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Does this make me a bad person? (discuss.online)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

42 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve done alot of mischievous and unkind things throughout my education time (k-12) I made fun of people, bullied people, stole from people/stores, hit people, kicked people, did things to annoy people, and just overall did stupid shit to cause problems all because it either felt cool or because I thought it was funny. Some of these were things I did because my friends did them, but some were just me being stupid on my own. I am now 21 and recently I have thought about all of this and feel awful about the things I’ve done because I know it has affected people. I wish I could go back and have never done any of it. Is something wrong with me? Am I a bad person?

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago

You stopped being a bad person when you grew sufficient empathy to feel bad about what you did.

But your debt is not paid.

Consider the bad person you no longer are as though they were a dependent in your charge. Everything they did is, rightly, an embarrassment of who you presently are.

You will continue to be a good person as long as you work to make up for the things that your past self did.

Not out of guilt, though:
Out of gratitude that you're no longer that person.