4 ms·
I regret very few things in life, but here is one that nags me with particular poignancy. Back in the day, I was a poor college student in a third-world country
by dsign 3y ago
I regret very few things in life, but here is one that nags me with particular poignancy. Back in the day, I was a poor college student in a third-world country, and I was traveling from college to visit my parents. Public transport didn't and doesn't work in said third-world country, so I went to the highway to try to catch a ride. There were many college students standing by the highway, and at 2:00 AM in the night, I was still there. I left that place at 9:00 AM the next day, when a guy in a wore-down moskvich picked me up. Long story short, a few hundred kilometers later, he made a stop to take a piss, and then he wanted me to ...well, you guessed it. I ran away. It was okay for me to run away, I know. But the thing that bothers me so badly to this day is that I ran away because I was a cynic, and assumed that the guy wanted something ill from me. Truth is, I would have enjoyed giving that guy what he wanted, it's in my nature, and he well deserved it. Now, instead of a spicy memory, I have a cautionary tale about a cynic college student.
While I would not "deify" Jobs in anyway, I try to live by the following:
- Humans have achieved a lot of things. Despite our faults, we are a wonderful species.
- By the above, I shall not be a cynic, and I will believe more easily that a person is good or does something good than the opposite, i.e. that a person is acting in self-interest and in my detriment.
- I will try to do things in life that benefit others, by whichever stick I decide to measure that benefit.
- vhiremath4 3y agoTo be clear, you're talking about a guy wanting you to exchange a sexual favor for him giving you a ride right? Or am I totally misreading this? If that's the case, I wouldn't classify you running away as you being cynical. You might have just wanted to not play the odds of getting into a situation that could have escalated into physical coercion. That's very sensible. Or are you saying you were actually attracted to said guy and you'd be ok with it? Then your story makes sense, but it's still an odd one to pick given how extreme most people would say it is. To be honest, I'm very confused by this comment. I love Hacker News lol.
- zht 3y agoThis is crazy. Did you establish up front that you were exchanging sexual services for a ride? Did you give any cues or indication that it’s what you wanted? If not, this guy is going around picking up hitchhikers, and potentially giving them the option of being stranded in a third world country or giving him sexual services. And your major regret is that you didn’t give him what he wanted? He could have killed you or given you a disease.
- zingababba 3y agoBeautiful
- ohthatsnotright 3y agoIt is the rule of the road[1], you know. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diFDBNNmnnU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diFDBNNmnnU