People are socialized to believe the “biggest loser is someone who stays in a bad relationship.” This is why we have judges, prosecutors, and jurors; because people are taught to believe this. I am not going to claim I have the answer, but I do believe we have a grave flaw in our socialization — one that is easily visible to those who are observant.
Just the other night, I was talking with a friend. We were talking about all the scari stuff going on in the world right now. The pandemic, the COVID-19, the wildfires, the Superstorm Sandy. The news made us feel very sad and scared. But, we were not thinking about the future. We were not thinking about how we can protect each other, how we can survive this situation, and how we can deal with it.
Why do we care so much about the past? I believe it is because, at a base level, we feel the past shaped who we are. And the past is going to be the past forever, so why bother remembering it? Why bother creating an image of who we want to be?
Because an image is all we have to go by to form an opinion of ourselves, of others, and of everything.
Why do we value someone over everything else?