I like how supportive their neighbor is being

Probably. I recently installed a bunch of packages so now I use emacs to check my RSS feeds, look up the current word’s definition or synonyms, browse Gopher and Gemini sites, check my email … I told myself I was doing it just for fun to see how much truth there was to the whole “emacs is a great operating system” joke but I genuinely love how handy it all is and I’m worried I’m going to keep falling in even deeper. A part of me does dislike not using purpose built programs for each of those functions (“do one thing and do it well”), but it’s been a fun experiment so far

This feels like a meme a vim user would make about emacs being bloated

This is why I get a lot of comfort stargazing at night. So much stress or worry melts away when the realization hits that nothing really matters anyway. I don’t think this is quite what Tolkien was going for with the scene where Sam sees a star up through a small opening in the gloomy sky when he’s struggling, but it’s how I took it.

I think the tricky part for some people is trying to figure out why living life should matter at all, then, but it’s always worked for me. Just because a moment ends doesn’t mean that the moment shouldn’t matter to you, if you find it fulfilling or meaningful.

I’m at the point where every time someone yells at me for protesting and tells me how useless it is, I chalk that up as a little sign of success, however small. If this guy is taking time out of his day to rant at me at length about what I’m doing, that means others are likely taking notice too.

Do I think protesting is going to magically solve the issue? Of course not. But it’s something I can do to bring attention to the issue, spread awareness, and encourage others who feel the same way but might feel alone or unsupported about it. I’m always happy to hear about what else I can do to better effect, but somehow that never seems to be something the naysayers are willing to provide. It’s always just tearing down, no advice or building up.