The word redemption is an interesting word, from the Latin root redemptio meaning "to buy back," with the dictionary defintion of the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
I haven't gone into debt due to stocks or anything, and I'm still "up" overall in my investments since I started seriously investing in 2018, but boy oh boy did I have a lot more (unrealized) profit at the beginning of the year than I do now. What I wouldn't do to get some redemption on those losses that I've incurred, and gaining back some of that lost capital. I often wonder to myself how I could have such a Pollyanish view on the market back in January of this year wen the market was at its all-time highs and I was feeling on top of the world: I guess most of is hindsight being 20/20, but also the market lures me into a false sense of security when it steadily goes up, making me think that it might do that forever, and then greed takes over. Also, it's a flaw I have with money similar to my flaws in opinions about life in general: I take making money in stocks for granted, but then get frantic and anxious when I'm losing money (which seems to be happening a lot this year). All that doesn't really explain why I couldn't just sell some earlier when it was clear the Federal Reserve was raising interest rates to combat interest rates, and I had told myself not to fight the Fed and to sell when interest rates were going higher. I guess it's just hard to hit that "Sell" button when I've been conditioned like a chimp to root for stocks going higher all the time. Looking forward, analysts are predicting still further pain ahead and maybe another 15% drop in the S&P 500 to 3300.....and finally, FINALLY I am considering drastically reducing my exposure to stocks before I lose ALL the profit I've made over the last few years. Urg.
Redemption might be what Adnan Syed is feeling after finally being freed from prison this past Monday, after the prosecutor in his case moved to do so after finding evidence to have been withheld. It's been a long time since 2015 when I first listened to the podcast, but this recent news got me going down rabbit holes again: is he innocent or guilty; if Adnan is innocent, then who did it? Assuming Adnan is innocent, I'm not sure redemption is the right word because he can't regain those years of his life in prison, from ages 17 to 41, those are the best years of one's life, to just sit in a prison cell for something you didn't do; there's no amount of money to buy those years back. But then I think about it again, for the victim, Hae-min Lee, there's no redemption for her life that she lost due to a murderer who killed her, ruining a promising life. Some things are just so unfair, putting my losses in the stock market really into perspective as trivial, self-inflicted, and not worthy of me pouting about and trying to redeem when others can't redeem. As for the theories out there, a lot of people talk about a serial killer, the Hae's current boyfriend at the time Don, etc........for me the biggest thing is that Jay Wilde, Adnan's ex-friend, KNEW WHERE HAE'S CAR WAS and pointed it out to the cops......there was no way he could have known about that unless he was involved somehow; the cops couldn't coach him to know that (like they did many other things apparently during the interrogations) because the cops didn't even know the location there. So Jay had to have a.) either helped Adnan do it like he claimed, b.) commited the crime himself, or c.) commited the crime with someone else and is covering for that person. It's so bizarre that Jay isn't more directly questioned and grilled by someone to finally reveal the truth, because his lies have been shifting back and forth, back and froth, and he clearly was the one involved. FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE, he's the key! Oh and now that I have a more detailed understanding of the geography of Baltimore, a lot of things in the podcast are fleshed out, including that drive from Woodlawn High School to Leakin' Park, Patapsco State Park, etc.
Finally, I wish I could get some redemption for "Tian Tian," an immigrant from China who moved to Monterrey Park but came down with late-stage brain cancer and was hospitalized earlier in July, her parents had to come from China to come take care of her but had no funds to handle living expenses and other costs, and they found themselves destitute with nowhere to live and eating small meals every day. Just a devastating story that I found in the local Chinese newspaper (Yes, newspapers still exist! And my grandfather loved reading them; yesterday was the one-year anniversary of his death), and now Tian Tian is recovering but still unable to speak, which is better than the doctors' prediction that she would be in a vegestative forever....I wish I could give her redemption and let her gain her life back, but as it is I could only donate money to help redeem some of the costs of living at least. It really is heartbreaking how cruel life can be, and for some it's impossible to find redemption.
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