Just today, I had a very difficult choice to make.
It was one I had already made, but it was now time to face what would come.
For about a year now, I've been a huge fan of a certain anime. I won't name it, but it was a really cool, really clean anime. And I loved it for that. The dark adult themes, the sexual appeal, the inappropriate jokes . . . this was different. It was an anime I could watch without feeling guilty after. And I loved it for that, because it was awesome.
But there was something wrong.
Its central theme is on the idea of apocalypse. That in the end the rose will wilt. The darkness will win. And that there is no victory in fighting for what's right. "But even the brightest lights eventually flicker and die," a monologue said at the very beginning, "and darkness will return." Well, I knew this is wrong. This theme couldn't be further from what I knew was true. There is always hope, and in taking a stand for what is right there is no futility. It doesn't matter how dark the night is, or if the darkness is winning, because the sun will rise in the morning. This I knew, and I know.
Until lately I've been able to dislike but tolerate that theme of this anime, that the forces of evil will win. Because until now, the characters I loved had actually defied that theme quite nicely, keeping the peace and doing what they could to stop evil. But now . . . that theme is coming true. People were dying. Monsters were destroying everything. The bad guys were winning. Nothing the forces of light could do stood in their way.
It was there I drew the line.
This show that I once loved . . . it is no more. What replaced it is only pointing farther and farther from what I know is true. And the time came I had to make a decision.
I quit.
Today was the true testing day of my choice. I had to face people I'd spent my entire time in the fandom with - the best friends I could ever dream of having - with my decision. I had to risk everything. I couldn't live a lie for them, I couldn't make them think I was still watching this anime; I had to tell them the truth. And honestly, I shouldn't have been as scared as I was, but I really felt like my friends could have abandoned me. I was risking the acceptance of my friends for what I knew was true.
When the testing time came, I finally told them. I said, "Before you freak out, please, let me explain. I just felt you deserve to know . . . I'm quitting." They actually took it quite well. They didn't even look really surprised, or freaked out. It was like somehow they were expecting what was coming, or that they'd been prepared for it. They told me . . . they told me we were still friends. They were still my friends.
That is my message to you this week. If you have a tough choice to make this week, or ever, and if you are scared and don't know what to do - have trust. Have faith. It's all going to be okay. That is my promise.

Je defends toujours,
--MoralSupport4

Wow. I think this was my first cry writing one of these. Please do take the message, guys.

5052661 We all have our passions, and this is yours. I know how it feels to be emotional when you explore what you hold dear. Though I cannot take your message as my own, I do understand what you're saying and I'm glad for you. This world-view that you have built will be your fountain of happiness and strength while it lasts. Perhaps you'll even be fortunate enough, and you will never have to abandon it.

5052816 That's the thing. I will never have to abandon it, because it's not a fountain of happiness. It's one of joy. Happiness, I've learned, depends on happenings but joy is something no one and nothing can take away from you. That fountain is infinite, and that's why that's the one I share. And why I get emotional . . . I care about you guys. I want you, and everyone, to have joy - that's why I do what I do. There's too much pain in the world. Do nothing but watch it hurt the people I love? Maybe the next guy. That's not what I want.

5053321 Hope alone doesn't make the world a better place, though. Just the perception of it.