to die. The same as a woman does not want her candle to run out ; she knows that is the point, its flame is meant to burn the wick and melt the wax ; but she is not indifferent to its wasting away. She may even save her favorite candle as not to burn it too quickly. Now imagine you are that woman, and there is a way to rebuild your favorite candle that you love the smell of and the way it flickers. Would she rather throw her candle out? Or would she rebuild it? That is a canary to these miners. Would you allow an animal to just die when it has been singing for you? It reminds you that it is alive, and you are too. Its stop of song signifies the lethal danger you are in. Why abandon it? Is the miners’ love for a little bird really that surprising?
Why does this read as though written by a coal miner of the era in which a canary was needed.
As a person who grew up at the foot of the mountains I will never ever ever understand plains and prarie dwellers that shit is insane. If you have no forests and caves then where do you hide from God
Whenever I see an Ivan Aivazovski painting the sea monster in me goes absolutely feral
I see this and I’ve never wanted to sink a ship so much in my life I’m biting through wood as we speak
God if I saw this in person I’d straight up start slithering. Start writhing
The way he just *clenches fist* makes water light up from the inside. Ugh, I once zoned out in front of one of his larger paintings in a gallery and came to, like, twenty minutes later, smelling saltwater and tasting driftwood.
This is his largest painting ever. It is 2,8×4,2 meters large. That is about 9'3"×14'1". It took him ten days to paint. This is a guy who painted normal-sized paintings in an hour, two, tops, according to contemporaries.
Though I am realistic about the misery in the world, I refuse to lose sight of hope.
A baby laughed for the first time today, their parents have no idea why, but they still thought it was the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen. A teenager just kissed their crush and they are happier than ever. A puppy was cuddled and they felt safe. A person was hugged and they felt relief because they are being supported. Someone took a funny picture of their cat and shared it online because they believe their cat is precious. Someone finally achieve a long-sought goal, even if no one else recognizes how hard it was for them, they still feel on top of the world. Someone is singing in the street while listening to music in their headphones without noticing. People watched the sunset and thought it was magical even though they see the same sunset everyday. Someone tried to help. Someone tried to be kind. Someone tried to save a life. We try. We keep trying. We sabe the world (and ourselves) bit by but, every single day. And that’s where hope lives: in trying.
