Comment by vintermann
3 hours ago
I also feel like they don't understand what self-destructive impulses are. Forgetting your wallet on your car and driving away? Seriously?
I think it's better captured by this line from a Tunng song:
When I see land you will conjure up a storm
They clearly haven't seen self-sabotage in action if they think forgetting your wallet is it! Think more throwing away a long term relationship whose stability you've longed for all your life, or getting drunk on the day of your bar exam.
I think about that article of the travel-blogger who admired Anthony Bourdain and her experience with self-sabotage. Partying out late at night in a sketchy unfamiliar country. Letting herself head home alone at 3 AM with her senses impaired just from a sense of not-caring clearly bordering on severe negligence. I've brushed on some thoughts the same and it's nothing like forgetting my wallet or keys, sometimes you're aware with what you're gambling and just don't really care about the outcome.
Her personal example was odd, but there are many other valid examples of destructive impulses cited by her (and Poe) in the essay