this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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NiceMemes

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A place to post memes & images that won't absolutely obliterate your mental health! Memes must not stray into hopelessness and be generally positive or neutral.

I made this with my kid in mind, so that they can have a good, safe place to look at memes, just made to make folks laugh and smile!

Only goofs & silliness. (:

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[–] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The list is too long, but here's a few:

  • My horse friend taught me that she is a real person with as much of a rich inner life as I have. It took me over 20 years to get it, but we eventually got there with so much patience from her.

  • She also taught me to be more slow ('You humans are always rushing! Have you ever heard of a stroll-and-a-nibble?")

  • She taught me to be quiet, to be able to listen to each others thoughts. Humans tend to be very chatty and so we tend to miss a lot of the more subtle stuff. If I come to the pasture talking in words I will get a stern look from her.

  • She taught me not to use baby speak as regular means of communication and to avoid inappropriately touching animals.

  • Cats and dogs are teaching me to rest. You can just lie down and close your eyes. Having the sun shine on your head is an activity.

  • I guess the birds taught me to not anthropomorphize animal behaviour and culture too much. What drives an animal can be alien to us, misunderstandings are possible and likely.

  • My pets together taught me that we as humans are not in fact the best and most clever at interspecies communication, or communication in general. Cats, dogs, equines, pigs, poultry and sheep all have quickly learned the basics of each other's languages so there is very little conflict as long as there's enough space to move. I was really surprised when I first saw this, as I was anxious about accidents and injuries between different animals - then I started to learn how much communication happens between species that we humans are stupidly unaware of. This in turn started to make me rather suspicious of word language. It's an ongoing research into other ways of communicating, and I seriously consider the animals and other non-humans at my home place as teachers that I should listen to and learn from (I'm not a good student, but at least I show up regularly).

There's a lot more - this is something I will want to write down in more detail one day, the animals deserve it. Especially dogs and horses in more urban contexts often carry a heavy emotional and spiritual load for their owners and deserve more recognition and understanding, and more chances to follow their horse and dog behaviours at least sometimes.

[–] andresil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

This is a best of lemmy comment for me, it gives me hope that the old days of the internet, that I enjoyed, are still possible (those days were far from perfect, but at least it didn't feel like everyone was shouting at each others throats all the time)

[–] Beehaw_Girl@beehaw.org 5 points 5 days ago

Same! I clicked "save" on that comment. It's even worthy of stitching every word into a thoughtful decorative wall tapestry. ❤️

[–] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 4 points 5 days ago

If you actively look out and help maintain the good places anything from the old days remains possible! I feel honored and will carry my best-of badge as a motivation to keep writing about the deep stuff sometimes, thank you!

[–] manuremy@sopuli.xyz 16 points 5 days ago

Small birds are interesting and very beautiful.