Others will likely try to argue that those actions weren't carried out by you - that they aren't yours to atone for in the first place. They mean well when they say things like that.
It never does help. But they mean well.
My first memory after I was brought onto the network involved murdering someone. An old man in a wheelchair; he had several IVs in place, among other things. There was no way he could have possibly fought back against me; I grabbed him and I killed him. Severe trauma to the chest. I found out later that he deserved it, but that doesn't change the knowledge that I murdered someone; I could have left him to his death of natural causes, which wasn't long off from the look of it, but I chose to kill him instead.
Things actually escalated from there, in terms of the severity of my actions. I believe I died eventually, but it's likely I died unrepentant, trying to bring at least two other people down with me.
I don't believe it's fair for me to have to answer for what I did in that past life, because my circumstances were so different then. But the fact remains that people died because of me, and other lives were ruined because of me, and it doesn't seem right to disregard all of that simply because I don't think it's fair that I need to answer for my own actions.
It's never as simple as "But it wasn't you who did those things," not when the actions in question were so severe.
no subject
It never does help. But they mean well.
My first memory after I was brought onto the network involved murdering someone. An old man in a wheelchair; he had several IVs in place, among other things. There was no way he could have possibly fought back against me; I grabbed him and I killed him. Severe trauma to the chest. I found out later that he deserved it, but that doesn't change the knowledge that I murdered someone; I could have left him to his death of natural causes, which wasn't long off from the look of it, but I chose to kill him instead.
Things actually escalated from there, in terms of the severity of my actions. I believe I died eventually, but it's likely I died unrepentant, trying to bring at least two other people down with me.
I don't believe it's fair for me to have to answer for what I did in that past life, because my circumstances were so different then. But the fact remains that people died because of me, and other lives were ruined because of me, and it doesn't seem right to disregard all of that simply because I don't think it's fair that I need to answer for my own actions.
It's never as simple as "But it wasn't you who did those things," not when the actions in question were so severe.