584th Friday Blog Roundup
The ChickieNob gave me an excellent “would you rather” that I now turn over to you: Would you rather accidentally destroy the Mona Lisa and not serve time (since it was a bone-headed accident) but everyone in the world who cares about the Mona Lisa would hate you, or would you rather serve 60 years in jail for an unrelated reason but everyone would support you through that jail time?
Out and about but despised? Or behind bars and loved? It’s a tough call. Tell me what you’d do, and I’ll tell you my answer.
Updated: I don’t think people are considering the magnitude of the question. You’d be out and about, BUT no one would be on your side. Your family would hate you. You would have no support system. It would be difficult to get work or find a place to live. I ultimately decided against jail, but she made me think long and hard about what it would be like to essentially be in a jail-like situation without being in jail.
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I know talking about dreams is one of the most boring things in the world to everyone but the dreamer, so feel free to skip this section. But Wednesday night, I had a dream that we were having dinner guests, and as the meal started, I brought Truman into the kitchen and set him in the salad bowl. I hadn’t ribboned the lettuce, so he was able to dive underneath these full leaves of lettuce and start eating his way up from the bottom of the bowl.
Our dinner guests were horrified, but I kept saying, “Isn’t it so cute? He has a piece of lettuce on his head.” And they would counter, “You are eating food that is covered in guinea pig urine.”
I just want to state for the record that I would not eat a salad that Truman had peed on. But I kinda sorta would buy him his own salad bowl and let him eat dinner with us that way.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “Middle School” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Catwoman73, Charlotte, and Infertile Girl
- “The Risk of ‘Someday When’” (Emily Long)
- “Top Ten Reasons Why This Infertility Survivor is Not Intimidated By Menopause” (Infertilityhonesty)
- “Walking (Imperfectly) In Her Shoes – 2016” (Pastpresentfuture)
- “All the Ways to Wait” (My Path to Mommyhood)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Riding the IVF Roller Coaster has a moving post about the continual realization of “never again.” She says it perfectly: “As much as I hated the stupid IVF torture, I miss the microscopic bit of hope that comes with it.” It’s a tiny post that packs a punch.
Much Ado About Nothing has a post about her own fertility juxtaposed against her daughter’s reproductive health. She explains, “It is a really weird place to be, having a child old enough to have the same hormone imbalances as me, and seeing doctors to straighten them out for two totally different reasons … So lots of wonky hormones in my house right now.” The post was food for thought for anyone parenting after infertility, and wondering (if you built your family through sex or fertility treatments) if you’ve passed along the same problems.
Lastly, A+ Effort’s post about the Jungle Cruise is brilliant, and I really hope that Disney listens up when it comes to that ride. It’s amazing that this post even needs to be written; that Disney didn’t take steps to fix this ride before being asked. She writes: “Make Disney not just safe for kids’ bodies but good for their souls.” I’d add to that, make Disney safe for all of our souls: adults and kids, alike. No one needs to know they participated in dulling someone else’s sparkle.
The roundup to the Roundup: Would you rather: Mona Lisa or jail? Truman salad bowl. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between February 19th and 26th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
21 comments
Out and about and despised, especially as people forget so quickly. It would be intensely awful for a little while, but then for the most part I could get on with things.
I think Truman having a salad bowl as his place at dinner sounds fabulous. I may not share the salad with him, but I’d certainly share the table and listen when he told the table how his day had been.
That’s a good would-you-rather ChickieNob! I would rather be free and have everyone hate me. Because life in jail is no life at all, really.
I could totally picture Truman at your dinner table in his salad bowl seat. If you ever do that pictures are a must!!
Thank you for the shout out! That made my day?
I don’t think I could live in jail at all, I would lose my mind. So I would be free and despised. And hope people had a short attention span, as commenter above astutely pointed out, lol. Caroline’s “stop asking why” post resonated this week. http://in-due-time.com/faith/stop-asking-why/
Freedom every time. People’s opinions are so transient and (apart from a few close friends and family) so irrelevant.
Definitely out and despised. People forget things quickly- especially things that don’t really affect them on a daily basis. Even if people didn’t forget- I like being alone, and would use the situation to move to a quiet cabin in the woods (which, is a dream of mine anyway, so it’s not exactly a hardship!).
Free for sure…I don’t worry much about being well-liked. Also, people are surprisingly forgiving.
You should totally get Truman his own bowl of salad, so he can join you at dinner.
The thing is, many works of art have been seriously damaged accidentally, just no one knows it. The Mona Lisa included, which had a small tear in it when moved decades ago. Paintings can be repaired, lives cannot. No person has ever been imprisoned for hurting art accidentally.
I would never want to be in prison, no matter how loved I was. I would miss my children growing up.
They are both a sort of hell.
One is to be the worst sort of alone: to be abandoned by people who are supposed to love you. This sort of alone calls in to question all the pillars life is built on: love and friendship and belonging and a sense of self. The other is to lose your freedom and be subjected to the whims of people who will treat you terribly. (I think about the fact that the prisoners in Flint, MI were lied to about the lead in the water and forced to drink the water and eat food cooked in it.)
Freedom. But it’s a very difficult sort of free.
*I should have said MAY treat you terribly. When to edit it and hit send. Argh.
As someone who has spent 23 days in jail I can tell you, I would rather be free outside and have people hate me than spend 60 years locked up.
I would say freedom, i am a very forgiving person so i would think most of my family and friends are too 🙂
So I’m going to be the odd duck and tell you that my gut reaction was to take the jail time. Which should say a lot about how poorly I do with people being unhappy with me. Even if I know they’ll eventually forget. That said, upon calming down and given that I’ve been watching “Making a Murderer,” I’d also prefer freedom. Being ostracized is terrible (and can drive people to suicide), but it’s harder to live for others than it is to live for yourself.
And I vote Truman gets a head of lettuce to occupy.
Even with the update, I have to say I’d pick jail-like over jail. Even though, as others say, it would be hell either way.
So funny about your dream. Just yesterday, I had an email asking for posts about people and their pets. This would fit perfectly!
interesting assumption that many people would care about the Mona Lisa, enough to make a difference in the world.
Then again, enough people seem to care about certain cartoons to hate and make life miserable.
(Dear ChickieNob, I do hope you do not worry about people not liking you. There are always more people in the world than in your class/year/group/work/community. There are nice people out there. you just have to find them)
I’m definitely going with out and about and here’s the key because you said “everyone who cares about the Mona Lisa would hate you.” I can safely say that the people I’m close to wouldn’t care one iota. And I always have my furbaby.
Thank you!
And I think I’d rather be in jail in this scenario. What did you and ChickieNob pick?
I would be lying if I said that I did not care about what people thought of me, and I would also want my freedom.
I guess, I will be the convict on parole. 🙂
Both of my brothers spent time in prisons and from their conversations it is no place I can or want to be. That said, I don’t know if I can be out and about and have folks openly disdain me. . .
That would be a most painful existence.
While I realize not every husband will act or respond this way, it does help me with understanding mine. It’s not a “get out of jail” card but it does help me realize that sometimes, he just can’t process all of the emotions that come with infertility.
https://waitingforbabybird.com/2016/02/24/men-are-like-waffles/
Would you rather is my least favorite game. In this one I’d say jail time. I don’t think I could function with everyone hating me. But 60 years???? Really??? ugh.
Love the picture of Truman frolicking in a bowl of lettuce
I would pick jail time. Only because I read Monica Lewinsky’s story and it’s just… heartbreaking. I couldn’t live like that. No way.