4 ms·
>> if you question any candid person who is no longer young, he is very likely to tell you that, having tasted life in this world, he has no wish to begin again
by Kluny 10y ago
>> if you question any candid person who is no longer young, he is very likely to tell you that, having tasted life in this world, he has no wish to begin again as a 'new boy' in another.
> The tone suggests that old people have "had enough" of this disappointing world, but I'll suggest a different view.
I read it differently - not that the older person has had enough, but rather that they count their experience so valuable that they don't want to start again without it. At the age of 27, I definitely don't want to relive the trauma I went through in my teens and early twenties as I learned to navigate relationships and look after my wellbeing. I'd love to have a young body forever, but that experience is worth a lot.
- vacri 10y agoI have a similar position re: youth traumas, plus another angle. I love being a sysadmin, but at 43 it took a long time to get here - I started out doing neuroscience, worked as a neuroscientist for a while, went to work support at a related equipment supplier, moved into testing, and eventually ended up as sysadmin a few jobs down the road. If I had started out my career in the tech world, I would have had a more enjoyable career path and a much bigger bank balance, but I also wouldn't have my well-rounded experiences. I like that I started out in biology, and I see a pragmatism about life in biologists that I don't see anywhere else (and particularly not in tech). In short, I don't know who I'd be if I started over afresh, and I genuinely don't know whether I'd be better or worse off (or even value the same things)