I’m presently studying The Tainted Cup, a fantasy detective novel.
Suppose “Sherlock Holmes set in Westeros.”
The principle character has this augmentation that permits him to soak up each single element of each interplay, crime scene, after which recite again these actual particulars at a later date.
I keep in mind a horrifying Black Mirror episode about this very factor: having the ability to recall each truth of each interplay up to now.
Right here’s the factor: in all of those eventualities, the info may be true, however the evaluation of those info nonetheless leaves loads of room for enchancment.
I thought of this loads 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 automobile. I came upon 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 seek out this lady to apologize. I discovered her title and handle, went to her home, knocked on the door, and a middle-aged lady answered. As quickly as I stated, “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 wonderful!” Then she walked me into her front room. Walked.
Seems I had misunderstood.
Sure she fractured a pair vertebrae however it by no means stopped her from strolling. She stated “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 great 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 had 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, nearly as good because it will get,” I instructed her.
“What are you speaking about?” she stated. “You had been extra anxious, scared, and doubtless depressed then than you’ve ever been.”
…In my head, as we speak, I look again and suppose, “I should 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 ahead to these years to finish.”
It has me pondering loads 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 couple of explicit second you’re nonetheless carrying with you?
Perhaps it’s one filled with disgrace about one thing that occurred, however it led to one thing even higher for you.
Perhaps 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 possibly can change your historical past.
The precise factual occasions are such a small a part of it. Every thing else is perspective, open for re-interpretation.
The previous is rarely finished.”
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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