Where should this story go

Question

I wrote this awhile ago without having a real plan. So any ideas could be usefull. just list ideas or even write a couple of sentances again anything can help. this could go in any direction it is purely up to your imagination.

thanx

 

            There are moments in everyone’s life of extreme importance, moments that will define everything after them. In these moments are decisions, choices that are so dire we would spend weeks mulling them over analyzing every angle, but we are not given ample opportunity to make these decisions, time does not seem to slow there are no flashes of clarity that reveal the correct path, in fact these moments come without us knowing. Time only travels in one direction, and one speed. It never slows, and there is no turning it back.

            

Comments

I had a flash last night sort of an epiphany, I can apply this to a story i've been working on for a long time, this fits perfectly the only problem is I don't know what each character's choice would consist of.

so Im Changing the Challenge, Can I do that? Well Its my challenge so I will.

I assume there are varying ages of contributors on here, my characters are all in one family at different points in their lives. So im asking what was your hardest decision in these five stages of your life?

Freshman Highschool
Freshman/Sophomore College
Senior College
Graduate School
Empty Nest

Answer 1

These moments are defined by the emotional impact they have on the individual.

Being fired from a job would have little impact on a tribal native.  And extreme emotional impact on a Wall Street executive.

A divorce presents a quandary.  One can either gather determination to fix the problem or walk away in search of another emotional bond.

People are put to shame in some countries over things that just get a slap on the wrist in our culture.

Just a few ideas on defining moments in everyone’s life of extreme importance .

Answer 2

My view is very different. The great events are usually known and acted upon directly. The most important events in one’s life are usually trivial and unremembered. It is the long chain of events that follow on that leads to the greater ones that are remembered. How often in hind sight do you and think “if it were not for.....”.   The day you left home late, just a few minutes, missed a bus and the chain of minor, unremembered and very insignificant little things that years later caused something to happen. Sometimes you are merely a messenger for others in the great game, with years of  life events because you need to be at a particular place on a particular day for another person. Even this may be a single word, but it is why you had to be there.

Comments

Your view isn't that different, saxon.  It just encompasses a longer time frame.  Every significant event is the culmination of lesser events leading up to it.  If I leave my house in the rain and turn right at the curb and meet a girl at the bus stop and share my umbrella, that's fortunate timing.  If I turn left and go to the other bus stop, she is already seated and we barely acknowlge each other.  If I wait 15 minutes for the rain to stop before leaving, I could witness a beautiful rainbow that will sweeten my mood for the rest of the day.  And that happiness will alter many other events.

And maybe the significant event (the divorce or getting fired) is the best thing that ever happened to that individual.  It's all a big chain reaction driven by free will.

Answer 3

And leo,  maybe it is possible to reverse the flow of time through our memories of it.  If I remember a gruesome situation that makes me shudder every time I think of it,  I'm free to change my attitude about it.  Rather than feeling dread, I can imagine myself as joining a club with others with similar experiences - and we're all 'high-fiving' each other.  That thought just changed your past.

Comments

I like it! as if our own memories shape the truth, what we perceive as current unchangeable events will be eventually colored by our own biased memories of them.

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I like this very much, giraffe.  C.S. Lewis said we can achieve retroactive salvation.  Same thing.  I had a wise, kind old horse who was my companion as a girl, then when I became a teenager I neglected him.  Now he is long in the ground, and sometimes I pray comfort to him in his lonely old age.  Pretty sure you can pray across time.  Forward and back.

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I like that CS Lewis guy.  I think of it as humility and self-forgiveness.  I was a rotten teenager.  My parents had both died and I threw myself a long pity party.  Some of the things I did were hurtful to others (I jilted my girlfriend rudely among other things).  I was a brat and I've learned to forgive myself for that.  Every once in a while I remember another stupid thing I did and process it.

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You can look at it this way: Every experience we go through changes us. Some of these experiences can be negative (or, rather, perceived as negative), but in the overall scheme of things they could, in fact, have a positive impact. For example - you might, as a child, accidentally or out of curiosity kill a small animal. That even could trigger an emotional reaction (perhaps even later, as you grow up and remember what you did) and that reaction changes you. Perhaps you then learn to respect life much more and end up saving the life of one or many others. Because of that one event that you could not forgive yourself for, you are actually a far better person than you would be if you hadn't done that.
I have had a similar experience, where I ended up hurting a friend and braking all my promises. I went through everything in my head countless times, thinking what I'd done differently, until I realized that with the information I had at the time, I didn't make any mistakes. However, the whole experience gave me a whole new set of information that I can use in the future to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again.
I love the term "retroactive salvation". It does describe the process and that feeling when you finally let go of the burden. You still carry it around with you, but it's no longer weighing you down, it might actually be propping you up.
There is a story I heard that inspired me greatly and I love to share it whenever I have the opportunity. (You'll forgive the long comment, but hopefully it's worth the read.) The story is actually a hindu belief that people's "souls", after the bodies die, go to a common place, where they all gather to wait for their next life. These "souls" seek perfection and they continuously want to improve themselves to achieve it. So, one of those souls perhaps wishes to learn patience, or caring, or something as simple as better vocal skills. And there could be another soul that says "I can teach you that." So they agree to meet in the other life. You, of course, have no recollection of what your "soul" did or agreed upon before this lifetime. But, one of those experiences, like a person you hurt or an animal you neglected, could be the soul that offered to help you. So, you see, even if it seems to you like you did something horrible, perhaps it was all part of the plan that was designed to make you more perfect. And all you really need to do is take the knowledge of that experience and incorporate it into your self. Sometimes, the other soul can say "Yes, I can help you. But, I only have a few months to spare, and then I have an 'appointment' in another life." And you say "Okay, I'll take what I can get." And you start your new life, go to school, get a job, get married, whatever else you're supposed to do in life. And you get a child. And that child is the most wonderful thing that happened to you and you love it with all your heart and it changes you and then - it dies. But, you see, it's okay. Because, that was the soul that was supposed to help you achieve something and all it could give you were those few months. And when it did its purpose it had to go on to other things. And you feel a horrible loss, but instead you should feel the immense gain and the privilege that you got to spend those few months with someone that taught you so much.
I learned to apply that story, or explanation, to all the situations in my life that cause a strong emotional reaction, whether it be some insignificant irritation at how I always come across "that sort of people" or deep sadness over and event. When I look at it from the perspective that my "soul" had planned it all out in order to make me a better person, I gain a positive look on it, a release, a new motivation.
The trick, of course, is applying it right.  See, with my friend, I kept telling myself that it's okay because I was supposed to be in his life until I taught him something that he needed and that I'd simply played my part. It made me feel a little better, but the weight wasn't quite off. Then I realized I was looking at it all wrong. It wasn't me that was there for him, it was him who was supposed to teach me something. And when I got the knowledge I needed, it was time for us to part ways. When I finally figured that out, I was able to let go. And to this day, I am forever grateful to him for the experience and for the sacrifice he made. I can only hope that the personal growth was somehow mutual and that he came out of it with more than a broken heart.
I apologize once again for babbling for so long. Hopefully it changes someone's life as much as it did mine.

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That's mostly how I think too, Spots.  A child can live with it's chosen family for a very short time to somehow wake them up spiritually and help them create a true bond.  That's done out of love.  After a number of lifetimes being rich and pampered royalty, one would beg God for the oportunity to be a poor guy in the Bronx who gets in a lot of fights and gets laid a lot.  That would help to round out his character the way another life of richness couldn't touch.

Given the same circumstances you had to deal with when you treated someone badly, you would probably do the same thing.  Good post.

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Beautiful.  That is how I see it too, as you both have said so well.  And in the end what matters is forgiveness,  and kindness.

Answer 4

The world presents us with choices.  Sometimes those choices come at us slowly, and we have time to reflect and deliberate.  Sometimes the choices come at us with blinding speed, and unanticipated.  These are the times when we make gut choices.  For better or for worse.  Like the Lord's Prayer says, "Save us from the hard testing."  This is one kind of hard testing, and sometimes looking back we can see that the snap decision was made wrongly, with terrible consequences, because of a relatively minor flaw in our character.  If we had time to think we would have known better, but the speed of the choice caught us off-guard and revealed our lesser selves.  Seeing this, we can also go way way back and see how we made profoundly important choices when we were mere infants, like all children innocent in understanding but not innocent in motivation -- and sometimes we spend the rest of our lives experiencing the consequences of those childhood choices.  Thus does the universe grow wise.

Comments

Annie,  this reminds me of snap judgements made to go to war (for example).  The undeliberated desision of one guy can strongly affect millions of others in the age-old killing game.  But that guy is also a product of the choices presented to him through his whole life.  Maybe larger numbers are wising up to it and the universe will grow in a different direction.

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I was thinking more personal, and really fast -- like being a good person but a bit vain, and in an earthquake stopping to grab your wig before running outdoors, or before running to save your child.  More commonly, driving a car can present such emergency choices.  Another example: spotting someone we know --perhaps someone we have wronged -- in a moving crowd can present a flash choice as well -- we must decide in an instant whether to duck away or reach out.