How’s it going y’all? So I discovered a thing the other day on my blog; admittedly I probably should’ve realized this a bit sooner but hey live and learn right? So y’all have the ability to comment on my posts and like them too. Now what I’d like to ask y’all to do is that if there’s a post on my blog that has particularly resonated with you; go ahead and leave a comment.
Tell me what it was that you resonated with in that post, give it a like. It helps me as an artist to understand what resonates with my readers. Plus, not gonna lie artists like hearing that kind of thing. A bit vain perhaps, however I do take pride in my writing.
I recently finished watching Avatar the Last Airbender again with my brother. There’s something about this show that’s just so…..masterful. It covers a wide range of emotional topics, there’s insanely good character arcs, great life philosophies and just so much to take away and enjoy from this series.
As a teenager and even now in my late twenties I resonate deeply with the character of Prince Zuko. He’s a character that for the majority of the series carries deep anger and resentment within him. His Uncle Iroh travels with him through the majority of the series as well. Offering guidance and a different outlook on life to Zuko. If you haven’t watched the series I HIGHLY recommend doing so. It is well and truly a masterpiece in so many ways.
One of the reasons among many I resonate(d) so deeply with prince Zuko is that as I stated he carries around this rage, anger, and resentment. Later on in the series he’s questioned by people as to who he’s angry at and he yells me. The fire on the beach erupts into a pillar of fire from Zuko’s manipulation of it.
As this series has been out for years I’m not too worried about posting spoilers. Eventually Zuko realizes he’s the one to teach the Avatar fire bending. Interestingly his uncle Iroh had something to say about this “pride is not the opposite of shame, but it’s source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.” Pretty deep for a children’s animated series huh?
When Zuko begins trying to teach the avatar fire bending he can’t bend himself. The reason is that for so long the rule for his bending was anger and rage. Zuko himself says that he doesn’t want to rely on hatred and rage to fuel his bending anymore. Which shows he’s grown in some rather deep ways.
Earlier in the show you see how uncontrolled and aggressive his bending is. Uncle Iroh tries impressing to Zuko how important the basics are. In the finale of the series there’s a final duel between Zuko and his sister Azula; if you pay attention to that duel you’ll see how calm and collected Zuko’s bending is. It’s almost a direct parallel to how he was at the beginning of the show.
So why does the character of Prince Zuko resonate with me? Well, to put it bluntly when I was younger I had a lot of resentment and anger towards both my parents. Divorce sometimes has that effect on kids, on top of dealing with parents getting divorced when I was a teenager I also ended up moving across the United States out to Idaho. I didn’t have any friends, my senior year of high school I ended up being told that we’d be moving again to Twin Falls Idaho.
I didn’t have a voice, or at least from my perspective nobody was listening to my voice. Perhaps that’s why I started writing poetry in high school; it was a way for me to make my voice heard. I moved back to Indiana after high school and there were several disagreements with my dad about a variety of things. Some of those I had every right to feel, some of them admittedly I was simply young and brash.
I came back to Idaho where over the next nineteen years I went through quite a few painful experiences. Heartache, heartbreak, having to learn to temper my tongue and take walks or go longboard instead of speaking in anger. There’s another quote from Uncle Iroh I’m going to share with y’all “in the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”
I could go on and on about how this series has affected my life and taught me incredibly valuable lessons. Tempering your anger, showing humility, and so many more. I suppose that’s what’s great about fiction, sometimes it takes fictional characters to teach us the lessons we’d never have been able to learn from our parents or guardians.
I’ve perhaps stated this before but there are certain television shows that have taught me more about being an adult and decent, honorable, moral man than my parents would have been capable of doing.
That’s not to say my parents didn’t bother raising me, quite the contrary in fact. However I do think that sometimes fiction teaches us how to act in reality better than people in reality can.
I hope y’all are doing well out there and staying safe. I wish peace upon you all and once again go watch this series. You’ll thank me for it, trust me.
Rapha Yada my friends,
Richard
Holy Water, Burning Man 