Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Temptation

On the drive back from Del Taco;

Me: Oh! Check out this fortune I got today from Panda Express... "A tempting proposal will soon present itself to you." Sooo.. what am I supposed to do then?
some kind of robot: What do you mean?
Me: I mean, I'm supposed to be tempted by something, but am I supposed to accept or decline?
skr: I think it's a good thing that you would accept.
Me: "Tempting" means there's a repercussion that I have to balance before making the decision.
skr: Well, you could be tempted by an offer of a new job that pays more money. The only thing to decide is if it's better than what you have.
Me: But that would be readily obvious. Temptation implies a possibly negative consequence. Otherwise it would be like "A good proposal" or "A bad proposal." The word "tempting" implies you'll have to think about it.
skr: There could just be one con, though, keeping you from doing it. It doesn't have to be a negative outcome as a whole. Think of it like food.
Me: Hmmm... So I was tempted by the Del Taco spicy mole chicken burrito.
skr: Yeah, and what was the repercussion of the decision?
Me: ... Deliciousness?
skr: Right, and what's bad about that?

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