dramadramaduck | (no subject)

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A friend asked this not long ago (only a decade or so ago, my time) but for...reasons it has come to mind again.

If you could delete any problem you had, even erase it completely from your memory or make it as if it never existed, would you?

And if so, what kind of problems do you face that you would make you consider the question?

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I don't think that's the right thing to do. I mean, I used to think that way, but it only got me in trouble, and...

Well, I think you lose a lot of strength if you just avoid your problems instead of trying to overcome them. Like my fear of water. If I hadn't been afraid, that would have made my life a lot easier. But trying to overcome it--that's made me stronger. I've learned what courage is and how important it is.

Does that make any sense?

It makes quite a lot of sense.

May I ask why you were afraid in the first place?

I was always afraid--ever since I was little. And it got worse because monsters started appearing from the water. Then I ended up being the only one who could stop it, and I almost made a mess of everything because I was too scared. That fear only let me get possessed by something stronger until I could find the courage to defeat it.

I know how difficult it can be to confront ones fears, and how even after overcoming them there can still be damage.

Are things going better, now that you are no longer as frightened?

Yeah, they are, actually. I realized that the time I'm living in now was the future people older than me were trying to create. So I should do all I can to try to protect it and honor this gift.

That is...one way of thinking of it, I suppose.

You must look fondly upon your elders and the choices they made.

Yeah, I do. I've got a lot of respect for them.

Even if their actions have led to the situation that you are in now?

Even then. It reminds me that I don't have to be so afraid I'm going to fail. Even if I can only do so much, it's that much less the next generation is going to have to worry about.

What a hopeful viewpoint. In my world, we tend to despair and the horror and destruction caused by earlier generations.

I think I've spent too much time feeling despair. I'd rather try to do something about it.

This reminds me of a story of a man who awoke in a desert with no memory, and a Genie who asked him 'Now what is your Third Wish?'

Oh? Interesting. And what was his third wish?

Well, the man asked the genie what he was talking about, and the genie said that he had already had two wishes-the second being to forget everything. The man, quite naturally, worried about this and wished to remember what he had forgotten.

"Funny," said the genie, "That was your first wish."

Hah. Clever.

I am sure there are many other stories about such things. Warnings to be careful of what you desire, lest it be your downfall.

Oh, yes. They use me as such an example in much of the mythology of my galaxy. Perhaps it is something of an inevitable human failing, that so many worlds need to warn of it.

Minato-san is right. Even if a lot of horrible things have happened, I wouldn't forget them. Good things came from them, too.

Of those here, you are one of the ones that seems to know that best.

Sometimes it's scary, but I think it's better now...

Hah. That's life, little one.

*She's not going to protest her age this time.*

Do you think?

Yes. But surely the good things make up for all the suffering, correct?

[He might not believe that himself, but then again he's aware that his universe is hell compared to many others]

You're right. There are wonderful things out there. And the world really is worth something.

It must be, to have kept spinning for so long.

And even the bad people can learn, I think.

Indeed. Even if it takes great hardship to do so.

I know that you've been alive for a long time and you know a lot, but I do believe that things will turn out better.

Perhaps. Or perhaps pain is more likely than happiness, but the momentary pleasures of love and affection are worth cherishing even for their rareness.

It's not always more common to be hurt than to be happy.

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