What's your biggest fear?

[FairreLilette]

8 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

I have a five dollar note which was worth £2.50 a couple of years ago. Today, it's worth £4.20.  By the end of the month it will be worth £6. If I can hang on to it for a year, it might be worth £60.

The British Pound Sterling has already been plummeting.  

This is a manipulation by the rich.  

News Excerpt and then back to work:  And, I am sorry for you all.  Brexit will certainly send fear throughout the global markets.

___________________________________________________________________  

"The British pound hit a two-year low of $1.212 against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. It’s just the latest blow for the currency following several days of decline since Boris Johnson became prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Johnson’s indications he would take a no-deal Brexit have shaken confidence in the pound and sent its value on a downward trajectory since July 24."

Edited August 5, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Pamela Galli]

Terrified we won’t retake the presidency and senate, and our judiciary and whole democracy is reshaped for generations.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

10 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said:

Terrified we won’t retake the presidency and senate, and our judiciary and whole democracy is reshaped for generations.

Of course, for Republicans, that is a feature and not a bug, as McConnell says quite frequently, and as the ones in Michigan said when they crippled the incoming Democrats.

[Selene Gregoire]

41 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Of course, but just because YOU felt lost in the crowd doesn't mean nobody else noticed you were there.

Perhaps not consciously. Still, I don't believe anyone with the life experience you've had has nothing to show for it, even if you don't see the currency yourself. 

I can't prove this conclusively, of course, but neither can you. I think you and your life have infinite and innate human worth, and you can't stop me. So there.

Amina, no one noticed. I would have known if they did. 

Believe it because it is true. I have nothing to show for my life experiences. 

I've had no worth since I was a 14 year old virgin. I was damaged goods. Things back then were not like they are now when many people don't see rape victims as damaged goods. I've paid that price for 46 years on top of being the one to sacrifice everything so that everyone else can have what they want and need. 

There is so much about me that no one knows. I can't say anything. If I do say anything then it all becomes my fault and I have only myself to blame for being messed up. Or so I am told. Apparently I was wrong for wanting to have older brothers who would actually stick up for me and look out for me rather than doing everything they could to see to it that I would never be anything. Including making damn sure I would never have a family of my own.

I know you mean well Amina and I do appreciate it. The fact remains my life has been one huge *****ehole. and it isn't going to get better. Right now, things are bad enough I just sold my car to pay this months bills. If something doesn't give soon, I will lose my home and what few possessions I have left, including the dresser and nightstand that belonged to my mother when she was a child, next month.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Amina Sopwith]

31 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Amina, no one noticed. I would have known if they did. 

Believe it because it is true. I have nothing to show for my life experiences. 

I've had no worth since I was a 14 year old virgin. I was damaged goods. Things back then were not like they are now when many people don't see rape victims as damaged goods. I've paid that price for 46 years on top of being the one to sacrifice everything so that everyone else can have what they want and need. 

There is so much about me that no one knows. I can't say anything. If I do say anything then it all becomes my fault and I have only myself to blame for being messed up. Or so I am told. Apparently I was wrong for wanting to have older brothers who would actually stick up for me and look out for me rather than doing everything they could to see to it that I would never be anything. Including making damn sure I would never have a family of my own.

I know you mean well Amina and I do appreciate it. The fact remains my life has been one huge *****ehole. and it isn't going to get better. Right now, things are bad enough I just sold my car to pay this months bills. If something doesn't give soon, I will lose my home and what few possessions I have left, including the dresser and nightstand that belonged to my mother when she was a child, next month.

I'm sorry to hear all that and I hope that worst case scenario doesn't happen. (Are there any charities you could turn to?) The fact remains, though, that none of that - s***ty and unfair and unbearable as it may be - has any bearing on your innate and infinite human worth. You've obviously had a lifetime of being told otherwise and that's had the same effect it would have on anyone else. But just because people with a vested interest tell you something does not make it true, and just because something happened does NOT mean you deserve it or were responsible for it.

Your worth and your humanity are intact, and anyone who doesn't understand that has lost some of their own.
 

[Selene Gregoire]

14 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

I'm sorry to hear all that and I hope that worst case scenario doesn't happen. (Are there any charities you could turn to?) The fact remains, though, that none of that - s***ty and unfair and unbearable as it may be - has any bearing on your innate and infinite human worth. You've obviously had a lifetime of being told otherwise and that's had the same effect it would have on anyone else. But just because people with a vested interest tell you something does not make it true, and just because something happened does NOT mean you deserve it or were responsible for it.

Your worth and your humanity are intact, and anyone who doesn't understand that has lost some of their own.
 

I grew up in the deep south, a Lakota child in an all white family. The only First Nations in the whole Parish (not counties). I was not allowed to associate with any First Nations. I don't think I need to say more.

Zintkála Nuni's story is my story. Not all Lost Birds find their way home.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Madelaine McMasters]

12 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

18 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

That I will die alone, and unloved, sucked finally into an existential void that confirms the meaninglessness of everything I've ever done or said.

That is a succinct (and more frightening) restatement of the fear that I voiced earlier today ^^  .  I hope that we are both wrong.

Do the two of you currently think that everything you've ever done or said has been meaningless? If you don't, what do you imagine happening between now and the end of your life to change your mind? If you do, what are you going to do about it?

If this is a fear that there's an afterlife in which the criteria for judging the value of a life are not what you expected, I have two potential salves:

1) Stop believing in an afterlife.
2) Believe in an afterlife in which you pass muster.

Oh, and I've another bit of salve. Both of you have done and said meaningful things. I just can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

And finally, silverfish are neat. They've evolved little over the last 400 million years, so they're doing something right. I've marveled at their ability to withstand my attempts to smoosh them when I was a child, they're speedy, they eat wallpaper paste out from under the wallpaper, and they can go a year without eating. I put them right up there with tardigrades.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

5 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Do the two of you currently think that everything you've ever done or said has been meaningless? If you don't, what do you imagine happening between now and the end of your life to change your mind? If you do, what are you going to do about it?

If this is a fear that there's an afterlife in which the criteria for judging the value of a life are not what you expected, I have two potential salves:

1) Stop believing in an afterlife.
2) Believe in an afterlife in which you pass muster.

Oh, and I've another bit of salve. Both of you have done and said meaningful things. I just can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

And finally, silverfish are neat. They've evolved little over the last 400 million years, so they're doing something right. I've marveled at their ability to withstand my attempts to smoosh them when I was a child, they're speedy, they eat wallpaper paste out from under the wallpaper, and they can go a year without eating. I put them right up there with tardigrades.

In spite of the great start and middle, I really struggled with liking this post after the last paragraph, especially after I went to the links!!!!  😲

[Amina Sopwith]

28 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I grew up in the deep south, a Lakota child in an all white family. The only First Nations in the whole Parish (not counties). I was not allowed to associate with any First Nations. I don't think I need to say more.

Zintkála Nuni's story is my story. Not all Lost Birds find their way home.

No, but this still doesn't negate their humanity, their worth and the people they will have touched. If anything, it might even strengthen it.

I can't say anything that will undo a lifetime of damage, but I can tell you something you obviously don't hear enough: I believe you and it wasn't your fault.

[Madelaine McMasters]

11 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

I really struggled with liking this post after the last paragraph, especially after I went to the links!!!!  😲

Yet you persevered, and liked the post!

Don't you feel like you accomplished something, Caerolle?

I know I do!

;-).

Edited August 5, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters

[Rolig Loon]

9 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Do the two of you currently think that everything you've ever done or said has been meaningless? If you don't, what do you imagine happening between now and the end of your life to change your mind? If you do, what are you going to do about it?

If this is a fear that there's an afterlife in which the criteria for judging the value of a life are not what you expected, I have two potential salves:

1) Stop believing in an afterlife.
2) Believe in an afterlife in which you pass muster.

Oh, and I've another bit of salve. Both of you have done and said meaningful things. I just can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

You are too young to have appreciated the wisdom of the 1970s, but I recommend taking a few valuable moments to digest two competing philosophical statements that were popular at the time >>> http://dmdb.org/lyrics/deteriorata.html .  Neither is necessarily close to the Truth, but both could be, if you accept them.  They are self-fulfilling views of the world.  Personally, I tend toward the first, except in my darkest moments.

I do not believe in an afterlife, or at least not one that involves pearly gates or a fiery pit. We have plenty of those right here.  I do believe, however, that I will still be "alive" as long as someone remembers me.  To that extent, I have accepted both of your salves.  The challenge, as I see it, is to live up to the second one.  Whether I have done it so far is not for me to judge.  Thank you for your stirring words of confidence.

You are wrong about silverfish, however.  They are disgusting little bugs, one step down the Icky Things ladder from centipedes, which are already pretty near the bottom.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

3 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Yet you persevered, and liked the post!

Don't you feel like you accomplished something, Caerolle?

I know I do!

;-).

NO! I feel traumatized!!!!!! OHHH!!! OHHH!! The humanity!!!!

(giggles)

[Selene Gregoire]

15 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

No, but this still doesn't negate their humanity, their worth and the people they will have touched. If anything, it might even strengthen it.

I can't say anything that will undo a lifetime of damage, but I can tell you something you obviously don't hear enough: I believe you and it wasn't your fault.

I'm not the one who needs to hear these things. It's the ones who do/did the damage that need to hear and listen. Too late now for most of them as they all died. Including the two worst.

[Amina Sopwith]

17 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I'm not the one who needs to hear these things. It's the ones who do/did the damage that need to hear and listen. Too late now for most of them as they all died. Including the two worst.

They're dead, I can't talk to them. I can talk to you. I believe you and it wasn't your fault.

I really, really hope that as a society and general species, we keep looking to the various human rights atrocities that have been committed all over the world and do all we can to prevent them from happening again.

[Talligurl]

I fear that the people in my life will figure out I am not as special as they think I am.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

12 minutes ago, Talligurl said:

I fear that the people in my life will figure out I am not as special as they think I am.

Sounds like that evil Imposter Syndrome many of us women suffer from.

I mean, you feel how you feel, but I really doubt this is going to happen. I would guess the people in your life know you pretty well and value you pretty accurately.

[Luna Bliss]

[wolfshanty]

 

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

11 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

EEEEKS!!!!!!!!

That's just not right, lol.

Ugh, though I do have to admit it is slightly cute in some ways. 😑

[Madelaine McMasters]

4 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

Ugh, though I do have to admit it is slightly cute in some ways. 😑

That's progress, Caerolle.

Luna and I are proud of you!

[Luna Bliss]

5 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

Ugh, though I do have to admit it is slightly cute in some ways. 😑

It is cute, especially far off in some body of water that I'll never visit.

Now silverfish, that's another matter. I was visiting San Francisco recently and awoke to one sitting on my chest, gleaming in the moonlight!!  I still haven't recovered..

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Luna and I are proud of you!

I'm sorry Maddy, I just can't go there with silverfish    

[Madelaine McMasters]

1 minute ago, Luna Bliss said:

I'm sorry Maddy, I just can't go there with silverfish    

...sets you on fire.

[Fritigern Gothly]

20 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Why would you fear a water bear? They are super tiny, nearly indestructible, and seem to play crucial roles in keeping our water clean!

[Madelaine McMasters]

50 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

Sounds like that evil Imposter Syndrome many of us women suffer from.

I mean, you feel how you feel, but I really doubt this is going to happen. I would guess the people in your life know you pretty well and value you pretty accurately. 

I think a little bit of Imposter Syndrome is probably a good thing, though there is also a place in this world for fearless incompetence.