| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3 |
I can feel your pain, and kindle your ecstasy. Isn’t that such an interesting
way to put it? You know, these gifts we had; they didn’t come with instruction
manuals. We had to figure out how they worked, and develop ways to explain
them. Other people’s gifts might be a little vague and profound, but mine was
simple. If you were in physical and/or emotional pain, I could feel that.
Fortunately, I could choose not to feel it. Not everyone on the team
could exercise so much control, and switch it off when they didn’t want it. I
don’t know if I could have lived with myself if I couldn’t so I’m grateful for
that, and I’m sure Landis is too. Basically, what I did was make people feel
better. It was only a temporary solution, and a very complicated and delicate
process to navigate. Sure, I could have run around the world alone,
essentially as a walking-talking recreational drug, but that’s not going to
help anyone in the long-term. And honestly, if they wanted to feel better in
the way that I could help them, they could just do it themselves. What I did
was only one step of the program. When it was the right time, I eased their
suffering, so they could think clearly, and figure out how they were going to
improve their lives. It wouldn’t work if I did it too early, because then they
would have kind of forgotten what was so upsetting to them in the first place.
They would basically treat my gift as the only useful solution, and not worry
about what would happen when it wore off. I couldn’t do it too late either, or
they would get frustrated that they did all this work, and I could have just
solved their problems right away. I had to find a balance, which was the
hardest part of the job. These days, I’m pretty happy. I loved what I used to
do, and I think about it sometimes, but it’s kind of nice to just have a
regular job, and live a regular life. Things were so complex, and I was always
having to think about how I was going to kindle someone’s ecstasy. Now I move
boxes from a truck to a shelf, or a shelf to a truck. There’s an answer for
everything, and you know when you’ve done it wrong. And the burden of
responsibility was a weight on my shoulders that I didn’t know I was carrying
until it was gone. Basically, all I’m trying to say is that I’m glad that it
happened, and I’m happy with what I have now. I don’t think I could say the
same if my life were just one or the other. Landis is going to cure everyone
one day, and while it won’t necessarily alleviate pain, I know that it will
help, and it’s more than I could have ever done on my own.
