I’m at the moment studying The Tainted Cup, a fantasy detective novel.
Suppose “Sherlock Holmes set in Westeros.”
The primary character has this augmentation that permits him to soak up each single element of each interplay, crime scene, after which recite again these precise particulars at a later date.
I bear in mind a horrifying Black Mirror episode about this very factor: with the ability to recall each reality of each interplay up to now.
Right here’s the factor: in all of those situations, the info is perhaps true, however the evaluation of those info nonetheless leaves loads of room for enchancment.
I thought of this lots just lately after I stumbled throughout two tales I wish to share:
“The Previous is Not True” from Derek Sivers:
Once I was 17, I used to be driving recklessly and crashed into an oncoming automobile. I discovered that I broke the opposite driver’s backbone, and she or he’ll by no means stroll once more.
I carried that burden with me in all places, and felt so horrible about it for thus a few years that at age 35 I made a decision to search out this girl to apologize. I discovered her identify and tackle, went to her home, knocked on the door, and a middle-aged girl answered. As quickly as I mentioned, “I’m {the teenager} that hit your automobile eighteen years in the past and broke your backbone”, I began sobbing – an enormous ugly cry, surfacing years of remorse.
She was so candy, and hugged me saying, “Oh sweetie, sweetie! Don’t fear. I’m superb!” Then she walked me into her lounge. Walked.
Seems I had misunderstood.
Sure she fractured a pair vertebrae but it surely by no means stopped her from strolling. She mentioned “that little accident” helped her pay extra consideration to her health, and since then has been in higher well being than ever.
Then she apologized for inflicting the accident within the first place. Apologized.
And this story about “the nice ole days” from writer Morgan Housel:
Just a few months in the past I reminisced to my spouse about how superior [life was in our early 20s]. We had been 23, gainfully employed, residing in our model of the Taj Mahal. This was earlier than children, so we slept in till 10am on the weekends, went for a stroll, had brunch, took a nap, and went out for dinner. That was our life. For years.
“That was peak residing, pretty much as good because it will get,” I advised her.
“What are you speaking about?” she mentioned. “You had been extra anxious, scared, and possibly depressed then than you’ve ever been.”
…In my head, as we speak, I look again and suppose, “I will need to have been so glad then. These had been my greatest years.”
However in actuality, on the time, I used to be pondering, “I can’t look forward to these years to finish.”
It has me pondering lots concerning the previous, and our future. It seems, neither one is about in stone!
Which Previous Story are you able to rewrite?
Because the cliché goes, it’s simpler to attach the dots wanting backward than it’s wanting ahead.
Is there a narrative out of your previous a few specific second you’re nonetheless carrying with you?
Possibly it’s one filled with disgrace about one thing that occurred, but it surely led to one thing even higher for you.
Possibly it’s eager for a previous life that by no means truly existed.
The previous already occurred, however that doesn’t imply it’s set in stone!
Returning to Sivers:
“You possibly can change your historical past.
The precise factual occasions are such a small a part of it. The whole lot else is perspective, open for re-interpretation.
The previous isn’t achieved.”
I’d like to know which story you’re telling your self concerning the previous, good or unhealthy, that you just’re deciding to rewrite?
-Steve
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