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user-inactivated  ·  2863 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Guilt...

I have a lot of nice things in my life. If you look through my submission history, you'll see some posts I've made of some of the antiques I own. Every single one of them is very special to me. They're more than just things to me, they're a way to help me feel connected with the world. More importantly though, each one also represents hours upon hours of hard work on my part. Every time I buy something, I'm paying for it with money that I've literally given up a piece of my life to obtain.

I feel a strong, emotional attachment to almost everything I own, from my antiques to my comics to the clothing I wear. That's not to say I'm a hoarder or anything, because just as much as I love collecting, I also love giving. I give people gifts off my own bookshelf and from my closet all the time. I'd be hard pressed to think of anything else that I do that makes me happier. If I went looking though, for something I own that I sincerely love, to discover that it's missing, I'd be so devastated. It's hard for me to think of another way someone could wrong me more without resorting to physical violence.

I'm not trying to make you feel even more guilty here. You're young and you've made a mistake. That's okay. Hell, I make mistakes all the time. In fact, if you look at my early comment history on Hubski you'll find instances of me being very unfriendly to another user and the guilt of that actually eats at me a bit.

You're still learning and you're gonna make mistakes sometimes. But please, in the future consider two things. Even if you don't think it matters, the decisions you make can have a very strong impact on others, even if you're not there to witness it. More importantly though, that sense of guilt you're feeling? How bad it feels? That's you, motivating your future self to do the right thing next time. Listen to that guilt, it's there to help guide you.

So feel a bit guilty, it's okay. Work hard though, in the future, to think a bit more before you act. You might save both yourself and others a mess of heartache.

Try to be awesome. :)