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Comment by keyle | Hacker News Reader

Never let a bad decision get in the way of a good story.

I'm always thinking about "Create vs. Consume" => make sure it's at least 50-50, aim for 80-20. Most men I've met on death beds regretted doing nothing.

Do I truly understand a problem space or am I just making a water-cooler level of abstraction? Dig deep, down the bolts, or shut up.

Are the kids happy? is the wife happy? Then I'm happy. People remember you by how you made them feel.

And this last one is controversial, even within me: prayers are not lost to the woods.

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> prayers are not lost to the woods.

I'm what you'd describe as a weak agnostic.

Over the last few years I've heard some abstract arguments that "prayer" and "god" might be some very old, emergent ideas of early humanity's ability to bargain with the future.

I'm still not completely clear on it, and I still don't pray, but it's in the back of my mind.

What are your thoughts on "prayers are not lost to the woods"?

It's a tough topic to talk about, because I'm not religious myself although I was baptised and went through the motions of a young kid, going to church even through school.

That said my grandfather told me once this saying, and that shocked me to this day as it appears to be valid to me, and he was the most atheist person I've ever known.

One day I was very sad, very very distraught. And I prayed in tears, on my knees, and it somehow materialised. Again I'm not religious, I was lost, powerless and did the last thing I could possibly do. And I think it invoked a certain calm and focus which allowed me to follow through opportunities that led me out of the woods.

Like any beliefs in life, YMMV. But that stuck with me, your prayers don't get lost to the woods.

What a lovely personal anecdote. Thank you for sharing.

How many men on death beds have you met?

A few in my family sadly, and some friends. There is a certain clarity people have when their days are counted. I wish most us had such clarity. We'd get straight to the point.

Interestingly, sometimes if you're the creative type you can get so consumed in creating that you end up not consuming enough of the real world. I sometimes get so wrapped up in projects that I end up not doing things I wish I'd done, like traveling or socializing. A balance is always good.

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