Reply #176: One chooses the narrative they will have for their life.

[TexasObserver]

If I wanted to paint a picture of a harsh life and deprivations, I could pick and choose and do so with my life. Try knowing dozens of young men who served with you, who died in a terrible war that you and they thought was right when you joined up.

Will you let those events dominate your life when you return, or will you become the guy who never lets that go? Will you have an irrational and consuming hatred for Asians, or will you recognize that other men who had families and only wanted what is best for them killed some of your friends, maybe heinously, because you were wrong to be there?

Do you use your experience to make better ones for the family you build, or do you become the star of your neverending tragedy? Do you carry bitterness, or do you find joy at what you have now?

People who cannot let go of past bitterness will always be afflicted by it, and they usually take it out on completely innocent people, who had nothing to do with whatever torments them.