[156] ~CONTEMPLATION~ // Voice.

[stopthat_destro]

At what point can you turn your back on your crimes?  When they become absorbed into "the past" and aren't a matter for public circulation anymore?  I don't mean "how long does it take for the entire Barge to forget a crime so I don't have to actually seek forgiveness."  What I mean is. [He pauses, trying to articulate his thoughts more precisely,

Comments

[ourlastbesthope]

I don't know if you can turn your back on anything you've done. But the point of the barge is not to forget and move on. It's to take those mistakes and realize why they were mistakes, other than "you got caught." And then keep going.

[stopthat_destro]

But that's what I'm talking about. I didn't say I wanted it forgotten so I could do it all over again. I want to know when we earn the right to move beyond our mistakes without having our noses rubbed in it like nothing we do after matters.

[ourlastbesthope]

Well, I'd think that you'd have it now. But being on the barge means that you have to face the people you've wronged, who still have feelings about it. Assuming you're talking about crimes committed here, though. [Wait.] Is that what you're referring to?

That's a problem I don't know the answer to. [Seconding that ~emotions are hard.~]

[stopthat_destro]

Either, really. The latter's more likely to be an issue, since most everything else is confidential.

Mm. I guess it's just human nature.

[ourlastbesthope]

Not all humans. But it's easy for most to hold grudges.

But, in theory, you should be able to move past it. What people hold onto can't be changed, really.

[stopthat_destro]

Oh, I can understand holding a grudge when an act's been committed against you, yourself. But that's not always the case.

And when they use it to turn other people against you, it suddenly becomes more difficult to avoid.

[ourlastbesthope]

...

Yeah. It does. That sounds like a mess.

[stopthat_destro]

It's irritating.

[ourlastbesthope]

What's happened?

[stopthat_destro]

Just a minor incident. It's been resolved, but it got me thinking.

[Private]
Basically, somebody I'd always been civil to started treating me like I was a freak once somebody else told him I "control minds."

Private

[ourlastbesthope]

Controlling minds isn't exactly what I would call freakish behavior here. But I understand your dilemma a bit more now.

Private

[stopthat_destro]

Not to mention it's an overly simplistic description of my technology.

Private

[ourlastbesthope]

The nanomites, right? [He remembers science.]

It's not uncommon for people to pick out the worst of what we do and twist it into something else. Like...mind control, in your case.

Private

[stopthat_destro]

Yes, the nanomites.

Especially when it comes to science. People fear it so much more than magic.

Private

[ourlastbesthope]

They do. I've never really understood why, except that science can sometimes seem like magic.

Private

[stopthat_destro]

I guess it's easier for people who fear science to accept powers that are "higher" and out of their hands, simply because it absolves them of learning and taking control for themselves. The same mentality that drives people to religion. [Lol smug atheist 101 here]