1/a comic on forgiving and being forgiven. a topic i& #39;ve been thinking a lot about as someone who has suffered from ptsd, anxiety & depression their entire adult life. some thoughts:

2/in the past i& #39;ve used my mental state as a crutch to excuse certain behaviors & have seen this in others. tho i think trauma makes it harder to be "good" it doesn& #39;t mean you can& #39;t be accountable for harm. we often make excuses bc its hard to conceive of ourselves as "bad" ppl.

3/i believe in ppls capacity to get called out & learn / to unlearn harm & get better for others if they want to change & have resources to do so. this doesnt mean that the ppl they have done harm to have to forgive them or help them understand their harm.

4/thinking of ppl as good or bad is unhelpful- someone is not rlly one or the other. the internet makes it hard to believe how complex ppl & situations are & easier to become bullies or succumb to reductive thought. we look for convenient villains & not at systems that make them.

5/we& #39;re at a time where things that were largely normalized are no longer that. many ppl including myself will both realize the behavior they had was not ok & the behavior of others was not ok. a year ago i would& #39;ve said it was all hopeless but i rlly believe in ppl to change.

6/this comes from a lot of places: from loving someone who is struggling &hoping for their growth. from wanting pain to not define us. from the belief that every day the people i love and i can be a bit better than we were before & have a chance to continue to love & be loved.