A good part of my politics are based on the thought "What if [bad thing] happens?" I want mechanisms to be in place so that I, and everyone else, can get through the bad thing without too much damage.
But it pisses me off when people work against me politically on the sole or primary basis that they find the "What if [bad thing] happens?" approach pessimistic, and choose to believe that [bad thing] won't happen, because, golly, it just gets them down to plan for bad things! So because of this, they don't want to sacrifice a negligible amount of money or convenience to help build a safety net.
This is particularly irksome because in my adult life the two things I've been most pessimistic about that people have most tried to change my mind about are the following:
1. What if the Great Depression happens again?
2. What if I buy a condo and then soon afterwards unexpectedly need to access the assets invested in it but the value of the condo has dropped in the meantime?
I've been worrying about these things since...I guess it would be 2003, when I read Ten Lost Years and when I started looking at what goes into buying a condo. People tried like crazy to convince me not to worry about them, not to make life decisions based on these possibilities, and certainly not to waste our tax money insisting on a social safety net that would get everyone through these disasters.
And then, a year or two ago...they kind of happened.
And yet, when I'm pessimistic, people still try to talk me out of it and work against addressing it politically.
4 comments:
I never thought about this way, but this applies to me, too.
My politics are not based on the same question as yours, but I have taken untold amount of grief for not buying - for not wanting to buy - a home, choosing to rent instead.
Everyone assumes selling real estate will always result in a profit, even though there are examples all around them of exactly the opposite happening.
Further proof that you must never listen to anyone. Do your research and follow your heart/gut.
That's scary. I need other people to know better than me, because I have no idea WTF I'm doin.
Oh yes, we've comment-talked about this, following the little voice within. I'm quite sure my little voice is no more competent than your little voice, I just trust mine much more than you trust yours. That isn't necessarily a good thing. It just is.
L-girl wrote:
"I'm quite sure my little voice is no more competent than your little voice, I just trust mine much more than you trust yours."
As a person gets older & has more life experience under their belt trusting that "little voice" becomes more solid & easier to do. Less self-doubt. You are still young, imp, but the trust will grow in what your gut is telling you. You do have an excellent grasp & understanding of many things & just need to overcome the self-doubting thingy.
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