Chieftain Twilight
hmm, well, let's see....
when i was 11 the Twin Towers were divebombed by hijacked 747s... that was 9/11, the infamous date of the terrorist attack... it was at that time that i became interested in politics and the state of the world. that interest was a very somber one, and i quickly became a very depressed individual.
as a teenager, i was thoroughly convinced that i had no friends, and that there was no place in the world that was worth my living in. i just didn't see anything i liked about the world. i was shy, awkward, and anti-social. a very irritating person to be around.
i was 16 when i first was introduced to GaiaOnline. at the time, figured i'd just be on there to have an avatar dressed up as Auron from FFX. but i quickly started making friends on the site. i could open up, and be happy, and feel like for some reason, i was home.
one girl i met in particular, realy made a difference. she was one of the kindest, most helpful, most loyal people i knew at the time. when i found out that she had some serious problems in her life, involving drugs, abuse, and gangs, i decided i had to help her however i could. it was a longshot, tryingto help from across the nation, but i did what i could, and i realy made some amazing accomplishments. it's incredible what you can do with a little persuasion and trust. i saved this girls life!
well, when i did that, i felt like i realy could make a difference. if i can do something like that for someone over three thousand miles away from me, i could do it locally too. i finally found a calling, a purpose in life. i would be an Activist.
i started opening up more in real life, bridged the gaps i made between me and my friends, socialized more, went out and made new friends. i started getting involved in charities and rallies and fundraisers. as soon as turned 18 i got my voter's liscence.
looking back, i realy think that if i had chosen to ignore Gaia, i would still be drifting aimlessly through life, an angry, bitter, angsty shell of a person, all dressed in black, with make-up al over his fae, cutting my arms with razor blades absent-mindedly, hissing at police, doomsaying wherever i go, and ultimately passing in and out of mental wards. i wouldn't want to be alive. i wouldn't feel like there was a point, not without friends or a purpose. i'd just not be a happy person to be around, at all, and i would not have had the strength to mature as much as i did.
Gaia gave me hope. without it, i'd still think that the world is dead place that doesn't have a chance of getting better. a diseased, disgusting world with terminal cancer. Gaia is like the inventory program that directed me to the Defibrilator. xd i realy owe the founders so much for it. smile
damn, i've got a tear in my eye now. redface i've always been a sentimental person, another thing i can thank Gaia for. sweatdrop
realy, it made me who i am today. everything you know about me would have never been if it weren't for GaiaOnline. heart
when i was 11 the Twin Towers were divebombed by hijacked 747s... that was 9/11, the infamous date of the terrorist attack... it was at that time that i became interested in politics and the state of the world. that interest was a very somber one, and i quickly became a very depressed individual.
as a teenager, i was thoroughly convinced that i had no friends, and that there was no place in the world that was worth my living in. i just didn't see anything i liked about the world. i was shy, awkward, and anti-social. a very irritating person to be around.
i was 16 when i first was introduced to GaiaOnline. at the time, figured i'd just be on there to have an avatar dressed up as Auron from FFX. but i quickly started making friends on the site. i could open up, and be happy, and feel like for some reason, i was home.
one girl i met in particular, realy made a difference. she was one of the kindest, most helpful, most loyal people i knew at the time. when i found out that she had some serious problems in her life, involving drugs, abuse, and gangs, i decided i had to help her however i could. it was a longshot, tryingto help from across the nation, but i did what i could, and i realy made some amazing accomplishments. it's incredible what you can do with a little persuasion and trust. i saved this girls life!
well, when i did that, i felt like i realy could make a difference. if i can do something like that for someone over three thousand miles away from me, i could do it locally too. i finally found a calling, a purpose in life. i would be an Activist.
i started opening up more in real life, bridged the gaps i made between me and my friends, socialized more, went out and made new friends. i started getting involved in charities and rallies and fundraisers. as soon as turned 18 i got my voter's liscence.
looking back, i realy think that if i had chosen to ignore Gaia, i would still be drifting aimlessly through life, an angry, bitter, angsty shell of a person, all dressed in black, with make-up al over his fae, cutting my arms with razor blades absent-mindedly, hissing at police, doomsaying wherever i go, and ultimately passing in and out of mental wards. i wouldn't want to be alive. i wouldn't feel like there was a point, not without friends or a purpose. i'd just not be a happy person to be around, at all, and i would not have had the strength to mature as much as i did.
Gaia gave me hope. without it, i'd still think that the world is dead place that doesn't have a chance of getting better. a diseased, disgusting world with terminal cancer. Gaia is like the inventory program that directed me to the Defibrilator. xd i realy owe the founders so much for it. smile
damn, i've got a tear in my eye now. redface i've always been a sentimental person, another thing i can thank Gaia for. sweatdrop
realy, it made me who i am today. everything you know about me would have never been if it weren't for GaiaOnline. heart
ya know... when i was a kid growing up during the Clinton administration, life was good. taxes were fair, america wasn't at war, my family was a nice working middle-class household.... and then 9/11 happens and my stepdad (who is Indian by ethnicity, and a first-generation immigrant from the Netherlands) lost his job and his drivers liscence for being an illegal alien thanks to racial profiling. that, coupled with the increased taxes and unfairly distributed tax-breaks that bush ordered caused our family to quickly sink to a temporary state of poverty, and though we are out of that now we have been in a financial crisis ever since. we are lower class, and lookong for work. at the time, my stepdad was the only member of my family who even had a liscence.
when i joined Gaia, it was before Gaia Cash, and i felt like here, at least, there was a certain equality that real life didn't offer. i may be poor for now, i thought, but i could be rolling in a year or two.
it would have bee, too, if it weren't for the introduction of GC.... my equal chances were blown right out of the water, and it was like the 9/11 bombing all over again. sad Gaia had become too much like real life, and i litterally went through the exact same financial crisis and social alienation a second time.
i understand why Gaia needs real Cash-Money, and ironically, it is because of the exact same reasons that attracted me to the site in the first place: the real life market is brutal thanks to america's war with the middle east. Gaia can't exist if it's staff an't pay the bills. and it's only right that the members contribute.
i love Gaia, and i intend to do what i can for the sake of this site that litterally saved my life. but i think it should be known that i have willingly and knowingly stuck my neck out for this place despite being treated unfairly and unequally by it.
i want my voice heard. i want you to see me, as what i am, a small yet loyal would-be consumer who is basically recovering from being among Gaia's impoverished members. the working-class (as it were) self-employed pushed-around man of the site. and in fact, only one of many of the same.
this isn't to bash. i say it again, i love Gaia, and remain loyal. but i deserve to have my loyalty repayed with equal treatment, and a fair chance.
