When I answered a question on Sunday Stealing recently, it was quite broadly worded. “What one event from your lifetime would you change if you could, and why?” I answered about a certain politician getting elected.
Then Dan wrote:
Let me ask you this: What event from YOUR life would you change? (Perhaps that is too intrusive and wrenching.)
I replied: “Now that is a harder question. I guess I’ll have to think on it>”
To which Dan commented:
Yes. I imagined having to answer that question for myself. Very quickly, my mind started looking for distractions.
Is anything too intrusive? I suppose so. I’ve seen items posted on social media, and I think, “Why are they posting THAT? Who wants to see THAT?” And it turns out, sometimes millions of total strangers. This is why I’ll never be a TikTok influencer, and I’m good with that. So it’s not intrusive, exactly. It’s more a modicum of good taste.
That said, I am cognizant of trying not to intrude on other people’s privacy. At least once in this blog, I wrote something about another person, and they took great offense. I made great care not to identify them by any characteristics. But they thought what I reported they had said was so wrongheaded that they stopped speaking to me. I felt terrible about it and still do, though it was close to a decade ago.
Beyond that, I thought about everything I’ve said and did or didn’t say or do. Sure there are plenty of things I regret. But in many cases, changing it would have changed the whole course of my life. If I hadn’t done X, I wouldn’t have met Y.
I’m saying no.
The great outdoors
Friend Catbird, who I’ve known for decades, wants to know:
Have you been watching “America Outdoors?” It’s on PBS and is hosted by Baratunde Thurston. I heard an interview of him on NPR (I think—or maybe it was the PBS NewsHour) about his recent book and PBS series and was intrigued.
I’m liking it! It appeals to my sense of fairness (a concept that’s been pretty scarce in our culture since its inception.
I don’t know how you feel about being outdoors … or, for that matter, what “the outdoors” means to you
But you might also enjoy this series.
No, I had not heard of it. I have tons of recorded but unwatched programming. Thank goodness JEOPARDY is off for six weeks (except reruns). It does sound intriguing.
I’m not big on the outdoors. Lions, tigers, and bears. OK, no lions and tigers, but we have had some bears even in the city of Albany in 2022. Also, bugs, and either sunburn or frostbite, both of which I have experienced.
I don’t think a whole lot about hell. Well, not since I was growing up with the concept constantly slipped into every third sermon I heard.