Seth Milliken

absolutes [Permalink]

Sat Mar 01 00:09:00 PST 2008

Most people I know well already know these things about me, but I realized that I haven't collected them all into one place and commented on them as a collection. And maybe I'll surprise someone who thought that they knew me. Here is a list of things that I am confident that I will absolutely never do voluntarily, however many days longer I live: drink alcohol, smoke, take drugs recreationally, get a tattoo, get a piercing, believe in God, have children, deliberately harm myself, or chew gum. And when in doubt, I will always choose left. All of these are purely personal decisions I have made for myself. I do not pass judgement on those who have decided differently for themselves; all of my life experience has convinced me of the impossibility of any sort of practical objective universal morality. Some of my choices are an indirect response to the self-righteous who might insist otherwise, some are almost completely arbitrary, some are simply promises I will never break. I find it edifying to maintain a diverse set of dictums to which I am utterly committed, but which have radically different motivations. Now if only I could apply the same stubbornness and certainty to other, more immediate, aspects of my life.