Tanith L'Fuzzymonster (![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20041016033523im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} evilfuzzymonste) wrote,@ 2004-10-12 06:47:00 |
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Remember
THE ULTIMATE SILENCE
October 12, 1998
Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
The impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me ...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
~ Shel Silverstein
Six years ago today, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.
What will you do to end the silence?
Click here to post this on your own page or weblog
The Code
With the poem:
Without the poem:
Links to Other Translations
Russian
Spanish
Italian
French (scroll down for code box)
Esperanto
German (a new version, with a more accurate translation)
Dutch
Finnish (this one doesn't yet have a code box, but we'll fix that)
This is all I have so far. Except for the German, none of the translations includes the poem. Because of the high volume of comments, please e-mail links to translations you create to "evilfuzzymonster AT myway DOT com" if you'd like me to put them up sooner rather than later.
Please comment so I know how well the message is spreading.
==============
EDIT:
Wow.
... and wow.
... yep.
EDIT #2: My brain finally came back to me, so I thought I'd say a few things.
Apparently, this has reached all over LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, DeadJournal, Xanga, OpenDiary, MySpace, and DeviantART, as well as tons of personal webpages, most/all of the states and several countries! If people create translations of it and repost it, I'd love it if you'd comment with a link to the post and code in the alternate language. I'll post links to other languages up here, so people can post in their language without having to modify the code themselves. Thanks for every/anyone who does that.
Contrary to several friends' expectations, I am NOT disabling comments. In fact, I'm inviting them! Profound stories are always welcome, as well! (Ironic note: Usually, I set the entry so that comments aren't e-mailed to me. Guess what I forgot to set when I posted this? :P ~clears inbox~)
I plan to read every single comment ... I've made it through ten pages so far! (And hey, not a troll yet! Though, if any show up, please don't feed them.) I won't reply to everything, of course, but please know that your comments are acknowledged and appreciated.
In addition, I've been asked several times if people can friend me, and my response is -- friend away! I'll add you back ASAP, but it may take a while.
EDIT #3: {EXPLETIVE}! In the time it took me to do that last edit, we hit 1000 comments! It's growing too fast for me to keep up with! {EXPLETIVE}!
On another note, I'm going to mentally send thank-you-apology thoughts to the domain owner of the original picture to which I hyperlinked (Gay Sunshine, we love them) and copy the image to host myself ... so I stop killing their bandwidth. >_< I didn't expect nearly this many people to utilize this. ~Meep!~
EDIT #4: Link changed. Now it's my bandwidth that's being used. :) Also, the number of comments is growing too quickly for me to keep up with reading them, so it'll take me longer than I expected. I will catch up, though! Homework can wait! ... I can't believe it's been less than twelve hours since I posted it. XD
EDIT #5: Yikes! Over 2000! {EXPLETIVE}.
Anyway ... I was browsing through communities that listed the interest "glbt," noticing that nearly all of the ones I clicked had this posted ... ~meep!~ ... and at that moment, my playlist mix started a recitation of a certain poem by Shel Silverstein. It fit perfectly. With that in mind, I've modified my original post of it, and written an alternate textbox of the code above so that you can post either version -- with or without the poem. I think it applies wonderfully to what this message can accomplish, beyond awareness!
I'd also like to add a request. People have been thanking me, and IMing me (and even calling me ... googling for phone numbers ... kinda creepy, but sweet at the same time ... I think) -- and I keep hearing how wonderful it is that this awareness is spreading.
More than just awareness, now, I think we can accomplish more. I'd love it if everyone who uses this would try to think of one way they can help to make the world a slightly better place (overall or GLBT-specific). I, personally, like collecting pennies and dropping them on sidewalks for people to find. Subtle, yet effective.
So, do me a favor, and be friendly to some random person, or apologize to someone against whom you've held a grudge, or start a huge revolutionary movement for equal rights! (Hey, it doesn't have to be small.) I just think that we can accomplish so much, now that so many people are rallied together in this! Consider this a "pay it forward" kind of thing. Let's do it!
EDIT #6: More playlist coincidences. This happens to be a verse from one of my mother's songs, but if you read it with Matthew Shepard in mind, it really speaks to the importance of awareness.
The sun may be lost and the battle may be done
And the earth may scream in silence for a rose too quickly gone
The rose that blooms in memory may lie crushed upon the snow
But if no one will sing it, who will know?
That's all for now. Peace out.
EDIT #7: I'm still not over how far this has gone, and how many people it has reached who didn't know anything about this. We've proven that awareness really does reach people who aren't already involved!
In other news, how's this for a victory?: having (finally) read every single comment, there have been a total of four -- yes, FOUR -- from homophobes! Even better, not a single one has turned into a flame war! I'm so glad we're killing them with kindness. :) Violence and hatred come from fear, so if we prove we're not scary freaks, that should make a difference. Thanks, everyone, for being as tolerant to trolls as we want them to be to us.
EDIT #8: I just had an epiphany.
Just under a week ago, I complained on this LJ that hardly anybody ever comments on my entries anymore. I also complained in real life that I needed friends.
~ironic pause~
Thank you, Gods. I get the point.
==============
One quick ettiquette note; if you plan to post in a community, please check to ensure that nobody else posted it there first, to prevent flooding and spamming. Thanks.
==============
Here's another idea, envisioned by someone who saw this and e-mailed me:
I did something nice for someone today!
Now go do something nice for someone, and then post this in your journal.
Sounds like a neat way to keep pushing the momentum that this Matthew Shepard post created, huh? :)
==============
I can't thank you all enough. Let's keep up the good work. :)
♥
~ Tanith
THE ULTIMATE SILENCE
October 12, 1998
Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
The impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me ...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
~ Shel Silverstein
Six years ago today, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.
What will you do to end the silence?
Click here to post this on your own page or weblog
The Code
With the poem:
Without the poem:
Links to Other Translations
Russian
Spanish
Italian
French (scroll down for code box)
Esperanto
German (a new version, with a more accurate translation)
Dutch
Finnish (this one doesn't yet have a code box, but we'll fix that)
This is all I have so far. Except for the German, none of the translations includes the poem. Because of the high volume of comments, please e-mail links to translations you create to "evilfuzzymonster AT myway DOT com" if you'd like me to put them up sooner rather than later.
Please comment so I know how well the message is spreading.
==============
EDIT:
Wow.
... and wow.
... yep.
EDIT #2: My brain finally came back to me, so I thought I'd say a few things.
Apparently, this has reached all over LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, DeadJournal, Xanga, OpenDiary, MySpace, and DeviantART, as well as tons of personal webpages, most/all of the states and several countries! If people create translations of it and repost it, I'd love it if you'd comment with a link to the post and code in the alternate language. I'll post links to other languages up here, so people can post in their language without having to modify the code themselves. Thanks for every/anyone who does that.
Contrary to several friends' expectations, I am NOT disabling comments. In fact, I'm inviting them! Profound stories are always welcome, as well! (Ironic note: Usually, I set the entry so that comments aren't e-mailed to me. Guess what I forgot to set when I posted this? :P ~clears inbox~)
I plan to read every single comment ... I've made it through ten pages so far! (And hey, not a troll yet! Though, if any show up, please don't feed them.) I won't reply to everything, of course, but please know that your comments are acknowledged and appreciated.
In addition, I've been asked several times if people can friend me, and my response is -- friend away! I'll add you back ASAP, but it may take a while.
EDIT #3: {EXPLETIVE}! In the time it took me to do that last edit, we hit 1000 comments! It's growing too fast for me to keep up with! {EXPLETIVE}!
On another note, I'm going to mentally send thank-you-apology thoughts to the domain owner of the original picture to which I hyperlinked (Gay Sunshine, we love them) and copy the image to host myself ... so I stop killing their bandwidth. >_< I didn't expect nearly this many people to utilize this. ~Meep!~
EDIT #4: Link changed. Now it's my bandwidth that's being used. :) Also, the number of comments is growing too quickly for me to keep up with reading them, so it'll take me longer than I expected. I will catch up, though! Homework can wait! ... I can't believe it's been less than twelve hours since I posted it. XD
EDIT #5: Yikes! Over 2000! {EXPLETIVE}.
Anyway ... I was browsing through communities that listed the interest "glbt," noticing that nearly all of the ones I clicked had this posted ... ~meep!~ ... and at that moment, my playlist mix started a recitation of a certain poem by Shel Silverstein. It fit perfectly. With that in mind, I've modified my original post of it, and written an alternate textbox of the code above so that you can post either version -- with or without the poem. I think it applies wonderfully to what this message can accomplish, beyond awareness!
I'd also like to add a request. People have been thanking me, and IMing me (and even calling me ... googling for phone numbers ... kinda creepy, but sweet at the same time ... I think) -- and I keep hearing how wonderful it is that this awareness is spreading.
More than just awareness, now, I think we can accomplish more. I'd love it if everyone who uses this would try to think of one way they can help to make the world a slightly better place (overall or GLBT-specific). I, personally, like collecting pennies and dropping them on sidewalks for people to find. Subtle, yet effective.
So, do me a favor, and be friendly to some random person, or apologize to someone against whom you've held a grudge, or start a huge revolutionary movement for equal rights! (Hey, it doesn't have to be small.) I just think that we can accomplish so much, now that so many people are rallied together in this! Consider this a "pay it forward" kind of thing. Let's do it!
EDIT #6: More playlist coincidences. This happens to be a verse from one of my mother's songs, but if you read it with Matthew Shepard in mind, it really speaks to the importance of awareness.
The sun may be lost and the battle may be done
And the earth may scream in silence for a rose too quickly gone
The rose that blooms in memory may lie crushed upon the snow
But if no one will sing it, who will know?
That's all for now. Peace out.
EDIT #7: I'm still not over how far this has gone, and how many people it has reached who didn't know anything about this. We've proven that awareness really does reach people who aren't already involved!
In other news, how's this for a victory?: having (finally) read every single comment, there have been a total of four -- yes, FOUR -- from homophobes! Even better, not a single one has turned into a flame war! I'm so glad we're killing them with kindness. :) Violence and hatred come from fear, so if we prove we're not scary freaks, that should make a difference. Thanks, everyone, for being as tolerant to trolls as we want them to be to us.
EDIT #8: I just had an epiphany.
Just under a week ago, I complained on this LJ that hardly anybody ever comments on my entries anymore. I also complained in real life that I needed friends.
~ironic pause~
Thank you, Gods. I get the point.
==============
One quick ettiquette note; if you plan to post in a community, please check to ensure that nobody else posted it there first, to prevent flooding and spamming. Thanks.
==============
Here's another idea, envisioned by someone who saw this and e-mailed me:
Now go do something nice for someone, and then post this in your journal.
Sounds like a neat way to keep pushing the momentum that this Matthew Shepard post created, huh? :)
==============
I can't thank you all enough. Let's keep up the good work. :)
♥
~ Tanith
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