Do you guys feel like you're the same people you were when you were kids? I feel like there's a direct connection between me now and me as a teenager (over 20 years ago) but a break between me now and me as a pre-teen who wanted to go out and do things instead of sitting at a computer all day.
ArbitraryValue
OP's parents saw that he would need divine intervention.
I wouldn't be able to do that - I had to stop drinking caffeine a few years ago but still get cranky if I don't have the experience of drinking a big mug of tea in the morning, despite the fact that the decaf tea has no direct pharmacological effect on me. Then whenever I'm bored or anxious or tired I make another big mug of decaf tea and feel better. It has to be tea; other beverages don't help. Purely psychosomatic but still definitely a real effect.
The earth is (relatively) smoother than a billiard ball.
You know those jokes about how people already in hell don't know that they're in hell? Relevant.
Obviously the average American isn't directly participating in making the major decisions, but what the average American wants still generally has far more influence on the future of the entire world than what the average citizen of any other country wants.
Well, I have the option of leaving. It's not purely hypothetical for me because I'm not originally from the USA - I was just a kid when I came here, so it wasn't my choice but it was a choice and I can see myself making a similar choice to go somewhere else. Maybe I will need to leave if things in the USA get a lot worse but for now living in a blue state still seems like the best available option.
Y'all get lemongrass?
I loved the men's outfits in my storybooks when I was growing up. We need to make it socially acceptable to dress like this again:
From a Russian storybook? I like the detail on the beetle at the bottom. A weevil of some kind?
(This photo is of a strawberry root weevil.)
Loving regardless of physical appearance doesn't follow from loving for more than just physical appearance.
(I suspect that "don't be shallow" is the sort of advice that people often feel good giving but don't sincerely believe, but even the most sincerely non-shallow person generally can't simply ignore sexual orientation. Once you allow for sexual orientation, then you're already at the point where certain details of a person's physical appearance are absolutely critical for romantic love.)