• Jax@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    I’m sorry that I’ve reacted emotionally to you, several times now. I’m angry, but the anger I’ve built up was born a long time before I ever knew Trump existed.

    I’ve dealt with depression from a young age because I could see the writing on the wall for the people around me. No amount of personal wisdom, intellect, strength, character; could ever overcome their emotional attachment to their own ignorance. I’ve told anyone who would listen that things are going to get worse - this has typically been met with indifference and ostracization (I’ve always lived in the Central Valley of CA - lots of red voters here).

    I don’t think you’re a ‘bad person’ and I’m sorry for the way that I’ve treated you.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I don’t think you’re a ‘bad person’ and I’m sorry for the way that I’ve treated you.

      Honestly, no need, but thank you.

      I raise my hat to you for that message. If more people were willing or even able to do what you just did, the world would be a much better place.

      I’ve come to the conclusion that the three hardest words for people to say are “I was wrong.” Not that you were, this is a subjective issue, but the idea of uttering those words aloud is so scary to so many people for some reason that I honestly believe it to be a… or the problem the world is suffering from:

      “The higher, pretentious form of stupidity stands only too often in crass opposition to [its] honorable form. It is not so much lack of intelligence as failure of intelligence, for the reason that it presumes to accomplishments to which it has no right … The stupidity this addresses is no mental illness, yet it is most lethal; a dangerous disease of the mind that endangers life itself. … [S]ince the ‘higher stupidity’ consists not in an inability to understand but in a refusal to understand, any healing or reversal of it will not occur through rational argumentation, through a greater accumulation of data and knowledge, or through experiencing new and different feelings … We may say that the reversal of a spiritual sickness must entail a spiritual cure.”

      https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/one-crucial-word/

      Enjoy your Easter, my American friend, and try to keep sane despite the world going crazy.

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        I can certainly say how I treated you was wrong, there’s no escaping that truth.

        I’ve come to the conclusion that the three hardest words for people to say are “I was wrong.” Not that you were, this is a subjective issue, but the idea of uttering those words aloud is so scary to so many people for some reason that I honestly believe it to be a… or the problem the world is suffering from:

        They can be for anyone, ultimately - negated or amplified by whether or not the people around them allow them dignity in failure. I think many people are taught to be ashamed of failure - which I think is wrong. Not shaming in and of itself, but moreso in the overly-liberal application of it. No one should be afraid to make a mistake unless someone’s life is on the line, in fact we should make mistakes so we can learn from them before things are high stakes. Especially when it comes to learning how to fail.

        That’s getting off topic, though. I don’t know what the right path forward is, but it does start with people - one way or another. If you think you can spur people to action, I won’t get in your way. I might even help you, at least here.