In today’s visually driven world, where representation carries immense power, Aaron Taylor’s latest music video for his single “Flowers” unfolds as a stirring redefinition of identity and emotional expression. Directed by the visionary duo Grant Taylor and Kashman Harris, the music video is more than just a beautiful cinematic experience is a statement, an intervention, and an invitation to reevaluate what it means to be seen and understood, especially as a Black man in modern society.
At the heart of the video lies a desire to disrupt entrenched stereotypes, particularly those that portray Black men through a lens of menace, stoicism, or aggression. The concept for “Flowers” was born from a deeply personal conversation between Aaron and Grant, where they explored the urgent need to shift these perceptions. Rather than shouting this change into existence, the team chose a subtler, more poetic vehicle: florals. By adorning Black men with lilies, roses, and other vibrant botanicals, the video begins a visual dialogue that interrogates societal assumptions while proposing an alternative narrative grounded in vulnerability and grace.
The opening of the video strategically leans into common tropes. Viewers are greeted with frames that feel familiarurban backdrops shrouded in grey, serious expressions, and carefully curated body language. These initial visuals serve to ground the audience in what they expect. Then, with intentional pacing and cinematic flourishes, the narrative begins to pivot. A gentle pan reveals petals falling like rain, while a close-up on a smiling face bathed in natural light introduces a world blooming with new meaning. The transformation is not abrupt but fluid, as if each frame gently persuades the viewer to let go of outdated interpretations.
Flowers, often symbols of fragility, renewal, and quiet strength, become the central metaphor. Their presence challenges and redefines what is considered masculine. The choice to surround Black men with such delicate natural beauty isn’t arbitrary. It’s a calculated aesthetic decision that speaks volumes about the power of softness in a world that often demands hardness. The flowers are not just propsthey are visual instruments of healing, resilience, and revolution. In embracing their symbolism, the video reframes vulnerability as a courageous act and emotional visibility as an integral part of human experience.
From Perception to Revelation: The Journey of the Visual Narrative
The power of “Flowers” as a visual journey lies in its ability to transform the familiar into something revelatory. With each passing scene, the audience is pulled deeper into a reimagined world where softness and strength coexist without conflict. The video becomes a progressive unveiling, a shedding of societal expectations that culminates in a full bloom of emotional authenticity.
The cinematography is intentionally lyrical, playing with light, shadow, and movement to underscore the thematic dualities at work. Stark contrasts between industrial backgrounds and lush, blooming gardens symbolize the internal battles many Black men face between the roles they are forced to play and the fullness of who they are. These juxtapositions are not presented as binary opposites but as complementary truths that exist in delicate balance.
One of the most poignant moments in the video arrives when Aaron Taylor, cradling his infant son Titus amidst a sea of roses, allows the story to step into the deeply personal. This image transcends mere aesthetics. It is a visual embodiment of legacy, of nurturing, of hope, rooted in generational transformation. The garden becomes a symbolic soil where not just flowers, but new identities and possibilities can grow. The innocence of young Titus, calm and serene, radiates a quiet power. He represents a future untethered from inherited fears, where tenderness is not only accepted but celebrated.
Behind the scenes, the challenges of filming with a newborn added layers of emotional and logistical complexity. Director Grant Taylor shared reflections on this process, expressing both the nervousness and wonder that accompanied working with a child so young. The baby’s natural calmness in front of the camera became a symbolic thread, weaving the notion of innate peace into the visual fabric of the video. It was a reminder that strength can be soft, and that emotional presence is as vital as any overt display of fortitude.
The video also subtly pays homage to powerful cultural moments and movements. A raised fist, reminiscent of the 1968 Olympic protest, is juxtaposed with an open hand holding delicate petals. This elegant symbolism reframes protest not just as resistance but as an expression of beauty, care, and introspective strength. In doing so, the directors manage to bridge the gap between history and possibility, creating a vision where radical gentleness is just as impactful as militant defiance.
Emotional Literacy, Fatherhood, and the Blooming of New Legacies
Aaron Taylor’s song “Flowers,” featured on his debut album “Icarus,” is already layered with emotional texture, but paired with this visual narrative, it takes on a deeper resonance. The lyrics explore themes of emotional honesty, healing, and introspective growthsubjects often left unexplored in traditional depictions of Black masculinity. Through his music and now this visual project, Aaron opens a space for conversations about emotional literacy and fatherhood that are rarely given room in mainstream media.
Fatherhood, in particular, becomes a core motif, not just as a biological relationship but as a metaphor for nurturing, protecting, and cultivating growth. The scenes featuring Aaron and his son are some of the most tender and evocative moments in the video. These glimpses into their bond do not scream for attention; instead, they invite a quiet contemplation about the role of men as caregivers, guides, and emotional anchors. This nuanced portrayal breaks down long-standing barriers and repositions fatherhood as an emotionally rich and spiritually grounding experience.
“Flowers” serves as a gentle yet firm resistance to reductive narratives. It doesn’t deny the pain or complexity of Black male identity in a prejudiced world, but it offers a hopeful vision for what else that identity can encompass. By weaving together lush visuals, poetic symbolism, and deeply human storytelling, the video presents a new kind of blueprint where softness is no longer seen as weakness, but as a powerful mode of survival and transformation.
Grant Taylor and Kashman Harris manage to walk a fine line between political statement and artistic sincerity. Their directorial approach doesn’t rely on spectacle or gimmickry. Instead, they create a meditative space that allows the viewer to feel, reflect, and maybe even unlearn. Each frame feels intentional, each transition meticulously crafted to reinforce the overarching message: that gentleness and resilience are not only compatible but beautifully intertwined.
In the landscape of music videos, “Flowers” distinguishes itself not through loudness but through its grace. It reminds us that visual storytelling has the capacity not just to reflect culture but to reshape it. In portraying Black men surrounded by blooms, cradling infants, and embracing emotional truth, it dares to reframe what it means to be whole, to be vulnerable, to be human. It is a bloom not just of flowers, but of possibility, and in its quiet unfolding, it leaves an indelible mark on both heart and mind.
Reimagining Masculinity Through the Language of Petals
Aaron Taylor’s “Flowers” music video unfolds as more than just a sonic and visual experience; it is an immersive meditation on identity, heritage, and emotional liberation. At its heart, the piece uses the symbol of flowers not as mere decoration, but as conduits of meaning and disruption. These blooms are embedded with resistance, with each petal offering a silent form of protest against a world that too often confines Black masculinity to rigid, stoic archetypes. In this context, the floral imagery becomes radical, offering softness as a kind of strength and vulnerability as a declaration of agency.
From the moment the video begins, viewers are introduced to a carefully curated minimalism. At first glance, this austerity appears to align with conventional expectations, perhaps even suggesting a familiar narrative of masculine introspection. But this expectation is quickly dismantled. The visual landscape begins to blossom, almost literally, with petals cascading through the frame or erupting into view in bold, vibrant waves. These moments are not merely decorative; they are choreographed with intention. Each flower enters the frame as though it were a dancer, each movement deliberately timed to align with the rhythm of the music and the emotional landscape of the scene.
The floral symbols in the video speak to inner narratives rarely articulated in public, particularly within portrayals of Black men. A daffodil gently held or a confident walk through marigold-laden paths is more than a stylistic choice; it becomes a metaphor for inner peace, self-reclamation, and emotional authenticity. These moments transform nature into narrative, suggesting that within each bloom lies a piece of a broader identity being nurtured, protected, and ultimately, reclaimed.
Kashman Harris, who co-directed the video with Grant, infuses the entire production with a literary grace that elevates its structure. With a background in writing, Harris constructs each visual sequence with the cadence and deliberation of poetic stanzas. The camera doesn’t just capture movement; it performs it, flowing through the frame like a verse being spoken aloud. Each shot carries its own rhythm, and the performers embody the lyricism embedded within the cinematography. This poetic sensibility makes every interaction glance, every step, every turn of the head feel layered with significance. The viewer becomes not just a spectator, but a reader decoding a living poem told through visuals and sound.
A Dialogue Between Sound, Story, and Selfhood
Integral to the video's emotional resonance is Aaron Taylor’s own vocal performance. His voice, rich with texture and charged with vulnerability, acts as the thread that binds the visual elements together. There is an undeniable synergy between what is heard and what is seen. As the melodies rise and fall, so do the visual intensities, creating a call-and-response dynamic that deepens the viewer’s immersion. Taylor’s voice doesn't merely accompany the imagery interprets it. His music, which seamlessly blends soul, R&B, and contemporary textures, carries the same themes of identity and inner reckoning that the visuals explore.
"Flowers" functions as a kind of emotional palimpsest. Layers of history, personal memory, and cultural significance are interwoven throughout, often in subtle yet powerful ways. The flowers, the glances exchanged between the subjects, the fluidity of their movements element contributes to a composite portrait of the Black male experience that resists simplification. The video does not offer one narrative, but many. It honors the multiplicity of lived realities while quietly challenging the viewer to deconstruct the assumptions they may bring to it.
The visual references to iconic moments such as the Black Power salute are carefully embedded into the mise-en-scène. These nods to historical resistance are not overbearing; instead, they are seamlessly folded into the aesthetic fabric of the video. They work in tandem with other diasporic visual cues, from styling choices to architectural backdrops that blend urban grit with ethereal elegance. These design elements reflect a hybrid identity that is rooted in cultural specificity but reaches across boundaries to speak to a shared human yearning for self-expression and dignity.
Even the interpersonal dynamics in the video are quietly revolutionary. The intimacy between the characters warmth, the shared understanding, the soft moments of touch or stillnessserve as counters to the long-standing stereotypes of detachment and aggression often projected onto Black masculinity. These moments do not ask for sympathy; they assert presence. They demand recognition of emotional complexity and relational depth, challenging the notion that strength is synonymous with silence or suppression.
As the narrative progresses, there is a discernible emotional crescendo. What began as introspection evolves into affirmation. This arc is not linear, but cyclicalinviting repeat viewings that offer new layers with each experience. By the time the final scene arrives, viewers are emotionally anchored, prepared for the visual culmination of the piece.
Legacy in Bloom: A Garden of Continuity and Catharsis
The climax of the video presents one of its most stirring images: Aaron Taylor cradling his child, surrounded by a garden in full bloom. This is more than a tender moment between father and child; it is a tableau of continuity, a visual metaphor for generational healing and renewal. The garden, lush and abundant, transcends its botanical form. It becomes a living record of legacy of growth forged through resilience, nurtured by love, and envisioned as something greater than the sum of past struggles.
In holding his son, Taylor becomes not just the artist or narrator, but a symbol of enduring possibility. His child, swaddled in calm and light, is cast as both muse and future. Through this image, the video underscores its central theme: that reclamation is not a solitary act but one rooted in connection, in lineage, and in the hope that what we plant today will bloom tomorrow in more liberated soil. The garden is a sanctuary, yes, but it is also a declaration that joy, too, can be radical.
This final act reinforces how the video operates on multiple levels. It is cinematic, poetic, musical, and political all at once. It engages the senses while also stirring introspection. It challenges deeply embedded societal paradigms not through confrontation, but through care, color, and cadence. The petals, soft and unassuming, carry a quiet insistence. They demand that viewers not only watch butalso reflect. Not only hear but feel. Not only admire but interrogate.
What makes “Flowers” so resonant is its refusal to provide easy resolutions. It is not a manifesto, but an open-ended question. Its power lies in its ambiguity, in its invitation to see beauty not as escapism, but as a tool of resistance and a pathway to truth. The softness of a petal becomes a metaphor for strength that refuses to brutalize, for masculinity that embraces rather than hardens, and for identity that blooms in defiance of confinement.
In a media landscape often saturated with spectacle, “Flowers” offers a needed contrast. It is a meditation, a balm, and a call to action. It shows that transformation does not always arrive with noise. Sometimes, it comes gently, like petals falling through sunlight. Sometimes, it whispers before it sings. And sometimes, the quietest revolutions are the most enduring.
A New Cinematic Language: Reframing Black Masculinity through Tenderness
The music video for "Flowers" is a visual journey that transcends the conventions of typical music video production. Crafted by the thoughtful collaboration between director Grant Taylor and cinematographer Kashman Harris, this piece emerges not merely as a visual companion to music but as a cinematic meditation on identity, emotion, and the quiet power of softness. Each frame of "Flowers" is meticulously composed, balancing painterly aesthetics with documentary realism. The result is a slow, unfolding reverie that doesn't just illustrate a song but opens a conversation.
What sets this video apart is its refusal to shout. Instead of chasing spectacle or relying on flashy edits, Taylor and Harris lean into nuance. Their approach is minimalist yet layered, each shot breathing with life and intention. The video is suffused with visual metaphors and emotional resonance, serving as a quiet revolution against the frequently one-dimensional portrayals of Black masculinity in mainstream media. This is not a story of conflict or confrontation, but one of contemplation, fatherhood, presence, and intergenerational dialogue.
Flowers themselves operate as the silent core of this piece. They appear not as ornaments but as participants. A cascade of bougainvillea leans over a porch railing, petals catch the sunlight through gauzy curtains, and vibrant clusters of dahlias emerge during the closing moments of the video like quiet revelations. These blooms do not demand attention; they invite it. Their presence is emotionally charged, acting as symbols of vulnerability, resilience, and legacy. Their color and texture bring layers of meaning that go far beyond aesthetics. Flowers here embody the tension between beauty and fragility, echoing the internal lives of the men portrayed.
This language of softness is not accidental. It’s a deliberate choice by the filmmakers to present a version of Black fatherhood and brotherhood that is grounded in care and rootedness. There is a palpable calmness in the way the camera moves, how the scenes unfold, and how the subjects are framed. This tonal choice disrupts the hypermasculine tropes often projected onto Black men and instead opens up space for quietude, affection, and interiority. In a world saturated with noise, "Flowers" dares to whisper.
Visual Storytelling and Subversion: The Power of Cinematic Misdirection
From the first frame, the viewer is set on a path lined with subtle visual clues. Grant Taylor speaks candidly about his use of intentional misdirection in the video’s opening. It was important, he notes, to work within familiar visual codes in order to deconstruct them later. By using lighting, composition, and camera movement that echo traditional cinematic cues, Taylor sets the audience up for a narrative that never materializes in the expected way. This purposeful strategy is more than a stylistic flourish; it’s a statement on the pliability of perception.
Film, after all, is a medium built on suggestion and manipulation. It shapes emotion not only through plot but through framing, pace, and mood. Taylor leans into this potential, not to deceive but to awaken. As the video unfolds, subtle shifts in lighting temperature, lens depth, and framing guide the viewer gently away from preconceived ideas and into a deeper understanding. The transitions are smooth yet revelatory, highlighting how context can transform interpretation. What at first feels like familiarity becomes something wholly new by the end.
One particularly poignant choice was the inclusion of Aaron’s newborn son in the video. This decision carried both symbolic and logistical weight. Babies are unpredictable, and filming with an infant presents countless challenges from a production standpoint. Still, the choice proved invaluable. The presence of a real child brings a rawness and authenticity that cannot be scripted. In an entirely unscripted moment, baby Titus looked up, wide-eyed, and let out a small gurgle. That singular moment, captured as it happened, remained in the final cut. It encapsulates the purity and wonder the entire video seeks to convey.
This scene alone speaks volumes. It’s not just about parenthood but about time. The child represents the future while his father and the other men in the video carry the weight of the past. Together, they form a continuumone that reflects the evolving face of masculinity, responsibility, and identity. This generational interplay gives the video emotional gravity and deepens its resonance beyond the realm of music video into the realm of lived experience.
Presence Over Performance: Authenticity at the Heart of the Lens
While Grant Taylor sculpted the visual direction, Kashman Harris ensured that what appeared on screen wasn’t performance but presence. His on-set approach was rooted in empathy and patience. Rather than instructing the men to act, he invited them to simply be. This shift from performance to presence transformed the entire atmosphere of the shoot. The men were not there to represent ideas; they were there to embody truths. Harris created space for vulnerability and spontaneity, which allowed real emotion to emerge.
This insistence on authenticity is what lends "Flowers" its magnetic stillness. Every face captured on screen feels lived-in, contemplative, and grounded. There’s a gentle rhythm to the way each individual is introduced and filmed, as if the camera is bowing slightly in respect. The pacing is deliberate, the silences meaningful. In this silence, emotional truth is allowed to breathe. The video does not prescribe how to feel; it simply offers the space to feel deeply.
In many ways, the film’s quiet confidence mirrors the very message it conveys. It is not urgent in a frantic way, but rather urgent in its sincerity. This is a narrative told through glances, gestures, and light. It builds not toward climax but toward understanding. There is no singular message being delivered; instead, viewers are given a mirror and asked to reflect. That openness allows the piece to become deeply personal for each person who watches it.
“Flowers” ultimately occupies a space between poetry and documentary. It reveals itself slowly, demanding attention and intention from the viewer. As the film draws to a close, the visual arc completes itself not with resolution but with invitation. The final scenes, drenched in golden light and framed by organic movement, seem to ask: What are we willing to see when we stop trying to interpret and simply observe?
As the broader cultural moment pushes toward deeper conversations around representation, emotional literacy, and the nuanced portrayal of Black life, “Flowers” feels not just timely but timeless. It aligns itself with a lineage of artistic work that seeks not to define identity but to expand it. The film positions itself in quiet opposition to spectacle-driven media, offering instead a model rooted in intentionality, grace, and intergenerational tenderness.
What Taylor and Harris have done with "Flowers" is more than create a visually stunning music video. They’ve proposed an alternate way of seeing. In a time when digital content is often reduced to short-form stimulation and algorithmic engagement, this piece insists on depth. It asks for our time, our attention, and our vulnerability. And in return, it gives us a story not of what masculinity is supposed to be, but what it can become when stripped of performance and suffused with care.
Through the simple yet profound act of noticinga flower blooming, a father holding his child, a man closing his eyes in the viewer is brought into communion with the idea that power and softness are not opposites, but partners. That to feel deeply is not weakness but strength. That presence is its own kind of poetry. "Flowers" reminds us that sometimes, the most radical thing we can do is simply pay attention.
Cultivating the Roots: Heritage, Fatherhood, and the Seed of Vulnerability
Aaron Taylor’s Flowers music video finds its first pulse in the soil of lineage. From the opening frame, the camera lingers on textures that feel almost ancestral: skin, soil, petals, and the quiet weight of inherited memory. Taylor’s accompanying essay, Flowers, Feelings & Fatherhood, tells us why those visuals matter. In it, he describes the internal shift that began when he learned he would become a father. That knowledge didn’t simply add a new role; it re-engineered his sense of self, inviting a gentler vocabulary where power and tenderness walk side by side. The video mirrors this transformation through deliberate contrasts. Scenes of silhouette and sunlight, of strong hands cradling soft petals, become metaphors for the new emotional ecosystem he must tend. By positioning fatherhood as both legacy and rebirth, Taylor underscores a truth often lost in mainstream narratives about Black masculinity: vulnerability is not a concession, but an expansion. This perspective resonates throughout the composition, inviting viewers to re-imagine strength as something porous, something that can absorb love and still hold its own shape.
Within that re-imagining lies a broader cultural critique. The music industry often funnels Black male artists into narrow archetypes, rewarding aggression or hyper-competence while side-lining emotion. Flowers rejects that binary. Its lyrics speak of giving people their flowers while they can still smell them, a phrase borrowed from funeral traditions but inverted to celebrate life. In the visuals, the motif of blooming underscores the need to nurture emotions in real time rather than in hindsight. Each slow-motion shot of petals unfurling serves as an invitation to witness a private revolution. Taylor’s voice, warm and unhurried, creates a sonic safe space where feeling deeply is not just permitted but encouraged. The video, therefore, functions as cultural counter-programming. It places Black fatherhood in a garden, a setting rarely afforded to it, and does so with deliberate softness. That softness is not fragility; it is strategy. By slowing the tempo of masculinity, Taylor opens room for nuance, letting the audience see how power behaves when it isn’t performing for survival. The visual grammar of Flowers teaches that caretaking is a form of resistance, and that resistance can bloom just as beautifully as any rose.
Reverberations in the Garden: Community Dialogue and Media Responsibility
When Flowers premiered, its ripples spread quickly through social media timelines and academic circles alike. Viewers saw themselves in the choreography of care that defined each frame, and they began sharing stories of their own fathers, sons, and partners. Tweets turned into think-pieces, podcasts, and roundtable discussions. One recurring theme emerged: representation matters, but responsible representation matters more. Taylor, together with director Grant and cinematographer Kashman, intentionally chose an aesthetic that sidesteps clichés about Black male stoicism. Instead of gritty realism, they opted for pastoral serenity. This artistic decision did more than set a mood; it set an agenda. It challenged audiences to reconsider what qualifies as authentic Black experience. The conversations that followed ranged from the politics of softness to the ethics of storytelling. Teachers assigned the video in media literacy classes, while therapists used it in workshops on emotional expression among men of color. In each case, Flowers served as a catalyst, providing language and imagery for feelings that had long gone unnamed.
This surge in discourse is no accident. Taylor’s essay provides a roadmap for interpreting the visuals, clarifying that artistic responsibility extends beyond aesthetics. He writes about the delicate balance of shielding his son from harm while empowering him to explore his emotions. That tension shapes the video’s narrative arc: the father offers both shade and sunlight, both structure and freedom. Such duality resonates with viewers who have struggled to reconcile toughness with tenderness. The internet quickly filled with testimonials from men who felt “seen” for the first time, and from women who recognized partners, brothers, and fathers in the subtleties of Taylor’s performance. The reverberations were not confined to digital spaces. Community centers screened the video during Father’s Day events; bookstores organized panel talks on Black fatherhood in contemporary art. Through these collective gatherings, the film became more than a piece of entertainment. It morphed into a communal mirror, reflecting hope, complexity, and the possibility of new narratives for Black men in media.
Blooming Toward Tomorrow: Legacy, Possibility, and the Ongoing Conversation
The lasting image of a man and his child standing in a garden lingers long after the song’s final chord. It lingers because it offers a promise: tenderness can coexist with strength and, in fact, can amplify it. Flowers positions that promise not as an endpoint but as an opening chapter. As Taylor, Grant, and Kashman continue to share behind-the-scenes footage and expanded essays, they invite audiences into the ongoing evolution of this project. The art does not freeze itself in perfection; it grows, much like the garden it portrays. Each new interpretation, each repost, and each scholarly essay adds another layer of meaning, fertilizing the soil for future dialogues. For emerging artists, the project demonstrates how to integrate personal narrative with collective need, aligning self-expression with communal healing. For viewers, it models a more elastic masculinity, one that accommodates grief, joy, worry, and wonder in equal measure.
Looking ahead, Flowers already hints at its legacy. It is referenced in discussions about inclusive curricula in art schools, cited in dissertations on visual rhetoric, and analyzed in cultural studies journals that track the evolution of Black storytelling. Its impact also reaches the commercial sphere; brands seeking more nuanced portrayals of Black families now point to Flowers as proof that tenderness captures audiences just as effectively as spectacle. Meanwhile, fans continue to use the hashtag #GiveThemFlowers to celebrate everyday moments of care, transforming a line from the song into a lifestyle mantra. The piece functions as a living document, encouraging anyone who encounters it to pause and consider how they might cultivate their own emotional gardens. The final frame of father and son among blossoms is therefore not an endpoint, but an open gate leading to endless pathways. Each viewer walks through that gate with their own experiences, yet they all depart carrying the same unspoken covenant: to nurture softness as a form of strength, to honor legacy through love, and to let emotions bloom without apology.
Conclusion
Aaron Taylor’s Flowers music video stands as a luminous testament to the quiet revolution happening within representations of Black masculinity. In a culture that has long demanded performance over presence, Taylor, along with directors Grant Taylor and Kashman Harris, offers a radical alternative: one where stillness, vulnerability, and emotional honesty are not only visible but deeply honored. The film’s poetic imageryBlack men surrounded by florals, a father gently cradling his childasks viewers to reconsider what strength truly looks like. It invites a shift from stoic survival to intentional thriving, rooted in care, connection, and legacy.
The choice to center flowers is both symbolic and strategic. Petals are fragile yet persistent, growing in difficult soiljust like the emotional landscapes many Black men have had to navigate without public acknowledgment. By embracing this metaphor, the video gently unearths layers of historical and emotional complexity, encouraging viewers to see Black men not as archetypes but as whole, nuanced individuals. This reframing is not forced; it is tender, unfolding organically like a garden nurtured over time.
Perhaps most powerfully, Flowers is not just a moment of artistic expression, is a movement. Its cultural ripple effect proves that visual storytelling can open space for collective healing and reimagination. The piece is both deeply personal and profoundly communal, seeding conversations in classrooms, community centers, and living rooms across the world. It doesn’t close with finality, but with a blooming invitation: to parent with empathy, to feel without shame, and to celebrate identity in all its softness and strength. As Aaron Taylor cradles his son in a garden of possibility, Flowers leaves us with a lasting truth that legacy is not just what we leave behind, but what we nurture, in ourselves and each other, right now.
