• mavu@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 day ago

    Hey, person in the meme, if you read this, just tell him the truth, i’m sure he will appreciate it and be back together with you. You’re welcome!

    • absentbird@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Honestly this is the best advice. It doesn’t have the highest chance of success, but it’s the only path that could really result in healing and reconnection. Some people do dumb things when confronted with mortality or serious illness, especially if they’re young and inexperienced. If she could be honest and sincere it would demonstrate awareness and potentially growth.

  • village604@adultswim.fan
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    2 days ago

    Reminds me of one of my professors who left her husband, who was also a professor, when he was diagnosed with cancer.

    He survived, and uses her as an example of unethical behavior for his ethics course.

    • admin@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      “today we will talk about my ex-wife…”

      “NOT AGAIN PROFESSOR”

      “IT’S FOR STUDIES!!!”

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        My buddy is a songwriter and is working on an album right now. He was showing me the lyrics and I could almost map which songs were about who.

        Half the album is sad bastard and the other half is just how certain relationships sucked.

        I’m really looking forward to it. I run sound from time to time at a place where one of his exes works and I really want to queue it up between sets.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          22 hours ago

          I really want to queue it up between sets.

          I hate to be that guy, but since it appears to be related to your gig, I feel like it might be beneficial for you… The word is “cue” in this case.

          I guess “queue” gets the point across though. And maybe “a queue of songs” is a valid descriptor.

  • Krono@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    I have an honest followup question to this meme (because I lived it): how long do you expect the girlfriend to stay?

    At age 23 I was in a great relationship, we were in love, then I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I stopped being able to do physical things, I dropped out of school, I was bedridden. She went from being my girlfriend to being my nurse. She cared for me for a year, one long miserable year, then she left.

    Is she at fault for leaving?

    • Duranie@leminal.space
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      2 days ago

      In a scenario like this, I don’t know that there’s fault to be had.

      Big picture (my opinion as a 53yo) 23 is still young and it’s not uncommon for people and their priorities to change as they find direction in life. Even if you remained healthy, there’s other growing and changes occurring that may have eventually lead to the end of the relationship - it’s the risk we take when we make ourselves vulnerable to someone.

      Is it unfortunate? Yes. Sad? Absolutely. Depressing and entirely unfair? No question. But you both lost the future you were hoping to have together. Wishing you better to come.

    • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It’s not so black and white. It really depends. There needs to be communication between both parties.

      It’s perfectly fine if one person says, “I can’t do this. I can’t go through with this.” Asking someone to stay by you until you die, or to carry the burden of your disability or sickness is a lot. If there’s a conversation held about it and one person wants out then it’s fine.

      One person simply leaving the moment it’s announced is a bit much though, especially if they decide to come back. As someone else said, it’s called having tact.

    • SlippiHUD@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      My problem isn’t necessarily with her leaving. Assuming she left with tact. Which I doubt.

      But the audacity to leave someone and then feel entitled to thier time when it suits you, is insane.

      What happens if he gets sick again, will she again leave? Will she come back when he’s better? How many times is she entitled to this cycle?

      This person needs therapy, she is outrageously selfish.

    • pigup@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I try to go around life believing that nobody owes me anything in any way shape or form. Thus, I should be thankful for anything that I have.

      She gave you a year, then she decided to leave. Technically, that makes it her fault. But exactly what does determining this accomplish for anyone or anything? Life will just randomly kick the shit out of you and tear you a new one. We all have to adapt and survive and negotiate. If that means leaving an optional strenuous situation, then that’s what has to happen. It’s life.

    • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Dunno, man. Its hard to say. When you marry you take vows. Breaking those vows is a massive no-no in my eyes.

      Unmarried couples have never vowed to take care of each other in sickness and in health. On those grounds, I think its fair to say that leaving is not unethical. Doesn’t change the fact that its absolutely devastating and worthy of scrutiny regardless.

      Sorry you had to go through that.

      • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        A fancy ceremony doesn’t change how people feel about the other person, nor the level of obligations they actually have (emotionally, financially it can get complicated). If you’re unhappy and they reason cannot be changed (like chronic illness requiring significant care) then you fucking leave if that’s what you want. Staying only creates two miserable people instead of one, and your partner will definitely understand even if it hurts.

        • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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          A fancy ceremony doesn’t change how people feel about the other person, nor the level of obligations they actually have

          You literally take an oath at the ceremony vowing to uphold an extremely high level of obligations to another person.

          If you’re making vows at a wedding ceremony that you feel you can just nope out on if shit hits the fan, why are you getting married? What is the point?

          I agree. The wedding shouldn’t change how you feel about the other person because you should already be 100% dedicated if you’re thinking of getting married.

          I made a vow to my wife when we got married to care for her in sickness and in health. I do not care what happens in life, I would never abandon her. Period. That is the burden of the vow I made. In my mind my personal integrity is foundationally attached to it.

          If you’re comfortable with abandoning a spouse over health issues, the marriage was a sham from the get go. Like, what are you doing at the ceremony? Making vows with your fingers crossed behind your back? 🤞🤞🤞

          • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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            21 hours ago

            A lot of people in the current culture we live in do not place any value on their word or honor. I don’t really blame people for this since the system we live in almost exclusively rewards exactly the opposite behavior.

            But it does make it very hard to communicate with people when you don’t have the same vocabulary.

            It seems like you and I believe a vow is something that you make and would hold yourself to regardless of circumstance. But the nature of our capitalistic society teaches us from very young age that if it will improve your standing, your finances, or your situation in some way, then it is okay to break your personal code.

            With that rambling paragraph in mind, it’s not surprising when we find out that most folks don’t have a personal code and vows mean nothing more than a pinky swear.

            • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
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              2 days ago

              Plenty of people before 2025 divorced for any number of reasons.

              Plenty of people straight up murdered their spouse because divorce wasn’t an option.

              Saying “people in the current culture we live in do not place any value on their word or honor” means you have no idea how people in the past lived.

              People are today as they have always been, just with different gadgets and environment.

              • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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                2 days ago

                I didn’t say anything about a divorce or murder. Maybe I was bad at getting my point across.

                The point I’m attempting to make is that putting value on your word, and by association giving extra value to a vow over another type of promise, is a lesser respected or necessary part of being a human in the late stage capitalist society that we live in.

                This can be evidenced by people saying that a vow can easily be broken if the circumstances change.

                That is not what a vow means.

          • Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
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            1 day ago

            If you’re making vows at a wedding ceremony that you feel you can just nope out on if shit hits the fan, why are you getting married? What is the point?

            I agree. The wedding shouldn’t change how you feel about the other person because you should already be 100% dedicated if you’re thinking of getting married

            And get married at 23, plan life of kids and whatever. Car accident a year later and she/he is a quadruped. What you’re describing isnt love, or devetion, it’s indentured servitude. If you truly love the other person you’d want them to leave.

            But it’s why I never plan on being married who the fucks knows what will happen tomorrow, let alone a decade down the road.

            Im 59, my parter (f 56) and I have had that discussion, she insists she’ll stay and take care of me if it happened and I said that will make me even more miserable and more depressed and I’d want her to leave.

            I can’t even wrap my head around how selfish and self absorned you’d have to be to insists someone take care of you for decades of you were bedridden or even house bound etc

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              22 hours ago

              If you’re not ready to do that, then just don’t get married. It’s very simple. There’s no law saying you need to marry someone.

          • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            You’re not understanding what I’m saying…whether or not you want to leave your partner when things go wrong is entirely independent of marriage. You don’t stay because you got married and now it’s just too bad, you stay because you love them. Marriage should be exactly zero percent of why you choose to stay. Staying with your partner, not because you want to but because you feel obligated, is just demeaning to them and cruel.

      • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        Should she have stayed and essentially worked as a nurse until he died?
        Just because they where in a relationship early in life?
        If the illness didn’t happen, they might have fallen out eventually, but because one is ill the other is morally bound for decades?

        If that’s your moral standard, you better spend every free minute of your life volunteering and every spare cent on charity, otherwise go fuck yourself!

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          22 hours ago

          If you get married, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you’re signing up for. So I tend to agree with the other commenter.

          “In sickness and in health,” and “Til death do us part” and all of that.

          • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            21 hours ago

            While I think even marriage has limits, baines said

            fault?, gf no if a wife yes
            but regardless a shit human being

            implying that leaving any romantic partner in that situation is immoral.

            • baines@lemmy.cafe
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              20 hours ago

              unless it was a fuck buddy it is immoral

              but people do selfish shit all the time to various degrees, this would be worse than cheating imo

              the degree is proportional to how long they were together and the expectations set

        • baines@lemmy.cafe
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          20 hours ago

          depends how serious it was

          if it was a long term relationship already and otherwise good until the illness, yea it’s shitty and selfish of a partner to leave

          if it was just some short fling nah

          especially if married, literally part of what you signed up for and is a very real prospect of what I might have to do myself in the future so money where my mouth is and all that

          you can take your strawman and shove it

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Serious illnesses can be horrifying to watch someone go through and poverty routinely seperates loved ones.

      Standing by someone in a terrible - perhaps terminal - condition is absolutely an incredible challenge and shouldn’t be dismissed as anything less than that.

      A big reason you want to stand by your partner in perilous circumstances is because you want them to be there for you. And another big reason is because you might not get any more moments together than this, so make them last.

      In a place like America, where sick days are a luxury and health care can still bankrupt you, being at someone’s bedside is a cross to bare. Be happy when you’re not carrying it. Don’t be so quick to judge when someone else can’t.

      • YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub
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        2 days ago

        I literally was a caregiver for ten years (full time six of those years). My wife recently died. I was astonished by the number of people who told me to leave her. wtf is wrong with people. You don’t abandon people who are suffering.

        • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Damn. You’re a strong person. I’m sorry you had to go through that, but I’m sure you staying by her side made those years more beareble for her. I’d like to think I’d do the same, but I hope I never have to find out…

          • YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub
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            2 days ago

            Eh, I was just doing what I had to do for the person I loved. But thank you. I hope you don’t have to find out either. It is really cursed knowledge

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          wtf is wrong with people.

          That, Idfk. One thing to collapse under the pressure. Another thing to get up in someone’s business and say something so vile.

        • InputZero@lemmy.world
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          I mean depending on your situation that could be the best option. Option one, stay with your partner, watch them die and experience that trauma, then when they are dead you’re on the hook for all their medical debt, and you may have lost your job for taking so many days off. Option two, leave your partner, live with the guilt of that, avoid the trauma and inescapable life long debt. Neither option is good. It would be nice to have the time off and not be burdened with an enormous amount of debt but that’s just not the world we live in.

          • YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub
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            It would have been objective the better idea for me to abandon my wife with this logic. Because caring for her was hard and definitely shortened my life and left me heartbroken.

            But the logic is vile. You do not abandon your loved ones when they are in need

      • CodexArcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Yeah, I hate these stories for the amount of Big Ethical Talk it beings out in people. “I would stand by my partner no matter what” is the “I could fight a bear” of emotional labor. Unless you’ve had a serious illness or been very close to someone who has (not parents or siblings, a voluntary relationship), then you just really don’t know what you’re talking about.

        • trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world
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          Anyone can fight a bear. Just not for longer than a couple of seconds mostly. But that’s no reason to give up on your loved ones before even trying.

      • MyDarkestTimeline01@ani.social
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        2 days ago

        Well as an argument I can agree with you. There is a lot to be said for “you don’t know until it happens”.

        That being said, we aren’t discussing the broad strokes, we’re looking at this meme. And from context and wording shows not pragmatism, but self centered behavior(please note the intentional distinction between selfish behavior and self centered behavior).

      • red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, exactly. I don’t see this as black and white as it’s made out to be. Where’s the point in cancer or another serious disease ruining two lives? Sure, sometimes people leave for selfish reasons. But protecting yourself is not selfish, it’s essential for survival. If you stay and support a sick person, that makes you a good person. Leaving someone because you cannot handle dealing with the disease emotionally or financially doesn’t automatically make you a bad person.

          • red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            That whole “'til death do us part” is some ancient bullshit. People change, situations change. Sticking with a bad situation because you once said “in good times and bad times” even if it is destroying you is some toxic-ass bullshit.

              • red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 day ago

                Oh fuck off. I am not being contrarian. I am just too old to believe in absolutes. Things change, people change. That’s just life. And having seen multiple people die of cancer over the years, that shit is no fucking joke and will absolutely ruin the lives of everyone involved. If someone just cannot handle that, it’s OK to leave that awful situation. Yes, it does suck even more for the person who’s actually ill. But I really don’t see a point in ruining multiple lives because of one person’s illness. Again, if people want to step up and be there, that is amazing and laudable. But if you step away simply to protect yourself, you will probably feel bad and wish you could do more. But sometimes you just can’t. Once more: that’s simply how life is.

                • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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                  1 day ago

                  Just considering the demographics on this website, there’s a fairly decent chance you’re not older than me. Our experiences may differ.

                  But just by reading this, it’s pretty clear that we have a different definition of a vow. I’m not sure why you’re so up in arms about this.

                  I called you contrarian because you’re in here arguing a point I didn’t even make. I didn’t say that I would hold you to a vow nor that I would judge you if you broke your vow.

                  I said that over the last ~50 years of me watching people I have seen a general pattern of the lessening of the value of these intangibles.

                • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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                  22 hours ago

                  The concept of reading through a comment and understanding it before writing a vacuous reply must terrify you.

      • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        I think if someone had to take care of me like that in this world, I’d just off myself to be honest. I mean, I was already contemplating it some months ago, and seeing how my job stops me from doing anything, it’s on the table, obviously.

    • notsure@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      …i am not excusing this, but it seems that animalistic behaviour tends to leave the sick and wounded behind, humans are still deciding whether to be animals or something more…

      • TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub
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        2 days ago

        I don’t think it’s instinct, but a calculated selfish decision. Will I profit from spending energy, time, and money in this person? If they die, it’s a net loss, so they bail.

        Instinct only tell us to go away in case the disease is contagious.

      • Zephorah@discuss.online
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        No, this is more common, or at least it’s more talked about, than 30 years ago.

        Worse, if we can get some hard data on this, it may reinforce the trend that humans have way more stress than they should regarding unfiltered things. No, not stress, stress in general is normal. Capacity. They have no capacity, or willingness, to process through it, they’d rather run away and hide so they do that instead.

        Similar to MurderBot diaries, in that MurderBot struggles with his human interactions, thinks eye contact is the absolute worst, and so, instead of using his own eyes to interact, he uses the eyes of his little drones to watch the humans in his life.

  • I became too crazy for my wife.

    I was pretty crazy when she took me in (also hella creative and hella horny), but the COVID-19 lockdown did a number on me everyone, including me, and then I couldn’t get back into therapy because it’s impacted.

    TMI

    spoiler

    On one hand, yeah, so much for in sickness and in health and on the other hand I know I can be batshit insane and fucking scary a bit of a burden sometimes.

    Also I’m really, really big on consent and (only) what the girl wants, the girl gets. When she wants out, she gets out. (I’m jealous of the new beau, but more because I’m desperately lonely than a need to possess and contain her). Also she pushes herself to move on after loss (say when we lost our dog, we got a new puppy pretty quickly), where as I want to squeeze all the grief out for a year or two before unfurling my sails once again.

    Being human is just hard.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      Hey now it didn’t get everyone, Covid barely affected me. Mind you I’m an insular bastard who is living up to a bunch of 1800s and 1700s stereotypes about American-Scots being insular mildly violent bastard who want to be left alone.

        • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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          20 hours ago

          It gave me some dark satisfaction to see everyone briefly visit my world and get broken by it. But for me it was great because suddenly everything was built around my lifestyle. Briefly.

          • TheBluePillock@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            So, so many people couldn’t handle living in a world that wasn’t built around their needs. For one brief moment I got to experience what it’s like to live in a world that actually fits mine.

            • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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              16 hours ago

              I hoped it would be a catalyst for positive change. Ha ha ha. Humans have an optimistic bias, it’ll creep in even when you think you’re seeing reality.

  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    I have seen couples react when one of them is given a genetic diagnosis of a fatal disease. It’s about 50/50, but more women leave.