You, the Grandparent
A recurring theme in self-help things is to perform thought experiments around time-shifts of the self, or shape-shift to become another person, to determine a current plan of action. You know, things like “How would your older self feel about it?” (aka regret minimization); “What advice would you give to your younger self on this”; “How would you guide your best friend (or your child) in this situation”? And so on.
I recently wondered if there is another variant of this that we could introduce — What actions of your grandparent/parent are you not pleased about now? On similar lines — What actions of yours might embarrass your children/grand children in the future? I acknowledge that a lot of these change with culture (the universal one replacing all local ones) and the milieu in which we operate (sudden change to how homosexuality is treated). Still, I suspect this thought exercise would lead you to something.
For example, we know Gandhi felt Africans were inferior at one point, but there would have been a tiny skepticism in his mind, which is why he could change his opinion later. Similarly, the slave owning founding fathers of the US may have considered a possibility that it was wrong, but didn’t get to live long enough for their behavior to change.
It need not be at a macro-level on the society. Even within your family, if your grandparents knew then that you would be embarrassed later, they may start saying “Sorry” more regularly, instead of indulging in semi-toxic behavior. Well, many parents of the past, to whom children were farm or domestic children, may now feel embarrassed about it, and may consider them pets. Or, if they know that their descendants would struggle for money, they may change their spending habits, and leave some inheritance.
Therefore, dear reader, the exercise for you is to figure what part of your behavior might embarrass you in the future, or more critically, embarrass or cause trouble to your descendants, and change them. They say New Year is a good time to do that.
