solid gold dancer

tinydragongina:

crabkind:

tennyboo:

lynzwayy:

the last photo is Gerard with that girl’s wrist

I can’t not fucking reblog this shit.

Here’s the thing: members of the band have made myriads of statements about being yourself and FTWWW and how nothing should change who you are. They’ve also made a number of statements addressing their own bouts of depression and self-hate and fear. But what’s important to me is that, paired with these statements, they also say a lot about working to be better.

Say hello to Tenny’s soapbox. Here she goes.

Being yourself doesn’t mean not changing. If yourself is a grotsky little beotch, that’s probably something that needs work. If yourself is someone that cuts or self-injures, that’s definitely something that needs work. If yourself is lazy or mean or hateful or self-hateful—that can change. You should accept it! You really should, because self-awareness is integral to self-love. You have to start by understanding that you are a human and thereby naturally subject to vice and decay. But seeing it is what allows you to fix it.

Stay ugly, be happy, but don’t confuse that with being lazy. I’m going to use Gerard as an example because his transformations have been the most public—but take Gerard fucking Way. He hasn’t stayed that round, depressed, self-destructive addict that he was when this whole thing started. He changed because he needed to change to be alive, and that change taken into account he still professes happiness. I’m going to take a jump (ha ha ha) and say that he’s obsessive about his looks. He is picky about band aesthetic. He’s a man that carefully plans and works through what he presents to the world—what he is.

The other example that comes immediately to mind is Marilyn Monroe, a woman known internationally as a great beauty. But she knew exactly what she was doing—that wasn’t something that just fell out onto her, she worked to put forward that image. She practiced posing in the mirror and had plans of attack for dealing with photographers and other people. She found out the things that made her beautiful and did those things.

There is nothing wrong with changing. There is nothing wrong with finding what you want to be and going for it. If you’re depressed, find a friend or a family member or a fucking doctor that can help you. If you’re feeling alone, go make some fucking friends even if you’re scared. If you are hurting yourself, do not accept that as something that is “just how you are”—fix it. If you want to stay ugly, you make your ugliness a product of the battle you’ve fought to keep yourself from being lazy. Everything is always going to be scary, but you might as well be scared and growing. When I say “fuck the whole wide world,” I’m not saying that the world doesn’t matter or that the world hates you or that the world can’t hurt you. I’m saying that you shouldn’t let it frighten you into a hole on your own, because you can have better than what you were born with, but you are the only one that can go and get it for yourself. The world isn’t going to hand it to you because you don’t deserve it—not more than any other person. So if you want something better, go fucking get it.

In the Grant Morrison interview that he recently conducted, Gerard talked about the concept of self-actualization and becoming what you want to be. That’s what I live by. For me, that means fighting laziness and insecurity about my looks/personality/age/education and fear of change and fear of rejection and selfishness. For a lot of you, I know that means fighting social anxieties and psychoses and histories of abuse and tragedies of loss—but we can fight it, and we should. And check it out: we have each other already.

“Hold your heart into this darkness! Will it ever be the light to shine you out—or fall and leave you stranded? Or are you gonna be the one left standing? You’re gonna be the one left standing!”

“If we can’t find where we belong, we’ll have to make it on our own. Face all the pain and take it on, because the only hope for me is you…!”

Ugh, this is all so beautiful and I love them sfm.

Nice. If this is legit, I’ve gained a lot of respect for them.