Future Regrets?

[Bookishleigh]

Thank you.

I am very familiar with the restorative justice project. The predominant attitude of most prisoners is resentful boredom. Anyone who was ever grounded as a kid knows that after a couple of days, you hit a point where, no matter what you got in trouble for, you feel that the punishment is unfair. Imagine how you'd feel after months, or even years...

I know that people think RJP somehow coddles criminals. But the opposite is true. If you think having to face the people you've wronged is easier than just sitting in a cell, I doubt you've done either.

LOVE this. And speaking restorative justice and regrets, THIS seems so fitting:

http://www.takepart.com/feature/2016/09/19/violence-and-redemption-forgiveness/

 

[BabblingBrooke]

Saw this and thought of this thread. I want to avoid living like this. I want to be present.

 

[Bookishleigh]

Saw this and thought of this thread. I want to avoid living like this. I want to be present.

I waited all this week for Friday - and today has been fucking shitastic.

Lesson learned. No promises Friday will be better.

 

[BabblingBrooke]

I waited all this week for Friday - and today has been fucking shitastic.

Lesson learned. No promises Friday will be better.

True. Hope your weekend gets much better.


I've been trying to make this week slow down. Back to work Monday.

 

[Bookishleigh]

True. Hope your weekend gets much better.


I've been trying to make this week slow down. Back to work Monday.

It already has. And I am the same - from here it will go to fast.

 

[Peregrinator]

Lots of big talk about hiking at altitude going on in here.

I haven't been over 8k or so in years. I seem to do okay up to15k, my highest to date, with a few days to acclimatize up to 13 or so. At least, that was true in 2005. Who knows, now. St Helens was no trouble in 2008 or 9, any more than a long steep hike anywhere is.

 

[Peregrinator]

Yep. Beside a few switchbacks the trail follows a stream all the way up
To a mountain lake.

Water filter and a bottle. Not even bringing a camelback.

I hate stopping to filter. I usually carry two bottles and use iodine, let one process while I drink from the other. I also find I drink a lot more, and a lot more often, with the Camelbak than with bottles. But, yanno, ymmv. If you're spending the night, you're gonna have the filter anyway.

 

[Peregrinator]

This is not so much a regret but a thought I had the other day: I know the GB can be a contentious place at times; however, I like to think the vitriolic side I often see of some posters is not really the truth and that given the opportunity to meet them in person we would interact differently. I am not saying you or Phelia are vitriolic, as we all have our demons here, and certainly there are some I most definitely would not willingly agree to meet - behind the screen though we all have our own stories though.

And I regret I didn't get out of Indiana when I had the chance. You can bet that when I am able, I won't look back next time.

I've always thought the same thing. But then I start wondering why people act like assholes on here, if they aren't irl. I don't get that at all.

 

[Bookishleigh]

I've always thought the same thing. But then I start wondering why people act like assholes on here, if they aren't irl. I don't get that at all.

I pray most of us have a false bravado behind the safety of a computer screen - if the world and its inhabitants are representative of those on the GB then perhaps it is just best we nuke it now.

 

[Peregrinator]

Formative or symptomatic? That's a debate I'll probably have with myself for the rest of my life.

I have a drug related felony on my record, so of course, there are permanent legal ramifications. For example, I am trying to pay for college, but I am ineligible for any student loans, unless I can get an exemption, which is an iffy proposition. And it is obviously a block to many avenues of employment.

I really try not to play the victim. I did bad things, and there are continuing ramifications. Whether they are fair or not is beside the point. I put myself in this position, and I will always know myself to be someone who was willing to do things that I knew were wrong. That will haunt me to my dying day. And I will always live with the fear that I haven't conquered that part of me, but am only holding it at bay. I fear relationships, because I can't be certain I won't revert to past form and destroy them.

There is a reason we say we are "recovering", no matter how long it's been since we did drugs ( coming up on four years for me) and not "recovered". I just quit a good paying job because it was a situation where the temptation and availability of drugs was so great that I feared I couldn't trust myself to stay there.

Other than all that, I'm Miss Happy Go Lucky, really I am.

Yes, that's a great question. I would guess both. These things tend to be. I mean, the drug abuse is likely symptomatic, but the time in drug culture, the legal stuff, the time in the clink...those are formative as well.

That self doubt can be tricky, for sure. I carry my own sins of course, and I know myself to be capable of those things, too. I think you made a good move, leaving the job with the temptations. Everything you put before recovery...

Every addict I know with some solid time (congrats on four years!) and a decent amount of work is an empathetic, good person, and most of them have a great sense of humor.

 

[Peregrinator]

Very much so, I agree with this.

And I believe we started doing that quite a while ago that today you are left with people expecting that that was taken for granted as a norm, and anything different as abnormal. And the whole thing is based on false assumptions from the get-go, but so far away behind, that today you either pretend along with the status quo to integrate, or stand your lucid ground and be shunned.



This is a very interesting question, and quite broad.

The thing is, it's answer not only is not clear, but would also seem quite far fetched and odd given current status quo if it was attempted to be formulated. I'll try and say why.

Many things that we live currently were never supposed to be this way in the first place. We as humans are living a very extreme and interesting period of time in our existence. The generations born to witness it, not only are witnessing the fastest kind of growth in a lifetime ever to have been encountered, but also in a major tuning point, or crossing into a different era or age or type of life.

All that, and, in a way that was not supposed to be, this way.

So we have been going about things in a fashion to try and go through that very exciting and challenging time, all while taking on a simultaneous attempt at correcting what was not supposed to be, and hoping to finally land somewhere where - as the trekkies would say - we've corrected the timeline, and crossed this interesting turning in a successful and admirable fashion.

It's quite a lot. And as a consequence difficult to see past the normal average kind of environmentally related concerns we may leave future generations with, or having a dermal re-generator in the future and not missing the scalpel, etc. We are after all in a very advanced time relatively, all while doing all sorts of barbaric things across the board.

I'd have to give this some thought, as I liked your question and wanted to put what first came to mind, but i'll enjoy brainstorming this one over time and hope to imagine an interesting few options other than star trek related stuff - which always somehow become reality.

Nice thread; and nice twist rebooting it into a humanity-level future regrets. Thanks!

Thank you for a very interesting response, as well as the kind words. I want to let most of this percolate, but I'm curious about what you mean by "supposed to be." What is it that you see as not being how it was supposed to be, and supposed by whom or what?

 

[Peregrinator]

Saw this and thought of this thread. I want to avoid living like this. I want to be present.

So very yes. I wish I could have back all the time I wished would pass...

 

[Thunderbear]

Picked up the poetry of Catullus recently, might have to add Heraclitus to the list.

http://i.imgur.com/llXQMYKl.jpg

Regrets are too easy to hold, and too hard to let go. They'll drown you if you let them.

 

[hsnh]

Maybe I would have, when I was younger and I used to conceive time as linear. Some of our western concepts are so demoralising.

Trying to see History and and one's life path through the prism of time as a spiral is more rewarding.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I just within the past week received a medical diagnosis that was far more optimistic than what was horrifically possible given my obvious symptoms. I'll need surgery, but this is well repairable. I don't have what I feared I could very easily have.

As a result, I will never again have the future regret that I now have -- having spent most of my life taking life itself for granted. I am resolved to live life with a far greater attitude of appreciation during whatever time I have left.

Good luck.

Best wishes.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Stalin and Mao both claimed transition, too. I think we need to be very careful of the cost-benefit.

I wonder if I'm getting a glimpse here of your resistance to things like the EPA and the mountain of science about global warming. If this notion of material wealth isnthe highest good, then anything that challenges it must be destroyed at all costs.

No, not at all. First off Stalin and Mao were a return to the past. All Socialism is. As far as Science goes not only is it not settled but Science drives technology and technology, when left alone has developed cleaner energy sources. Take fracking which is producing cleaner-burning gas in great volume (and with abundant reserves) at a low cost.

Your last sentence is on the borderline of an ad hominem attack that has no place in a polite discussion. It would be very hard to argue against all tangible evidence, to wit, the great standard of living that we enjoy should end because Capitalism is some sort of great harm to the planet. Capitalism does not "destroy" its competition, it is just that the inefficiencies of the schemes to reign it in become apparent whenever they are applied. When you replace Capitalism with something like the recent Venezuelan experiment in government by Social Justice the you destroy wealth and you environment gets dirty and the people get poorer and lose their quality of life.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Befriended is better than adopted. You would not want to try to live up to my mother, nor down to my father.

I style myself a bit of an expert on regrets. And I don't mean " I should have applied for that promotion" regrets, but " Maybe coke and crime wasn't my best lifestyle choice" regrets. But that's a tale for another day.

I read a science fiction book a few years ago, I'm sorry I can't recall the author or title, in which virtual reality technology had reached the point where people would go through their whole lives immersed in artificial worlds overlaid on their daily lives. So, some people saw the world as if it were anime, some had the world transposed into various historical eras, etc. it seems like we are close to something like that, even without the technology.

The world is going to need fewer and fewer workers, but the economy still needs consumers. I think the notion of a guaranteed income will gain acceptance in the near future. In the long term, it will change society in ways , both positive and negative, that we can't begin to imagine.

No it doesn't.

Reality, observing Human Action shows us that with each generation and the wealth generation of Capitalism that birthrates decline. Right now, as I pointed out previously, Europe has a birthrate too low to replace its population. Since they, too, have tried to go with Social Justice governance they require a large population just to enjoy the benefits that they felt of "civilized" country should be without, so they import wholesale another culture to fund their benefits, creating a situation for the future when the new population wants its share of the benefits.

The economy is not really run by consumers, most transactions are business transactions. What will happen is that there will be fewer people, less business, but great wealth through automation and even more leisure time to pursue the interests and careers (and thus economic activity) that machines will not be able to engage in.

Science Fiction is just that. Fiction and imagination.

 

[hsnh]

I know the GB can be a contentious place at times; however, I like to think the vitriolic side I often see of some posters is not really the truth and that given the opportunity to meet them in person we would interact differently.

and certainly there are some I most definitely would not willingly agree to meet - behind the screen though we all have our own stories though.

I pray most of us have a false bravado behind the safety of a computer screen - if the world and its inhabitants are representative of those on the GB then perhaps it is just best we nuke it now.

Who did you have on mind?

You and Luk?

 

[jaF0]

Take fracking which is producing ...

... Earthquakes and property damage.

What will happen is that there will be fewer people, less business, but great wealth through automation and even more leisure time to pursue the interests and careers (and thus economic activity) that machines will not be able to engage in.

What will happen is that there will be more people, unemployed and destitute who will be humping and reproducing like rabbits because they don't have anything else to do.

Which may ultimately lead to less people because the machines will be culling the infestation. Even if only by attrition, since machines don't need food, so agriculture and associated industries will die off. Machines will be buying from machines.

 

[Lancecastor]

Lots of big talk about hiking at altitude going on in here.

Goes with the thread title quite nicely!

 

[Bookishleigh]

Who did you have on mind?

You and Luk?

One day enough people will have you on ignore that your "future regret" may be this trolling type nonsense. Good luck, Hash. Hope this account lasts longer than your others before it is banned. See ya then.

 

[hsnh]

One day enough people will have you on ignore that your "future regret" may be this trolling type nonsense. Good luck, Hash. Hope this account lasts longer than your others before it is banned. See ya then.

Do you think I was trolling, Adjudicator?

 

[EternalFantasies]

Thank you for a very interesting response, as well as the kind words. I want to let most of this percolate, but I'm curious about what you mean by "supposed to be." What is it that you see as not being how it was supposed to be, and supposed by whom or what?

If you believe you'll manage to have this percolate without my clarifying the 'not supposed to be' part, i'd be grateful.

It's a subject best deduced by each individual for themselves.

 

[Lancecastor]

One day enough people will have you on ignore that your "future regret" may be this trolling type nonsense. Good luck, Hash. Hope this account lasts longer than your others before it is banned. See ya then.

You're about to fly halfway across the country to fuck a GB troll with multiple attack alts...and you have the nerve to type this shit?

You're being had.

 

[Disgustipated]

You're about to fly halfway across the country to fuck a GB troll with multiple attack alts...and you have the nerve to type this shit?

You're being had.

I've wounded you so much that you had to create a split-personality for me.

Ahahahahahahahaha!