Hi everyone,
Many moons ago, I wrote a post introducing one of my truly clever ideas – the fortune cookie power ratings. In that post, I essentially expressed the following Talking Points:
1. I’ve always liked reading the fortunes.
2. I liked having reminders of home.
3. Not all fortunes made sense.
4. I’d recently noticed a subtext of ‘Confucius say’ racism in certain fortunes.
5. It might be fun for me to occasionally come on TOA and decide if recent fortunes were True, False, or Racist (a concept I cooked up in this ancient post).
At the time I did honestly think I would make this a regular TOA feature. However, looking back I realized that I should have placed greater emphasis on:
6. I rarely get Chinese takeout.
The reality of #6 meant I’ve basically gone all this time without acquiring any fortunes to analyze through my venerated TFR algorithm. Oops…
A couple of weeks ago, a solution emerged for my problem. For some still unexplained reason, an entire box of fortune cookies appeared in one of the communal kitchens at work. I ate a cookie or two and tucked the fortunes alongside those I’ve always stored in my wallet. At this point, I realized – oh yeah, I’ve always had this weird habit of tucking fortunes into my wallet. As I counted out the twenty or so slips of paper, I realized once again… oops…
I’ve thought about this for a few days and I’ve decided that I have far too many fortunes in my wallet. After all, if I didn't think about them when I needed fortunes to analyze, when will I ever think about them? It's time to cut down. So, over a few upcoming posts I’ll do a little spring cleaning on my wallet’s stash of fortunes and see if I can’t bring the number down to a more reasonable total. I’ll consider what the fortune means, run it through the TFR algorithm, and decide if it’s worth keeping in my wallet.
For today, let’s finish up with a look at that most recent fortune I referenced earlier.
Carry pieces of your childhood with you through life.
This is a great concept and one I touched on in the original post. I think it’s important to create little moments of nostalgia for myself so that I can remember where I came from and not lose touch with some of the most important aspects of my character. I also find it fitting that this message is on a fortune because I remember Chinese takeout as family time – we’d order a few items on a Saturday night, put on a movie, and chill out.
True, False, or Racist?
True – not every aspect of childhood should inform us in adulthood but I feel keeping in touch with our memories helps form a framework for leading a fulfilling life.
Keep it or chuck it?
Keep it.
