You find yourself within a dark room facing a flight of stairs, where you can't see anything past the glimmer of light the staircase emits, at the top you can see **respect, responsibility, empathy, citizenship, and determination** standing there. Right next to you is a mirror laying next to the staircase, but it wasn't mimicking you. The reflection was reaching it's hand out for the top.
*[[Take The Mirror and Climb Up The Stairs]]*
*[[Stand Still]]*
(set: $state to "depressed")
You're climbing the stairs, with [the five]<toomsk| watching your every step as you strive to reach them. As you walk up the flight of stairs the reflection on your mirror became animated, no longer a still-image. It began to speak to you. (click-replace: ?toomsk)[respect, responsibility, empathy, citizenship, and determination]
"What does the **five pillars** mean to you? What's so important about them to you? You can turn back now if you're feeling unsure about seeing them."
[["The five pillars is important to us."]]
It was dark, you hear someone calling out to you. It was your own voice. Next to you was the mirror and the reflection trying to begin a conversation with you.
"I don't understand, do you not respect me?"
["No, I don't respect you"]<Kids|
(click: ?Kids)["Is it because of them?
Your mirror-image raises their hand to point at two children holding onto your legs but hidden in the darkness. It was **shame** and **vulnerability**.
[[Talk To Them]]]
["Can you let go?"]<Silence|
(click: ?Silence)[You were answered with silence. They held onto your legs noticeably tight. You asked them a different question.
["Why are you holding me so closely?"]<Truth| ]
(click: ?Truth)[One of the two finally spoke. It was vulneribility.
"[My brother]<Shame| and me, we are on everyone. We are revealed in order to make **connections**. I can be your fear and weakness but I can also give birth to **courage**, **joy**, **creativity**, and [[love]]. The one that can measure me the most accurately is **courage**. You people can pretend you don't affect each other but you know that's not true."]
(click-replace: ?Shame)[Shame]
"People who believed that they are loved and have a sense of belonging has a sense of worthiness. Without that they believe that they don't deserve connection."
You look back down at the pair only to find one missing. Vulnerability's presence has disappeared, but you can still feel something on your empty leg gripping onto you. Shame recognizes this and continues the speech that Vulneribility had started.
"Before I talk about myself I want to let you know that [he's]<Vulneribility| wrong about himself. Vulnerability is not weakness but rather emotional risk and that fuels your lives. He is the path for reconnection. I am different, I'm made of **secrecy**, **silence**, and **judgement**. Don't mistaken me for [guilt]<Guilt| (click: ?Guilt)[who's there to remind you that you made a mistake ], I am there to let you know that you are the mistake. The [[antidote]] for me is empathy."
Shame continues the lecture.
"Getting rid of me won't solve all of your problems. Those who can't hold me won't be able to do the same with empathy and connection."
The child tugs at me, signalling me to go deeper into the darkness behind me. Darker than the night, it remained quiet.
"We came from there, the both of us. The ones living there will tell you where we came from."
You look back down at Shame, but the chilld was nowhere to be found. Disappeared like Vulnerability, but still held onto your leg. The two brothers are still there, but just cannot be seen.
You look back at the mirror. The reflection turned back to a still image of yourself, reaching out for [the five]<Five|.
(click-replace: ?Five)[respect, responsibility, determination, citizenship, and empathy]
[[Take The Mirror and Climb Up The Stairs]]
[[Go Further Into The Room]]
The glow from the staircase grew smaller and smaller as you go farther into the room. It became a speck of light, like a star. You can hear someone calling to you. It was too dark to see the speaker.
"Are you lost? Or have you found what you were looking for?"
"[I want to learn about where shame and vulnerability]<MentalIllness|."
(click: ?MentalIllness)[...Well, what causes them to rise are the **[[mental illnesses]]** you begin to have. Whether it's through genetics, stress-related factors, or the environment around you, Shame and Vulnerability comes out, holding you down.]
"**Schizophrenia** has people feeling secluded or in solitude. It gives people these hallucinations and delusions, creating chaos for their senses and beliefs. **Bipolar disorder** is made up of **mania** and **depression**. With mania you'll have lack of judgement, be self-destructive, and become easily distracted. For depression, you lose interest in daily activities, changes in appetite, less sleep, you get messages of hate towards yourself, and you feel [[help]]less."
"You can't cure yourself of these disorders, but you can reduce the symptoms and continue to live without as much of the stress and problems. With medication you'll be able to do so minimize the marks of your mental illness. It's important to meditate and go through therapy for it helps with clearing your negativity, self-awareness, and decision making."
The stranger shoves me towards the light of the five. When I finally get back to the staircase they disappeared, probably back into the darkness.
[[Take The Mirror and Climb Up The Stairs]]
"**Determination** is the will to not give up. You're relentless and this can keep you going to finish what you started. You can become determined when you endeavor to get to an important objective, the more personal it becomes, the more determination you get."
"When you become **responsible** you are given a task or power over someone or something. If you don't have a sense of responsibility it'll become much harder to admit to your mistakes and that keeps you from moving past that. It's important because it keeps you aware of your own actions."
"**Citizenship** allows for you to have a voice, stay connected with your community, and just live in what you call home. This is to aid yourself so you can have that voice, community, and home."
"...I see what you mean. We are the same, well I arised from you. It's important to understand what [the five pillars]<Five|(click-replace: ?Five)[ [[respect]], [[empathy]], [[determination]], [[responsibility]], and [[citizenship]]] are. These five pillars surround **you** with **vulneribility** and **shame** being the only two factors that can seperate that."
You are now a few steps away from reaching the **five**. They notice this and confront you before actually meeting them up there. They stare at you for a few seconds, creating a silence or awkward atmosphere. Finally **Respect** speaks to you.
"I'm going to ask you a question, but to assist you I'll give you some info. Now, the **Aboriginal Rights** are being discussed and determined by those who are interested, the [[Aboriginal People]], the Government Of Canda, the People of Canada, the courts, and industries. Some of these rights are to practice their culture, to speak their language, land, hunting, and fishing. These rights can be expressed on their own territory or just a place they can call home. So my question is, which of the **five pillars** do the Aboriginal Rights fall under?"
[["Respect"]]
[["Empathy"]]
[["Determination"]]
[["Responsibility"]]
[["Citizenship"]]
[["All Of Them"]]
"To feel and understand someone who has gone through a terrible event is **empathy**. Even if you have nothing to do with their story, you still share the feelings of the person going through a tough incident."
The Aboriginal People are the First Nations, the Métis, and the Inuit.
"You are right, it can fall under **respect**, but take a step back and listen carefully."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
"You are right, it can fall under **empathy**, but take a step back and listen carefully."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
"You are right, it can fall under **determination**, but take a step back and listen carefully."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
"You are right, it can fall under **responsibility**, but take a step back and listen carefully."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
"You are right, it can fall under **citizenship**, but take a step back and listen carefully."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
"They are all right, but this is the answer I wanted you to reach. You have come a long way to get here. What you do from now on continues to be your choice."
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
[[Climb To The Top Of The Staircase]]
**You finished the game! I wanted to show you what my game looked like as a web overall but I don't know how to do that. So here are the paths I considered important.**
[[Go Back To The Bottom]]
[[Go Further Into The Room]]
[[Take The Mirror and Climb Up The Stairs]]
"When you **respect** someone it's because we admire them for their traits or achievement, but we display it to form a connection."