I’m presently studying The Tainted Cup, a fantasy detective novel.
Assume “Sherlock Holmes set in Westeros.”
The principle character has this augmentation that enables him to soak up each single element of each interplay, crime scene, after which recite again these actual particulars at a later date.
I bear in mind a horrifying Black Mirror episode about this very factor: having the ability to recall each reality of each interplay up to now.
Right here’s the factor: in all of those situations, the information is likely to be true, however the evaluation of those information nonetheless leaves loads of room for enchancment.
I considered this so much just lately after I stumbled throughout two tales I need to share:
“The Previous is Not True” from Derek Sivers:
After I was 17, I used to be driving recklessly and crashed into an oncoming automotive. I discovered that I broke the opposite driver’s backbone, and he or she’ll by no means stroll once more.
I carried that burden with me all over the place, and felt so horrible about it for therefore a few years that at age 35 I made a decision to search out this lady to apologize. I discovered her identify and deal with, went to her home, knocked on the door, and a middle-aged lady answered. As quickly as I mentioned, “I’m {the teenager} that hit your automotive eighteen years in the past and broke your backbone”, I began sobbing – a giant ugly cry, surfacing years of remorse.
She was so candy, and hugged me saying, “Oh sweetie, sweetie! Don’t fear. I’m tremendous!” Then she walked me into her front room. 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 creator Morgan Housel:
A number of months in the past I reminisced to my spouse about how superior [life was in our early 20s]. We have been 23, gainfully employed, dwelling 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 dwelling, pretty much as good because it will get,” I instructed her.
“What are you speaking about?” she mentioned. “You have been extra anxious, scared, and doubtless depressed then than you’ve ever been.”
…In my head, right this moment, I look again and assume, “I will need to have been so glad then. These have been my finest years.”
However in actuality, on the time, I used to be pondering, “I can’t look ahead to these years to finish.”
It has me pondering so much concerning the previous, and our future. It seems, neither one is ready in stone!
Which Previous Story are you able to rewrite?
Because the cliché goes, it’s simpler to attach the dots trying backward than it’s trying ahead.
Is there a narrative out of your previous a few explicit 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 really existed.
The previous already occurred, however that doesn’t imply it’s set in stone!
Returning to Sivers:
“You’ll be able to 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 dangerous, that you simply’re deciding to rewrite?
-Steve
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