Perspective

I didn’t know where else to put this but I felt like sharing.  If this helps even one person reading it then it’s worth it. 

Today I was scrolling through Reddit, reading through a subreddit unrelated to wetshaving when I read a comment I disagreed with.  For those unfamiliar with Reddit this is actually pretty common and happens at least one time every time I open up the app.  Sometimes if it only happens once it’s a miracle.  Now don’t get me wrong, not everyone has to agree with me and in fact if that were the case life would be pretty boring.  But to use a wetshaving example: if you keep reading advice given to new wetshavers that is either outright false or just really misinformed, it can start to grate on you; sometimes to the point where I’m left asking myself who even wrote this.  This is why I have a love/hate thing with Reddit and why I tell myself at least once a week that I’m done with it.  But I digress…

So I read something that didn’t sit right with me (again not related to wetshaving) and felt like investigating a little bit.  I wanted to see if this person frequented this particular subreddit to try to understand what was informing his opinion.  I clicked on his username to see where he was posting to and saw something I wasn’t ready for.  He had been posting to a subreddit that was a suicide support group.  His wife had recently taken her own life. 

I was taken aback. 

I couldn’t even remember what thing he said that got me to click on his account to begin with.  It seemed so totally unimportant now.  Everything seemed unimportant now. 

Why was I taking something so seriously?  Why would I take any hobby so seriously?  Why do I take wetshaving so seriously that it gets under my skin when I see some bad advice given?  I don’t know but I had the answer to a better question being asked.  The answer was that I shouldn’t take things like hobbies that seriously.  I shouldn’t take myself so seriously that I feel obligated to correct random people I read on the internet. 

I don’t really know how to finish this.  It gave me perspective of what was really important.  You guy’s are fun and all but this hobby isn’t important, not in the grand scheme of things.  I would give it all up in a second to bring a loved one back. 

Anyway, hug and kiss your loved ones and tell them you love them because you never what’s going to happen in life.

I have had these same "wake up" moments. It helped me slow down and think that just as everyone has NO idea what is going on in my personal life, I have NO idea what is going on in theirs. Nice post for perspective !

Amen brother.

Well, I guess that I have to disagree. Hobbies are fun, and nobody needs to share their hobby with anyone else. I have done a lot of wood working in my life, built most of the furniture I have used over the years and built a boat when I was young. I never felt the need to "share" that hobby with anyone. There was a lot of information available about woodworking without needing to go to a forum, or anything like that (hardware stores and even woodworking shops had lots of info available). Wet shaving is a little different because for many years, it was almost a lost art, especially straight razor shaving. There really wasn't anyplace to go except the Internet.

I like kicking ideas around, and I like it when someone disagrees with me and can explain why I am wrong. It doesn't upset me, nor does it make me "mad" when someone says something i disagree with. I am not here for affirmation, I am here to learn, and if I can to help. I don't see any reason for anyone to be mad about someone else's opinion-ever.

I don't see where it has anything to do with whether or not a subject is "important" or merely a hobby. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it is uninformed, wrong, etc. and nobody should get upset about disagreements as long as they don't get personal or ad homenin.

If you are getting upset about someone's comments in a hobby forum, it doesn't have anything to do with the topic being important or unimportant, that person being suicidal, part of a support group or anything else. I will leave it at that.