how-do-you-do-the-do:

I didn’t really appreciate Aang until this picture.

When I was young, Aang got on my nerves. “Make the tough calls, take responsibility, grow up! I’ve had to!” 

I gave him no mercy for his age because, at the time, I was younger than him. He annoyed me when he slacked on his training, when he didn’t listen to Jeong Jeong, when he refused to kill the Firelord. Him and every other character who would give up the greater good to keep the moral high ground. Your principles don’t matter, results do!

It wasn’t until I got older that I saw Aang differently. He was a child, trying to do what was right, who never wanted to do any harm. And he was exactly what the world needed. Aang was a peaceful soul in war time, gentle when others were cruel, merciful when others were unforgiving, and he reminded everyone how to laugh in a world that had long forgotten how to have fun.

Even after years of hardship, losing absolutely everything and waking up to fight a war, Aang still loved life. He loved marble tricks, penguin sledding, and most of all, he loved people. Aang annoyed me because he was naive, but now inspires me because even after he saw the world at it’s worst, he didn’t forget how to be a kid at heart. In this picture, middle aged and with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Aang not only lets some weird guy by the docks take his picture, but does so with absolute glee. 

Aang shouldn’t be more like me, I should be more like Aang.